Newsom Moves to Tax Trump Fund Recipients
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is taking aim at President Donald Trump’s new Anti-Weaponization Fund, and he is not being subtle about it. He says anyone in California who gets money from the fund should face a 100% state tax. That puts Newsom on a collision course with Trump supporters while giving critics fresh ammo to point at California’s own spending habits.
“Anyone from California that receives any of those funds,” Newsom said at a Wednesday news conference. “We want to tax 100% of those proceeds and that’s an action the state of California can take. It’s an action we look forward to taking.”
The fund itself is a political grenade. Supporters call it nonpartisan. Critics say it is just a way to reward Trump allies. Democrats have zeroed in on the idea that people convicted or indicted over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot could benefit from the money. Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of more than 1,500 rioters on his first day back in office, and that move only fueled the fight.
Newsom has tried to make the case that the fund is a giveaway to people who attacked police and disrupted the transfer of power. On X, he wrote, “He pardoned all of those folks that were beating up cops and absolved them, providing them 1.776 billion dollars. So not only do you get a pardon, you get rewarded,” Newsom wrote on X. “That’s why this is needed.”
But Newsom’s attack opened the door to a familiar counterpunch. Republicans and conservative critics quickly pointed to California’s own record, saying the governor has no business lecturing anyone about waste, favoritism, or political spending. They highlighted a $25 million legal fund created to fight what Newsom called “legal warfare” from the Trump administration. California Republican Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones later called it a “slush fund.”
There is also the bigger bill coming due in Sacramento. California is staring at a roughly $2.9 billion shortfall for the 2027 budget. At the same time, the state has spent billions on unfinished projects that keep dragging on and on. The high-speed rail line is the biggest target. It is still unfinished and carries an estimated price tag of $128 billion, even though no track has been laid.
Then there is the wildlife crossing project that ran $21 million over budget. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy mocked it as a “bridge to nowhere.” For critics, that was the perfect symbol of California governance: big promises, weak results, and taxpayers left holding the bag.
The showdown over the Anti-Weaponization Fund is now part of a bigger political fight. Democratic members of Congress from New York want to block it. A Connecticut state lawmaker is also pushing a 100% tax on the proceeds. The Justice Department created the fund last week as part of a lawsuit settlement between Trump and the Internal Revenue Service.
Fox News Digital said it reached out to the White House and Newsom’s office for comment.