SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Governor Gavin Newsom applauded San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie for helping temporarily cool tensions with President Donald Trump, but suggested Silicon Valley billionaires are the main reason for the détente on threats of federal troops coming to the city.
At a campaign rally in San Jose for Proposition 50, Newsom told reporters he credited Lurie for striking a careful tone as Trump threatened to deploy federal troops to the city.
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“I’m very pleased. I want to applaud the temperance of the mayor,” Newsom said.
The governor was also quick to call out Trump’s relationships with Bay Area billionaires, insinuating that the tech moguls had an outsized influence on the president’s change of heart.
“Clearly, business leaders made the phone call to Donald Trump,” Newsom said. “He decided – for the moment – on the basis of some very powerful and wealthy people who make phone calls to him to back off because it seemed to be in everyone’s financial interests that they not make a spectacle of San Francisco.”
On Thursday, Trump wrote on his social platform that “great people like Jensen Huang, Marc Benioff, and others have called saying that the future of San Francisco is great. They want to give it a ‘shot.’ Therefore, we will not surge San Francisco on Saturday. Stay tuned!”
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When ABC7 News asked Newsom whether he believes Trump’s threats are truly off the table, Newsom made clear he’s not convinced the danger has passed.
“I’m not thinking for a second that’s the end of this in California. Quite the contrary. This guy’s just winding up.”
While Newsom continues his fierce resistance to the former president, Lurie has opted for a more cautious approach.
“I am laser-focused on San Francisco every single day,” the mayor said when asked about his Wednesday night conversation with Trump. “All I’m going to say about my conversation with the president – I believe everybody is seeing that crime is at record lows.”
Lurie declined to weigh in on Trump directly, reiterating that his focus remains on local public safety:
“I’m focused on San Francisco. Heads down. How do we keep our city safe?”
ABC7 News Insider Phil Matier said the moment underscores how two leaders from the same city are navigating the same political storm – very differently.
“They’re both from San Francisco, but this is the way it goes,” Matier said. “Daniel Lurie has to handle his situation the best way he deems in order to keep the troops and the trouble out of San Francisco. Gavin Newsom has a different agenda and a different audience – one that’s much broader and allows for a lot more fiery rhetoric.”
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