California’s governor said on Thursday the state of democracy in the United States was at “code red.”
Gavin Newsom, a frequent Trump critic, made the comments during a session of World Economic Forum in Davos.
“There’s no rule of law. It’s the rule of Don,” Newsom said.
“I hope for Europeans it’s dawning on you. It’s not the rule of law. You don’t have co-equal branches of government. You have a supine Congress.”
Newsom was scheduled to take stage Wednesday for a conversation with Fortune magazine at USA House, a venue housing many U.S. business and trade events on the sidelines of Davos. Fortune said it was a USA House decision to cancel Newsom’s conversation.
Newsom’s office said the decision was made “under pressure from the White House.”
USA House did not immediately respond for comment.
The White House didn’t say whether it pressured USA House to cancel the conversation, but spokeswoman Anna Kelly questioned why Newsom was in Davos and blasted him as a “third-rate governor.
When Newsom did get a chance to speak on Thursday he described a grim picture of the U.S. under the Trump administration where officers from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have been rounding up people they suspect of being illegal immigrants and putting them in detention centers.
