Media figures ripped into Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, after she scolded the press pool for asking off-topic questions at a press conference.
Newsom held a press conference Wednesday afternoon to sign Senate Bill 106, which provides $90 million in one-time emergency funds for Planned Parenthood and other clinics offering “reproductive health care services.” After a handful of women, including Siebel Newsom, spoke in support of the bill, the Democratic governor made his own speech before opening the floor to questions from reporters.
Standing behind her husband, Siebel Newsom appeared visibly annoyed as Newsom fielded questions about the state’s troubled high-speed rail project and his planned trip to Munich. As the questions continued, one woman in the group of speakers began chanting “protect women, Planned Parenthood.”
Siebel Newsom could then be heard telling her husband she wanted to speak, before stepping forward and moving him aside.
“We just find it incredulous that we have Planned Parenthood here, and women are 51% of the population, and the majority of the questions, all of these questions have really been about other issues. So it’s just fascinating. You have this incredible women’s caucus and all these allies, and you’re not asking about it. And this happens over and over and over and over again,” Siebel Newsom said.
“You wonder why we have such a horrific war on women in this country, and that these guys are getting away with it, because you don’t seem to care,” Siebel Newsom added. “So I just offer that with love. But these are — you have incredible women in this room, and you have these allies. Ask about what we’re here for today, don’t you think?”
WATCH:
While the first question after Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s lecture did relate to the state’s funding for Planned Parenthood, reporters soon turned back to other topics involving Newsom’s leadership of California.
The moment quickly circulated online, prompting swift responses from local media in the state.
KCRA3 Political Director Ashley Zavala posted a video on X, noting that she had been seated just 20 feet from Siebel Newsom when she addressed the room. Zavala explained why journalists were asking off-topic questions and pointed out that most of the reporters in attendance were women.
“Now a setting like this is one of the few opportunities where the California Capitol Press Corps gets the opportunity to ask Governor Newsom questions. So oftentimes in settings like this, they are off topic. That was the case today,” Zavala said. “My questions, for example, were around the high speed rail. Others were around Casey Wasserman, the governor going to Munich and other topics. And then suddenly that’s when the first partner stepped up to the podium.”
“From the Associated Press, television to the New York Times, a lot of them represented by women. I’m going to play the whole clip in full, but after she said this, journalists continued to ask off topic questions,” Zavala continued. “This is not abnormal. This happens across the country. This happens especially in Washington, D.C. Journalists have a right to ask what they want.”
Other media figures responded on X to the video. RedState investigative journalist and managing editor Jennifer Van Laar called out Siebel Newsom’s previous response in the press to Newsom’s affair with Ruby Rippey Tourk, the wife of his campaign manager and close friend.
“Truly remarkable to hear journalists get blamed for “a horrific war on women in this country,” senior California politics and policy Politico reporter Jeremy B. White wrote.
“We have ‘such a horrific war on women in this country’ because… journalists ask questions that weren’t pre approved by the people in power?” San Francisco Chronicle columnist Emily Hoeven wrote in response to the clip.
California Globe Editor-in-Chief Katy Grimes snapped back after quoting Siebel Newsom’s description of the questioning as “incredulous.”
“Well, we just find the reaction sanctimonious and smug. Not every woman thinks aborting babies is admirable,” Grimes wrote.
“If Gavin Newsom runs for president, he and his wife will have to get used to this. Any public official does,” The Hill White House correspondent Julia Manchester wrote on X.
Los Angles Times reporter James Queally also added that if the governor holds a press conference, he’s going to get “questions from the press.”
“We’re not beholden to your choice of topic,” Queally wrote.
While Newsom continued to take off-topic questions, Jennifer Siebel Newsom stood behind her husband, smiling and holding hands with the women who were in attendance, though she still appeared visibly annoyed.
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