California Governor Gavin Newsom has said he was blocked from speaking at a World Economic Forum event in Davos and blamed the Trump administration.
Newsom’s office said on X that USA House, the official US pavilion at the global event, denied his entry to speak there on Wednesday despite being invited as part of an event by media partner Fortune.
The Democratic governor, whose state has the fourth largest global economy, wrote on X: “California was just denied at the USA House. Last we checked, California is part of USA.”
The White House criticised the governor for attending the summit of global leaders and said that he should instead focus on his state.
“No one in Davos knows who third-rate governor Newscum is or why he is frolicking around Switzerland instead of fixing the many problems he created in California,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement to the BBC.
Kelly did not say why Newsom was denied entry or whether the administration had anything to do with his speaking event being cancelled.
Newsom is a vociferous critic of the Trump administration and is weighing a 2028 presidential run.
His office said on X that USA House denied his entry “under pressure from the White House and State Department”.
“How weak and pathetic do you have to be to be this scared of a fireside chat?” Newsom wrote on X.
The governor’s office told the BBC that Newsom had been invited to speak at the event earlier this month, and Fortune had been promoting the event.
Shortly before the event was set to begin, a USA House official informed them that they were cancelling Fortune’s event and that the governor would not be permitted to speak with media at the pavilion, the governor’s office said.
The governor’s office said that another “elected official” speaking did not “align with their afternoon programming”.
Several Trump administration officials spoke at the venue, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who mocked Newsom during his remarks. Bessent suggested in his remarks that the California governor should focus on issues like homelessness, wildfires and state budgets – instead of attending a world forum.
The governor’s office said USA House offered, as an alternative, that Newsom speak at a nightcap reception.
The second-term governor was also among those in the crowd on Wednesday when Trump delivered a wide-ranging speech to world leaders in which he demanded Denmark cede control of Greenland.
In the address, Trump took aim at a number of world leaders. He also called out Newsom by name, saying they used to get along and the governor was a “good guy”.
“I would say this, if I were a Democrat governor, or whatever, I would call up Trump, I’d say, ‘Come on in. Make us look good,'” Trump said.
As Trump spoke, a camera showed Newsom smiling and appearing to chuckle at moments in the speech.
“There was nothing offered there,” Newsom told reporters later. “It was, at times, boorish but even by Trump’s standards.
“So it was just remarkable in its inconsequential nature. I expected more from him. I really did.”
By BBC News
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