An unseemly war has broken out after the White House crushed California Governor Gavin Newsom for attending a charity wine tasting during anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests in Los Angeles.
City Journal revealed Thursday that, while “riots engulfed Los Angeles and mobs vandalized public buildings, incinerated vehicles, and assaulted law enforcement officers,” Newsom had been “enjoying a swanky wine-tasting party in Napa Valley.”
Governor Gavin Newsom at the wine tasting charity event on June 7. @realchrisrufo/X
The news led the White House to launch a full-bodied attack on Newsom.
“Gavin Newsom doesn’t care about protecting the people of L.A. or defending federal law enforcement—he cares about attention and political posturing,” Deputy White House Press Secretary Abigail Jackson told the Daily Beast. “If Gavin Newsom had any self-awareness, he’d be thanking President Trump for stepping in to defend federal law enforcement before LA burned to the ground.”
In a statement to the Daily Beast, Newsom press rep Izzy Gordan assailed the Trump administration.
“Absurd claims,” Gordon said. “Abigail’s joke of a boss was golfing.”
“Let’s get the facts straight: this was a cancer research fundraiser — not a ‘wine party,’” she added. “While Donald Trump was golfing in Bedminster the same day, attending a UFC fight, and his White House senior team was literally posting about shopping for popcorn, the Governor proudly attended an annual fundraiser benefiting the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, in honor of his mother, who died of breast cancer at age 55.”
Protests against raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) erupted in L.A. in early June, leading President Donald Trump to deploy 4,000 members of the National Guard and 700 Marines to the city over Newsom’s objections.
Newsom slammed the move as a waste of resources that only escalated tensions, while Trump insisted he had no choice but to send in troops to restore law and order.
According to City Journal, Newsom was spotted at the June 7 fundraising event, dubbed “Vineyard Vibes,” hosted at Napa’s exclusive Odette Estate Winery, which Newsom co-founded in 2011.
As California Governor, Gavin Newsom has always supported the region’s wine industry, and is pictured here addressing the California Wine Summit on October 1, 2013, in San Francisco George Rose/George Rose/Getty Images
The outlet reported that while fires burned and police clashed with protesters over Trump’s mass immigration raids, the Democratic governor was reportedly sipping “contemporary yet sophisticated” wines, enjoying live jazz, and eating pizza and smash burgers “on the Winery Crushpad.”
The fundraiser was organized by the PlumpJack Foundation, run by Newsom’s sister, with proceeds going to the University of California, San Francisco‘s Cancer Center in memory of their late mother.
Newsom at the opening of the PlumpJack wine shop in October 1992. The charity event was hosted by PlumpJack Foundation, owned by Newsom’s sister. San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst N/Steve Castillo/San Francisco Chronicle
“I couldn’t believe it,” a guest at the party told City Journal. “He was just walking around like this was an everyday occurrence.” The source claimed Newsom—pictured in a V-neck T-shirt and cap—was at the event for at least 90 minutes before retreating to private rooms in the winery.
The incident has drawn comparisons to when Newsom was busted dining indoors at a Michelin-starred spot at the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020 after telling Californians to stay home for Thanksgiving. “I made a bad mistake,” he admitted at the time.
And, after publication of the City Journal article, Newsom’s press team went on the offensive on Friday, describing the report as “dishonest” and attacking Trump’s administration over its response to the L.A. protests.
“You are a dishonest hack,” the governor’s press office said of reporter Christopher Rufo on X. “You deliberately omitted key context we gave you. … It’s deliberatively [sic] dishonest.”
“Trying to spin a family fundraiser for cancer research into a political hit — while excusing a President who was literally golfing after gutting cancer research — isn’t just bad-faith hypocrisy from your outlet. It’s insulting to cancer survivors and their families,” the office added.
You are a dishonest hack. You deliberately omitted key context we gave you — including that the event was an annual fundraiser FOR CANCER RESEARCH hosted in HONOR OF THE GOVERNOR’S DEAD MOTHER who died of breast cancer. That’s not sloppy journalism. It’s deliberatively dishonest.… pic.twitter.com/M9GgGvJzL9
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) June 19, 2025
Newsom also laid into the president, Vice President J.D. Vance, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over their own activities during the unrest in L.A.
“The unrest was heightened later in the week when Trump and J.D. Vance were enjoying a fancy Broadway show and Defense Secretary Pete (Hegseth) was caught at a baseball game,” Newsom wrote.