ISTANBUL

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday denounced US President Donald Trump’s rejection of climate change at the United Nations, branding the remarks an “embarrassment” and a “fraud.”

Addressing world leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York, Trump dismissed climate science as a “con job” and a “green scam.”

“If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail,” Trump said, while deriding clean energy as a “joke” destroying the free world.

Speaking the same day at Climate Forward, a New York Times event, Newsom said climate disasters are already reshaping California. “Communities like Grizzly Flats and Paradise have been wiped off the map,” he said, citing towns destroyed by wildfires and floods.

“What an embarrassment. What a fraud,” the governor said. “I live in one of the most crisis-prone states in America, a state that’s seen lifestyles, places, traditions completely destroyed because of the reality of climate change. There’s no Republican or Democratic thermometer. It’s just reality.”

Newsom also accused Trump of trying to manipulate elections: “This guy’s trying to rig the midterm elections,” he said.

The California governor has been one of Trump’s most outspoken critics, clashing repeatedly over climate policy, immigration enforcement and federal wildfire aid. Their rivalry has intensified since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.