Administration

Trump: California governor has done a ‘terrible’ job

by Julia Manchester

President Trump on Tuesday slammed California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) during his first visit to the state as president, saying Brown has done a terrible job running the state. 

“I think Gov. Brown has done a very poor job running California,” Trump told reporters.

“They have the highest taxes in the United States. The place is totally out of control. You have ‘sanctuary cities,’ where they have criminals living in the sanctuary cities. And then the mayor of Oakland goes out and notifies when [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] ICE is going in to pick them up,” he said. 

{mosads}

The president went on to tout his own property in the state. 

“Hey, I have property in California. I will say I don’t think too much about my property in California, but I have great property in California,” the president said.

“The taxes are way, way out of whack and people are going to start to move pretty soon,” he said. 

Trump is visiting the state to view prototypes for his proposed border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. He noted the wall’s construction while speaking to reporters. 

“And if you don’t [have] safety, meaning if you don’t have this kind of wall, the drugs are pouring through in California, can’t do it,” he said.

Brown has an approval rating of 62 percent in California, while Trump has a 30 percent approval rating, according to a poll from the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California cited by Politico last month. 
 
California’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.3 percent in December, marking a new low in records dating back to 1976, according to The Associated Press. 

The Trump administration is currently at odds with the state over the issue of sanctuary cities.

The Department of Justice last week filed a lawsuit against the Golden State aiming to block three sanctuary laws that the state’s legislature passed last year in response to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement measures.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the lawsuit during a visit to Sacramento last week. 

“California is using every power it has, and some it doesn’t, to frustrate federal law enforcement,” Sessions said. “So you can be sure I’m going to use every power I have to stop them.”

Brown fired back, calling Sessions’s move “unprecedented.” 

“This is really unprecedented for the chief law enforcement officer of the United States to come out to California and act more like Fox News than a law enforcement officer. This is a political stunt,” Brown said.

“We know the Trump administration is full of liars. They’ve pled guilty already to the special counsel.” 

Trump was scheduled to give a speech to members of the military later on Tuesday before heading back to Washington.

Administration