Newsom hits back at Trump: ‘We are all Sauli Niinistö’

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he felt bad for Finnish President Sauli Niinistö after President Trump ripped into California and some of its political leaders during an Oval Office appearance on Wednesday. 

“Hello @realDonaldTrump…heard you just gave me a shout out in the Oval Office,” Newsom tweeted.

“Actually watched your press conference — mainly just feel bad for the poor President of Finland who had to endure that. Today, we are all Sauli Niinistö,” Newsom tweeted.

Hello @realDonaldTrump…heard you just gave me a shout out in the Oval Office.

Actually watched your press conference — mainly just feel bad for the poor President of Finland who had to endure that.

Today, we are all Sauli Niinistö. pic.twitter.com/jUgGWQueQC

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) October 2, 2019

Trump criticized California and Newsom over a bill the governor signed into law in July that requires all candidates running for president or governor to release five years of federal tax returns in order to appear on California ballots. 

The law threatened to keep Trump off the ballot, but the White House won a legal victory on Tuesday when U.S. District Judge Morrison England Jr. released an opinion saying it was likely unconstitutional. England Jr.’s opinion comes after he ordered a preliminary injunction against the law last month. 

“Here’s what happened,” Trump said to reporters. “Yesterday, I won this case convincingly. … I didn’t see one story that I won that case, not one story, from the fake news.”

Trump also referred to Newsom as a “do-nothing,” multiple times. The president has often used this term as of late to describe Democratic lawmakers, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who on Wednesday held their own press conference minutes before Trump’s on-camera appearance to talk about the impeachment process.