Gavin Newsom: ‘Couldn’t Be More Proud’ ‘Xenophobic’ Sessions Called Me ‘Embarrassment’

Gavin Newsom Getty
Getty
Tony Lee

California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday that he was proud that Attorney General Jeff Sessions called him am “embarrassment” for backing the Golden State’s “sanctuary” laws to protect illegal immigrants.

“I honestly couldn’t be more proud to have Jeff Sessions, of all people, call me an embarrassment,” Newsom said.

While announcing in Sacramento that the Justice Department will seek to strike down California’s “sanctuary” laws because they violate the Supremacy Clause, Sessions singled out Newsom, who has vowed to keep California a “sanctuary” state if he is elected governor, after he blasted Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf for alerting illegal immigrants of imminent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Newsom last week said that he hoped more local leaders would follow Schaaf’s example and praised Scaaf’s “courage.”

“To make matters worse, the elected lieutenant governor of this state praised her for doing so,” Sessions said. “Bragging about and encouraging the obstruction of our law enforcement and the law is an embarrassment to this proud and important state.”

In a Facebook live event with a DACA recipient and immigrant activist, Newsom also slammed the Trump administration’s “xenophobia,” “nativism,” and “fear-mongering.” He blasted Sessions for “doubling down on the war on drugs, especially cannabis, embracing private prisons,” and fighting against civil rights. Newsom also accused Sessions of having a “racist past” that prevented him from becoming attorney general before and said Sessions’ lawsuit was just “par for the course.”

“As a former mayor of a sanctuary city who supported the sanctuary bill, we reject this lawsuit, we reject Jeff Sessions,” Newsom, who said Sessions’ lawsuit reminded him of when California was debating Proposition 187 and the three strikes law, continued.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.