California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) was denied entry to a U.S.-designated venue at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday following pressure from the White House, his office said.
Newsom had been invited more than a week ago to participate in a fireside chat at the USA House, the official U.S. pavilion, which also hosted President Donald Trump for a speech earlier Wednesday. Fortune magazine, the organizer for the Newsom event, had begun promoting it.
A USA House official contacted the governor’s office Wednesday afternoon, shortly before the event was set to begin, and said they were canceling Fortune’s event, Newsom’s office said, backing up its account with screenshots of its communication with the event organizers. Newsom’s office said it was told his presence would not “align with their afternoon programming.” The governor’s office said USA House offered him the option to attend a “nightcap reception” instead, which he declined.
“How weak and pathetic do you have to be to be this scared of a fireside chat?” Newsom wrote on X.
Newsom, a fierce critic of the president and likely contender for the presidency in 2028, had traveled to the forum eager for confrontation with Trump. Before his departure, an aide said he planned to use his appearance to “confront the global business elite,” urging world leaders to “stand up to President Trump’s abuse of power and economic corruption or be complicit in the collapse of democratic capitalism.” Wednesday’s fireside chat would have served as a rebuttal to Trump’s speech.
Newsom is still slated to speak at a separate Semafor event Thursday morning before flying home to California.
The change in programming Wednesday came after several Trump administration officials participated in events at the USA House throughout the day. Among them was Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who spoke before Newsom’s team was notified that his event would be canceled, according to Newsom’s aides.
“I was told he was asked to give a speech on his signature policies, but he’s not speaking because what have his economic policies brought?” Bessent said during his remarks. “He is here hobnobbing with the global elite while his California citizens are still homeless.”
USA House did not immediately respond to request for comment. Its webpage says the venue “does not represent the U.S. government and does not organize official government programming,” but it did not otherwise explain what happened to Newsom’s event.
The State Department provided a statement from White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly that did not confirm whether the administration had prevented Newsom from entering the venue.
“No one in Davos knows who third-rate governor Newscum is or why he is frolicking around Switzerland instead of fixing the many problems he created in California,” Kelly said.
Patrick Reilly, senior vice president of communications at Fortune, said that Newsom had been invited to speak but that USA House “determined it would not be able to accommodate the Governor’s participation and communicated that decision to Fortune.”
“Fortune programs all editorial conversations independently, though it is common with high-profile international events that participation can be affected by logistical, security, and other access considerations that involve multiple stakeholders and evolve over time,” Reilly said, adding that Fortune looks forward to “future conversations with Governor Newsom, as well as leaders from each and every side of these important global conversations.”
Newsom and Trump have had a combative, but occasionally collaborative, relationship since they met during Trump’s first term when Trump came to California to survey wildfire damage. They worked together at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, but the California governor ultimately became one of the leaders of the resistance to Trump’s first-term agenda and was one of his chief antagonists on the campaign trail in 2024.
After Trump was elected that November, Newsom recalibrated his approach, insisting he was offering “an open hand” and not “a closed fist” — and he sought help from the Trump administration for the response to the deadly fires in Los Angeles in early 2025.
But the relationship unraveled when the Trump administration began widespread immigration raids in California in June and the president sent in members of the California National Guard and the Marines — over Newsom’s objections — in a show of force against protesters. Trump said he thought Newsom should be arrested; Newsom said the president was moving toward creating an authoritarian regime. Newsom now taunts Trump constantly on his social media, trolling the president with satirical messages that mimic the all-caps style of Trump’s social media posts and calling out what he views as misinformation from the administration and its allies.
Trump mentioned Newsom during his address Wednesday, saying that Democratic governors should contact the White House and ask for help with their states. In the audience, Newsom could be seen shaking his head in response.
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