He Said, He Said: Newsom Denies Call From President but Trump Has the Receipts

There's a joke in all this about the good old "Telephone Game" — one suspects something got lost in translation. However, a swearing match arose on Tuesday between President Donald Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom about whether and when the two had a phone call over the situation in Los Angeles, and it appears Newsom may have tried to be too cute by half.

It started with a comment from President Trump in the Oval Office early Tuesday afternoon. Trump was asked by a reporter, "When is the last time you spoke with Governor Newsom?"

Trump thought about it for a second and responded:

Mmmm...a day ago. Called him up to tell him, 'Gotta do a better job' — he's doing a bad job, causing a lot of death — a lot of potential death. If we didn't send out the National Guard — and last time, we gave him a little additional help — you would have...Los Angeles would be burning right now. Los Angeles would be not a lot different than what you saw take place in California and Los Angeles just a little while ago.

Ever the eager beaver, Newsom pounced on the comment on X to say, "Nuh-uh!"

There was no call. Not even a voicemail.

Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying Marines onto our streets doesn’t even know who he’s talking to. https://t.co/y7TJUhUZGI
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 10, 2025

There was no call. Not even a voicemail.
Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying Marines onto our streets doesn't even know who he's talking to.

Well, that sets up an interesting quandary. They can't both be right — so who's lying?

Gavin Newsom Loses It After Trump Gives Homan the Greenlight to Arrest California Governor

Trump set the record straight while on his way to Fort Bragg to deliver remarks there later Tuesday afternoon. He called Fox News' John Roberts and shared with him call logs indicating a call with Gavin Newsom — two actually: one missed call, followed almost immediately by a 16-minute call.

🚨 FOX NEWS ALERT: President Trump just contacted Fox News’ @johnrobertsFox to provide the call logs proving he spoke with Newsom for 16 minutes on Saturday after Newsom LIED by claiming Trump never called him.

ROBERTS: “Well, President Trump contacted me from Air Force 1 on his… pic.twitter.com/tvynAQBdOJ
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) June 10, 2025

After referring to the dispute and Newsom's tweet, Roberts shared:

President Trump contacted me from Air Force One, on his way to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he'll be in just a little while. He said 'The first call to Gavin Newsom was not picked up. The second call, Gavin picked up. We spoke for 16 minutes. I told him to, essentially...get his ass in gear and stop the riots which were out of control. More than anything else, this shows what a liar he is — said I never called. So, here is the evidence.'

Now, here's the catch: As noted in the above clip, the calls occurred on Saturday, not Monday. So, technically, Trump's characterization of them having spoken "a day ago" was incorrect. It was more like three days ago. Nevertheless, the two clearly spoke.

There are two possible takeaways, then, from Newsom's claim. Either it genuinely didn't dawn on him that when Trump referenced their call "a day ago," and described the gist of the call, that he was referring to the call they'd had over the weekend, or he knew the call Trump was referring to and decided to be pedantic since it happened three days ago rather than "a day ago."

Neither one paints a flattering picture of the governor, who seems far more intent on crossing swords with the president — in the courts and on social media — than on seeing to it that his state doesn't devolve (further) into a riot-strewn disaster.

As of this writing, Newsom hasn't responded to the information shared by the president with Roberts.

Editor's Note: President Trump isn't going to allow lawlessness to reign in America. We will not have a repeat of 2020's "Summer of Love."

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