Gavin Newsom Slides Up to Front Row Of Trump Treasury Sec’s Davos Talk and Trolls Him Throughout

(Screengrab via X/Ed O’Keefe)

California Governor Gavin Newsom was spotted sliding up to the front row at Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s Davos talk on Tuesday, taking notes and trolling him throughout as he sat flanked by the cabinet member’s staffers.

The Democratic governor was in attendance for the World Economic Forum in Switzerland where he had earlier warned Europeans “to stand tall, stand firm, stand united” against President Donald Trump’s push to acquire control of Greenland, which has strained relations with allies there.

CBS News senior White House reporters Jennifer Jacobs and Ed O’Keefe, however, found themselves sitting directly behind Newsom as he joined the audience attending Bessent’s Q&A, hosted by Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo and broadcast live on the network.

In their corroborating accounts, the governor, a Democratic favorite for a 2028 presidential run, “took notes and silently scoffed at some of Bessent’s comments” – making his mockery clearly visible from the stage.

Newsom shook his head “in disagreement” and rolled his eyes, O’Keefe tweeted, even “throwing his head back” at one point.

According to Jacobs, two remarks that particularly got Newsom shaking his head and laughing were Bessent’s claim “that ‘drill baby drill’ has gotten gasoline prices downward below $2”, that Trump’s policies have other grocery “prices coming down” and that “there will be a real rise in income” in 2026.

The tweets caught the attention of White House communications director Steven Cheung who branded the governor a “petulant child” over his antics:

O’Keefe caught Newsom after the talk ended where the governor repeated his calls for Europe to “develop a backbone” and drop the “niceties” in managing Trump as he trashed the Greenland campaign as “absurd” and a “manufactured crisis.”

“This Greenland exercise is a joke, there’s no other way to color it. He’s also painting himself into a corner, it’s so damn obvious,” Newsom added. “He’s not going to invade and he doesn’t have that many cards to play and so this is an opportunity for the European Union to punch him in the face.”

The remarks come just weeks after Trump announced a fraud investigation into California, which Newsom’s office panned the president in reply as “a deranged, habitual liar whose relationship with reality ended years ago.”