WH slams Gavin Newsom for attending 'luxury wine tasting' during fiery LA protests against ICE raids

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: California Governor Gavin Newsom is at the center of a political storm after he attended a cancer fundraiser in Napa Valley on the same day that Los Angeles was rocked by fiery protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.

Critics, led by the White House, accused Newsom of abandoning his post during a critical moment of civil unrest.

Gavin Newsom’s Napa fundraiser draws White House ire amid LA turmoil

The City Journal first reported that Gavin Newsom was seen at a June 7 charity wine tasting event dubbed “Vineyard Vibes,” hosted at the Odette Estate Winery, a property he co-founded.

The event, a benefit for the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, featured jazz, upscale food, and wine while parts of LA were facing property damage and street clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement.

The report ignited swift backlash from the Trump administration. “Gavin Newsom doesn’t care about protecting the people of LA or defending federal law enforcement,” said Deputy White House press secretary Abigail Jackson to the Daily Beast.

“He cares about attention and political posturing. 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.” 

Gavin Newsom’s office fires back, labels coverage ‘dishonest’

Gavin Newsom’s press secretary, Izzy Gordon, dismissed the White House criticism as “absurd,” calling out what she framed as hypocrisy.

“Let’s get the facts straight, this was a cancer research fundraiser not a ‘wine party.’ While Donald Trump was golfing in Bedminster, attending a UFC fight, and his White House staff were tweeting about 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,” Gordon said.

The political feud comes on the heels of President Trump’s decision to deploy thousands of National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles, citing a breakdown in law and order amid escalating anti-ICE demonstrations. 

A report by City Journal described the governor strolling through the Odette Estate Winery in a V-neck T-shirt and cap, mingling with guests and sipping wine, while miles away in LA, protesters clashed with law enforcement, vehicles burned, and tensions soared over the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

One guest at the event reportedly told the outlet, “He was just walking around like this was an everyday occurrence,” claiming Newsom remained visible for over 90 minutes before moving to private rooms.

“I couldn’t believe it,” a guest at the party told.

Critics quickly likened the optics to Newsom’s infamous 2020 indoor dinner at the French Laundry during COVID restrictions, an incident the governor previously called “a bad mistake.”

In response to the political uproar, Newsom’s press team went on the offensive. Directly targeting City Journal reporter Christopher Rufo on X, the governor’s office labeled him a “dishonest hack,” accusing him of deliberately omitting key context provided in advance of publication.

The office condemned attempts to paint the cancer research fundraiser as elitist or irresponsible, arguing 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.”