California leaders are gearing up for a legal showdown with the White House after President Donald Trump claimed “unquestioned power” to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco. Governor Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu have all vowed to block any such move in court, calling it a dangerous abuse of federal authority. The tense standoff comes as Trump pushes an aggressive campaign to “punish” liberal cities using military force.
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Trump’s Threat Sparks Legal Fury
The controversy began after Trump told Fox News on Sunday that he planned to send National Guard troops to San Francisco to “make it great again,” alleging residents had begged for intervention. The president’s remarks, echoing his recent rhetoric about “lawless liberal cities,” triggered immediate backlash from California officials, who accused him of fabricating a crisis.
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Newsom Condemns Federal Overreach
Governor Gavin Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, issued a scathing rebuke, warning that California would not tolerate unauthorized military incursions. “Donald Trump, himself a convicted felon who pardoned felons convicted of assaulting federal law enforcement officers, is misleading the public with his false narrative that America, and especially California, is some lawless wasteland,” he said. Newsom called Trump’s move “a direct assault on the rule of law” and vowed that the state would “always defend the Constitution, our people, and our values from authoritarian overreach.”
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Attorney General Bonta Joins the Fight
Attorney General Rob Bonta also pledged to fight Trump’s plan in court, branding it “outrageous,” “indefensible,” and illegal. “President Trump has long abandoned any pretenses for the illegal federalization and deployment of California’s National Guard,” Bonta said. “He does not care about satisfying the conditions of the law; he cares about himself, and he cares about power.” He accused Trump of trying to use the National Guard “as his own Royal Army.”
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San Francisco Pushes Back
Local leaders in San Francisco, including Mayor Daniel Lurie, Senator Scott Wiener, and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, have united in opposition. “I am deeply grateful to the members of our military for their service to our country, but the National Guard does not have the authority to arrest drug dealers, and sending them to San Francisco will do nothing to get fentanyl off the streets or make our city safer,” Lurie said. Officials noted that violent crime and homicides have actually fallen to historic lows.
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Tech Figures Add to Controversy
Trump’s plan has also drawn attention from Silicon Valley figures. Tech moguls Marc Benioff, Elon Musk, and White House AI czar David Sacks reportedly urged Trump to take action, claiming the city was overwhelmed by homelessness and violence. However, Benioff later walked back his comments as criticism mounted.
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Broader Pattern of Federal Deployments
San Francisco is the latest liberal stronghold to face federal intervention following Trump’s previous deployments of troops to Los Angeles, Portland, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., ostensibly to suppress protests. The president has hinted at invoking the Insurrection Act to justify such actions under the pretext of “domestic invasion,” a move experts say would test constitutional limits on executive power.
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Ongoing Legal Battles
California’s confrontation with Washington is not new. Earlier this month, Newsom and Bonta sued after Trump ignored a court order and sent California National Guard members to Oregon to guard federal buildings from protesters. Although a restraining order initially blocked the deployment, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned it last week, setting the stage for another high-stakes legal battle between Sacramento and the White House.