California Gov. Gavin Newsom denied a New York Times report last weekend that claimed he was required to thank President Donald Trump publicly in exchange for coronavirus aid for the State of California. “Not true,” Newsom said.
The Times had reported on Saturday:
At one stage, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California was told that if he wanted the federal government to help obtain the swabs needed to test for the virus, he would have to ask Mr. Trump himself — and thank him.
…
After offering to help acquire 350,000 testing swabs during an early morning conversation with one of Mr. Newsom’s advisers, Mr. [Jared] Kushner made it clear that the federal help would hinge on the governor doing him a favor.
“The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, had to call Donald Trump, and ask him for the swabs” recalled the adviser, Bob Kocher, an Obama-era White House health care official.
Mr. Newsom made the call as requested and then praised Mr. Trump that same day during a news conference where he announced the commitment, giving Mr. Trump credit for the “substantial increase in supply” headed to California.
But as Politico reported Monday, Newsom flatly denied that claim:
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday flatly denied a weekend report that the White House had conditioned coronavirus aid on asking President Donald Trump directly for help and thanking him.
“Not true,” Newsom said when asked, adding that “no one told me that. No one asked me that.”
…
On Monday, Newsom affirmed that “I expressed gratitude, but no one told me to express it,” and he said that such a request “never came to me,” although he allowed that “there may have been a conversation” between Trump officials and his staff.
It is not clear why the Times felt an “Obama-era White House health care official” was a definitive source on conversations within the Trump White House.
Newsom and Trump have been bitter political opponents at times, but Trump has always given emergency aid to California when requested.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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