California Gov. Gavin Newsom pushes back on ‘irresponsible’ Montana trip criticism amid state-funded travel ban

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing back against reports that he kept his family trip to Montana a secret because of a ban on state-funded travel to places with anti-LGBTQ laws. “We are not in the business of regulating where people have family or where they spend their vacation,” Erin Mellon, Newsom’s communications director, said Wednesday. “Nor will we persecute them for visiting their family. The press shouldn’t either.” Newsom and his family left the state on July 1, the first day of the California Legislature’s monthlong recess. The governor’s office said he was ...