Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom sat down with The Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro for a nearly two hour podcast, released Thursday.
Early in the conversation, Newsom and Shapiro discussed Renee Nicole Good, the woman shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent on Jan. 7. In the moments before the deadly shooting, Good blocked the street with her car, entered into a contentious verbal confrontation with ICE agents, and then (judging by cell phone footage) appeared to accelerate in the direction of an officer. (RELATED: Gavin Newsom Becomes Stuttering Mess As He’s Asked If Boys Can Become Girls)
“Now, this immediately broke down into two separate narratives, both of which I think are untrue,” Shapiro began.
“One was a narrative that was immediately pushed by the Trump administration and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem that [Good] was a domestic terrorist who was attempting to run over officers with her car and was legitimately trying [to hit], not just this officer but multiple officers. That was the original statement. I said at the time I thought that was untrue. And then your press office tweeted out that it was state sponsored terrorism, which, I mean, governor, I do have to ask you about that. That … sort of thing makes our politics worse.”
“Yeah,” Newsom said.
Newsom’s press office posted, “STATE. SPONSORED. TERRORISM[,]” on Jan. 7, presumably in reference to Good’s death.
.@GavinNewsom WALKS BACK calling ICE operations “state-sponsored terrorism”:
Shapiro: Your press office said it was “state-sponsored terrorism.”
Newsom: “Yeah…”
Shapiro: “Our ICE officers obviously are not terrorists…”
Newsom: “Yeah, I think that’s fair.” pic.twitter.com/ltjehS6ZVJ
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) January 16, 2026
“I mean, it does,” Shapiro continued. “I mean, our … ICE officers are obviously not terrorists. A tragic situation is not state sponsored terrorism.” (RELATED: Newsom Has California-Sized Monkey On His Back)
“Yeah, I think that’s fair,” Newsom conceded.
Put another dollar in the “Newsom tells someone what they want to hear“ jar. The governor (probably) has national political ambitions. Maybe an eye on the presidency, as many have speculated. But Newsom can’t decide whether he wants to be a Bill Clinton style “voice of reason,” or a “dark woke” resistance lib.
Follow Natalie Sandoval on X: @NatSandovalDC
