Politics
Gavin Newsom, during his speech at the Vatican on climate change, accuses Trump of 'open corruption'
Gov. Gavin Newsom accused former President Trump of “open corruption” in a speech Thursday at a climate summit of Catholic officials and international leaders, elevating his criticism of the Republican leader in the hallowed halls of the Vatican.
The California governor referenced news stories alleging that Trump recently solicited campaign donations from oil executives and at the same event vowed to walk back climate protections if elected in the 2024 presidential contest.
“He openly asked them for $1 billion to roll back the environmental progress of the Biden administration, environmental progress that we’ve made over the course of the last half century,” Newsom said. “Open corruption. A billion dollars to pollute our states, to pollute our country, and to pollute this planet and roll back progress.”
The governor spoke at a three-day “From Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience” summit organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
Newsom said he decided to call out Trump by name at the international gathering of governors, mayors and policy experts because he felt stories about Trump’s meeting with oil executives didn’t get enough attention.
“It’s an expression of my sincerity about how serious I take this moment and how consequential it is,” the governor said about the possible negative effects on climate change if Trump returns to the White House.
His comments were also strategic. Climate change isn’t necessarily driving American Catholics to the polls, but drawing attention to an accusation of pay-to-play political corruption might resonate more with Pope Francis’ supporters in the U.S. More than 50 million Americans identify as Catholic.
Newsom’s appearance is likely to elevate his position as a climate leader on a world stage.
Gov. Gavin Newsom attends the “From Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience” summit.
(Gregorio Borgia / Associated Press)
With temperatures and carbon emissions rising worldwide, the aim of the conference is for local and state governments to share best practices about fighting climate change and adapting to hotter temperatures, rising seas and a more volatile environment.
Parts of Newsom’s talk matched the tenor of a critique of the oil industry he delivered last fall at the United Nations Climate Ambition Summit in New York.
“It’s because of the burning of gas, the burning of coal, the burning of oil,” Newsom said at the Vatican. “We have the tools. We have the technology. We have the capacity to address the issue at a global scale and they’ve been fighting every single advancement and we have got to call that out.”
Bob Salladay, Newsom’s top communications advisor, said his candid assessment earlier in New York of the industry, which he said was playing everyone for fools, caught the attention of the Vatican and is one of the reasons he was invited to speak at the climate summit.
The setting of his speech, in a carpeted auditorium at the Vatican that typically houses gatherings of bishops, drew a stark contrast to the marbled floors and renaissance murals that lined the walls and ceilings of Clementine Hall, where Newsom spoke with Pope Francis on Thursday morning.
In an address to government leaders and climate scientists in Clementine Hall, Pope Francis cast the destruction of the environment as an offense against God.
“This is the question: Are we working for a culture of life or for a culture of death?” Pope Francis said.
Newsom and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, sat in the second row of the audience in an Apostolic Palace near St. Peter’s Basilica.
A pope’s body is placed in the hall for private visitation upon his death. It’s also the same room that former President Obama visited in 2009.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul greets Pope Francis on Thursday in Vatican City.
(Riccardo De Luca / Associated Press)
Pope Francis called the refusal to protect the most vulnerable who are exposed to climate change caused by human activity a “grave violation of human rights.”
He said around 1 billion people in wealthier nations “produce more than half the heat trapping pollutants” of the world. Poorer people, he said, contribute less than 10% and suffer 75% of the resulting damage.
Pope Francis also took a shot at fossil fuel companies.
“An orderly progress is being held back by the greedy pursuit of short-term gains by polluting industries and by the spread of disinformation, which generates confusion and obstructs collective efforts for a change in course,” Francis said.
The governor called the pope’s address “remarkable.”
“I knew what I was going to say already, but he said it before I said it,” Newsom said.
After Francis’ speech, Newsom and Siebel Newsom walked along an aisle of ornate stone tiles to the front of the room, where the governor briefly spoke with the leader of the Catholic Church. The governor said the pope commended his administration’s work on the death penalty.
The governor said he was struck by the pope’s support for what Newsom described as a difficult decision to issue a moratorium on the death penalty and close California’s execution chambers in 2019.
At the time, more than 700 people were on death row. Newsom met with families of some of the victims who had been killed by the inmates.
“It was nice that he brought up the issue and thanked California for the direction we’re going,” Newsom said.
Newsom’s action ran counter to the expressed will of California voters, who over the previous six years had rejected two statewide ballot measures to repeal the death penalty.
A procession of attendees also greeted the pope, who took time to shake hands with every person in the room.
The pope signed a planetary compact after his speech, which Newsom and other government leaders also signed Thursday.
Wade Crowfoot, California’s Natural Resources secretary, described the compact as an unprecedented agreement among international governors, mayors, Indigenous leaders and scientists to work together to confront climate change with a focus on resiliency and equity.
Crowfoot and Lauren Sanchez, Newsom’s top climate advisor, also participated in hours of meetings at the conference on Wednesday.
Newsom is hosting a state climate summit in Southern California this fall as a continuation of the work at the Vatican conference. The state will be inviting local leaders and experts from California.
“We’re taking the torch of subnational leadership back to California, where it belongs, to convene scientists, local governments and leaders to tackle the climate threat that is the existential crisis of our time,” Sanchez said.
Some environmentalists in California said Newsom’s rhetoric on the global stage is not entirely matched by his actions at home. Though Newsom has championed many environmental measures and has waged a battle with oil companies as governor, he proposed cutting $3.6 billion for climate-related programs to help address the state budget deficit.
Susan Stephenson, executive director of a religious environmental advocacy organization called Interfaith Power and Light, took issue with a recent decision by Newsom’s appointees on the California Public Utilities Commission that she said would slow the use of rooftop solar power.
“He’s saying a lot of the right things,” Stephenson said. “And it is not matched by the urgency of action that we need as climate change is worsening.”
Newsom has also received criticism from some Republicans for traveling abroad instead of staying home to focus exclusively on California’s problems.
That was not the sentiment of a Democratic couple from Riverside who saw Newsom and his wife on a tour of the Roman Forum after the speech. They said they were surprised to see the governor in Rome.
Walter and Susan Davis said they believe in climate change and support the governor coming to deliver the speech, which they called “a real reason.”
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Walter Davis said.
Times Sacramento Bureau Chief Laurel Rosenhall contributed to this report.
Case 1:25-cv-04480 Document 1 Filed 12/22/25
Page 1 of 18
JOYCE BEATTY,¹
V.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Plaintiff,
DONALD J. TRUMP, RICHARD GRENELL, JENNIFER FISCHER, SERGIO GOR, JOHN FALCONETTI, BRIAN D. BALLARD, MARIA BARTIROMO, PAMELA BONDI, MARY HELEN BOWERS, HANNAH F. BUCHAN, ROBERT CASTELLANI, ELAINE CHAO, PAMELLA ROLAND DEVOS, PATRICIA DUGGAN, EMILIA MAY FANJUL, LYNETTE FRIESS, PAMELA GROSS, LEE GREENWOOD, KATE ADAMSON HASELWOOD, LAURA INGRAHAM, MICHELE KESSLER, DANA KRAFT, MINDY LEVINE, LYNDA LOMANGINO, BARBARA LONG, ALLISON LUTNICK, DOUGLAS MANCHESTER, CATHERINE B. REYNOLDS, DENISE SAUL, DAN SCAVINO, CHERI SUMMERALL, USHA VANCE, SUSIE WILES, ANDREA WYNN, PAOLO ZAMPOLLI, ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR., MARCO RUBIO, LINDA MCMAHON, MIKE JOHNSON, SAM GRAVES, JULIA LETLOW, MIKE MCCAUL, JOHN THUNE, SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, SUSAN COLLINS, TRUSTEES OF THE JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS,
Defendants.
No. 25-CV-
1 Pursuant to Local Civil Rule 5.1(c)(1), the Plaintiff’s residential address is being filed under seal with the Court in a separate Notice of Filing.
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At least 20 percent of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s administrative appointees are connected to groups characterized as anti-Zionist, according to a Monday report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
The report found that more than 80 individuals among Mamdani’s 400-plus transition and administrative appointees either have ties to such groups or a “documented history of making anti-Israel statements.”
The organization said Mamdani’s Transition Committee appointees have been linked to groups including Students for Justice in Palestine, a pro-Palestinian college activism network; Jewish Voice for Peace, an American Jewish anti-Zionist organization; and Within Our Lifetime, a New York City-based anti-Zionist group “known for leading protests outside synagogues.”
For example, the ADL said at least four appointees have ties to Louis Farrakhan, the antisemitic leader of the Nation of Islam. One appointee, Jacques Léandre, was cited for reportedly attending a conference at which Farrakhan denounced “the Jews and their power.”
ADL CHIEF WARNS NYC MAYOR-ELECT ZOHRAN MAMDANI POSES A ‘CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER’ TO JEWISH COMMUNITY
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani speaks to members of the media at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in the Queens borough of New York on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Several other appointees were also cited for statements that appear to support or justify violence against Israel and the Oct. 7 attacks. According to the ADL, Kazi Fouzia posted on Facebook hours after the attacks that “Resistance are [sic] Justified when people are occupied” with video footage from an anti-Israel protest happening that day in Manhattan.
The report continued to identify other appointees who publicly expressed hostility toward Zionism.
Examples included Fahd Ahmed, who stated “Zionism is racism”; Ruha Benjamin, who signed a statement calling Israel “ideologically founded on Jewish supremacy”; Lisa Ohta, who referred to “Zionism’s genocidal ideology”; and Mohammed Karim Chowdhury, who shared a post claiming “Zionists are worse than … Nazis,” ADL reported.
MAMDANI’S FATHER SAYS COLUMBIA ‘TARGETED’ ANTI-ISRAEL STUDENTS WITH ANTISEMITISM CRACKDOWN
A protester waves a Palestinian flag during a protest on college campuses in Washington, D.C., on March 23, 2025. (ANDREW THOMAS/Middle Eeast Images/AFP via Getty Images)
The organization also identified Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari, who was cited for allegedly posting a photo of herself at an encampment in front of a banner displaying an inverted red triangle, a symbol associated with Hamas, alongside the text “LONG LIVE THE RESISTANCE.”
The report also states that at least 12 appointees publicly expressed support for anti-Israel campus encampments during the spring of 2024, with at least five attending the protests in person. The ADL highlighted Gianpaolo Baiocchi, who was reportedly arrested at the NYU encampment and later asserted that no hate speech was present. The ADL disputes that claim, citing flyers distributed at the encampment that called for “Death to Israeli Real Estate” and “Death to America.”
Demonstrators raise a “Free Palestine” flag on Oct. 4, 2025. (Dan Gainor)
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Mamdani, who takes office on Jan. 1, has previously and repeatedly emphasized that he stands against antisemitism.
The ADL noted that many appointees did not raise concerns and emphasized that at least 25 individuals expressed support for the Jewish community, including Rabbi Joe Potasnik, Félix Matos Rodríguez, Wayne Ho, John King, and Jerry Goldfeder. However, the organization said it remains concerned about Mamdani’s team overall.
“Many of Mayor-elect Mamdani’s Transition Committee appointments are inconsistent with his campaign commitments to prioritize the safety of New York’s Jewish community,” the ADL wrote in the report.
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani for more comment.
California joined 20 other states and the District of Columbia on Monday in a lawsuit that seeks to prevent the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from being defunded and closed by the Trump administration.
The legal action filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene, Ore. by the Democratic attorneys general accuses Acting Director Russell Vought of trying to illegally withhold funds from the agency by unlawfully interpreting its funding statute. Also named as defendants are the agency itself and the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.
“For California, the CFPB has been an invaluable enforcement partner, working hand-in-hand with our office to protect pocketbooks and stop unfair business practices. But once again, the Trump administration is trying to weaken and ultimately dismantle the CFPB,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said, in a press conference to announce the 41-page legal action.
The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the action, co-lead by Bonta and the attorneys general from Oregon, New York, New Jersey and Colorado.
Established by Congress in 2010 after the subprime mortgage abuses that gave rise to the financial crisis, the agency is funded by the Federal Reserve as a method of insulating it from political pressure.
The Dodd-Frank Act statute requires the agency’s director to petition for a reasonable amount of funding to carry out the CFPB’s duties from the “combined earnings” of the Federal Reserve System.
Prior to this year that was interpreted to mean the Federal Reserve’s gross revenue. But an opinion from the Department of Justice claims that should be interpreted to mean the Federal Reserve’s profits, of which it has none since it has been operating at a loss since 2022. The lawsuit alleges the interpretation is bogus.
“Defendant Russell T. Vought has worked tirelessly to terminate the CFPB’s operations by any means necessary — denying Plaintiffs access to CFPB resources to which they are statutorily entitled. In this action, Plaintiffs challenge Defendant Vought’s most recent effort to do so,” the federal lawsuit states.
The complaint alleges the agency will run out of cash by next month if the policy is not reversed. Bonta said he and other attorney generals have not decided whether they will seek a restraining order or temporary injunction to change the new funding policy.
Prior to the second Trump administraition, the CPFB boasted of returning nearly $21 billion to consumers nationwide through enforcement actions, including against Wells Fargo in San Francisco over a scandal involving the creation of accounts never sought by customers.
Other big cases have been brought against student loan servicer Navient for mishandling payments and other issues, as well as Toyota Motor Credit for charging higher interest rates to Black and Asian customers.
However, this year the agency has dropped notable cases. It terminated early a consent order reached with Citibank over allegations it discriminated against customers with Armenian surnames in Los Angeles County.
It also dropped a lawsuit against Zelle that accused Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and other banks of rushing the payments app into service, leading to $870 million in fraud-related losses by users. The app denied the allegations.
Monday’s lawsuit also notes that the agency is critical for states to carry out their own consumer protection mission and its closure would deprive them of their statutorily guaranteed access to a database run by the CFPB that tracks millions of consumer complaints, as well as to other data.
Vought was a chief architect of Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation blueprint to reduce the size and power of the federal bureaucracy during a second Trump admistration. In February, he ordered the agency to stop nearly all its work and has been seeking to drastically downsize it since.
The lawsuit filed Monday is the latest legal effort to keep the agency in business.
A lawsuit filed in February by National Treasury Employees Union and consumer groups accuses the Trump administration and Vought of attempting to unconstitutionally abolish the agency, created by an act of Congress.
“It is deflating, and it is unfortunate that Congress is not defending the power of the purse,” said Colorado Attorney General Philip Weiser, during Monday’s press conference.
“At other times, Congress vigilantly safeguarded its authority, but because of political polarization and fear of criticizing this President, the Congress is not doing it,” he said.
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