'Word salad': Gavin Newsom torches Mike Johnson for dodging question on crime in own state

California Gov. Gavin Newsom ripped into House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) Friday following the GOP leader’s appearance on Fox News where he failed to directly address claims that his own state’s murder rate was far higher than California’s amid his support for President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of Washington, D.C.

Johnson appeared on Fox News Friday where he was asked to respond to comments made by Newsom on Thursday, where the California governor pointed out that Johnson’s home state and district had a far-greater murder rate than California’s, suggesting the speaker of hypocrisy amid his support for Trump’s D.C. takeover, and pledge to do the same in other Democrat-run cities.

“If he is to invest in crime suppression, I hope the president would look at the facts; just consider Speaker Johnson's state and district,” Newsom said Thursday during a press conference. “The murder rate [is] nearly four-times higher than California's in Louisiana.”

Asked to respond, Johnson immediately went after Newsom’s character, and went on to speak more generally about his party’s plans to address crime more broadly.

“Gavin Newsom will do anything for attention; he can name-drop me all that he wants, he needs to go and govern his state and not be engaging in all of this,” Johnson said.

“Look, we have crime in cities all across America, and we're against that everywhere and we need to bring policies to bear. My hometown of Shreveport has done a great job of reducing crime, gradually, but we've got to address it everywhere that it rears its ugly head.”

Newsom, responding to a clip of Johnson’s comments posted on social media, derided his answer as a “word salad.”

“This is what you call a WORD SALAD,” Newsom wrote in a social media post on X Friday.

Shreveport ranked 18th on 24/7 Wall Street’s “America’s 25 Murder Capitals” list and remains among the nation’s most violent cities, with a murder rate of 21.4 per 100,000 residents, and a violent crime rate of 949 per 100,000. Newsom has criticized Johnson in the past for his continued support of Trump’s federal takeover targeting Democrat-run cities given his own state’s problems with violent crime.

Nevertheless, Johnson continued to voice his support for Trump’s federal takeover, and went as far as to suggest that residents of cities Trump has floated for additional federal takeovers, such as Chicago, would welcome the deployment of federal officers and National Guard members to patrol their city’s streets.

“I think every major city in the country, the residents of those cities are open to that, anxious to have it, and we're the party that's going to bring that forward,” Johnson said.

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