White House torches Newsom as ‘inauthentic slimeball’ after California governor walks back ICE rhetoric

The White House slammed Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom  as an "inauthentic slimeball" after he attempted to walk back his staff’s description of an ICE officer-involved shooting as "state-sponsored terrorism."

"Newscum is an inauthentic slimeball who has no principles — he simply says whatever he thinks he needs to, in the moment, to get attention," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox Digital on Friday. 

"He’s happy to smear ICE officers and incite violence against them when he thinks it will score points with his radical left base, but as soon as he’s pressed on his dangerous claims he throws his staffers under the bus and tries to distance himself from the content they put out under his name. Newscum will never be ready for primetime," she added. 

Jackson was responding to Newsom's comments on his podcast published Thursday, when he walked back his office's message on X following an ICE-involved fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7 was "STATE. SPONSORED. TERRORISM." 

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Federal authorities and the administration said the ICE officer had opened fire on Good after she had allegedly used her vehicle as a weapon against the agent. Democrats have described the death as a "murder" and amplified criticisms of federal law enforcement officers in the days following. 

Newsom was joined on the podcast by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, who pressed him about his office's message linking ICE to terrorists. 

"And then your press office tweeted out that it was state-sponsored terrorism, which I mean, governor, I do have to ask you about that," Shapiro said on the podcast, "This is Gavin Newsom." "That sort of thing makes our politics worse. Yeah, I mean, it does. I mean, our ICE officers obviously are not terrorists. A tragic situation is not state-sponsored terrorism."

Newsom responded: "Yeah, I think that's fair."

Newsom continued during their conversation that he has bucked Democrat colleagues' calls to "defund ICE" while adding his state cooperates with federal immigration officers. 

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"I disagreed when I think a candidate for president by the name of Harris said that in the last campaign. I remember being on [MSNBC show hosted by] Chris Hayes hours later saying, 'I think that's a mistake.' So absolutely," Newsom said. Former Vice President Kamala Harris called for "a complete overhaul of the agency, mission, culture, operations" of ICE back in 2018. 

President Donald Trump has for years slammed Newsom’s immigration policies, arguing the sanctuary state weakens border enforcement, protects illegal immigrants, and puts public safety at risk. 

The Democratic governor defended his state's policies by saying that California allegedly cooperates with ICE, and that his state's sanctuary policies would be "unnecessary" if the U.S. had "comprehensive immigration reform."

"We work very directly with ICE as it relates to [California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] state prison," Newsom said on the podcast. "California has cooperated with more ICE transfers probably than any other state in the country. And I vetoed multiple pieces of legislation that have come from my legislature to stop the ability for the state of California to do that."

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"TRUMP IS TRYING TO CANCEL THE GOVERNOR - VERY WOKE!" Newsom spokesperson Diana Crofts-Pelayo responded to Fox Digital in an email Friday when approached for comment. 

"EVERYDAY AMERICANS ARE EXPERIENCING STATE SPONSORED TERROR BY OUR INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!"

Newsom’s office added on X that the governor supports removing "child molesters, rapists and violent criminals" from California but opposes what they called federal "masked agents" sweeping up innocent people, urging an immediate halt to such roundups and calling for federal reform to protect immigrants and U.S. citizens.

In the wake of Good's death, chaos has broken out in Minneapolis, including on Wednesday, as agitators clashed with law enforcement officials after the second ICE-involved shooting in the city. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pinned blame on Democrats and their rhetoric for heightened threats against federal immigration law enforcement officers. 

"The Democrat Party has demeaned these individuals," Leavitt said Thursday of federal immigration officers. "They've even referred to them as ‘Nazis’ and as ‘the Gestapo.’ And that is absolutely leading to the violence we're seeing in the streets.

"If you look at some of the images out of Minneapolis last night, look at this vehicle, look at what it says," Leavitt added. "It says, ‘F ICE.’ You have these individuals who are putting their middle finger, proudly so, at the camera, another ICE individual, a vehicle that was vandalized last night by these left-wing agitators."

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The Department of Homeland Security reported in December that assaults and violent attacks against ICE law enforcement officers have surged more than 1,150% compared to attacks under the Biden administration. It found there were 238 assaults on ICE officers between Jan. 21, 2025 to Nov. 21, 2025, up from just 19 during the same timeframe in 2024. 

Fox News Digital's Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.