California Gov. Gavin Newsom is questioningPresident Donald Trump's mental acuity in the pair'srunning clash over immigration enforcementin Los Angeles, echoing the president's campaign criticism of his predecessor,Joe Biden. Newsom saidTrump commended the National Guard early on June 8for quelling violence before troops arrived on the scene, made up a conversation about discussing the deployment and got the date of their phone conversation wrong. "They weren't even deployed and he claimed victory. He's lost it. He hasn't lost a step – and I saw him trip on the steps today,"Newsom told Fox News in Los Angeleson June 8. "This is serious. He is not the same person that I dealt with just four years ago. He's incapable of even a train of thought. He's making things up." For his part, Trump has called Newsom "grossly incompetent" andsaid he could be arrestedfor obstructing federal authorities enforcing immigration laws. Newsom's criticism of Trump echoed how the president attacked Biden's mental and physical ability. Trump repeatedly referred to Biden tripping on March 19, 2021,while climbing the steps of Air Force One, which his press secretary at the time blamed on the wind, according to ABC News.Trump ordered an investigationof Biden's use of an autopen to sign official documents while in office. Newsom mentioned Trump stumblingon June 8while boarding Air Force One. Newsom's press officemocked Trump for misspeaking, such as on June 11 when the president said the governor's "primarily crime is running for governor." The Trump's 16-minute call to Newsom was early June 7 on the East Coast or late June 6 – the first day of protests – on the West Coast, according to acall log he gave Fox News. Newsom has ridiculed Trump for referring to that call happening days later. "Trump doesn't even know what day it is,"Newsom said June 10 on social media. Trump has since told reporters he threatened during that call to deploy the National Guard if Newsom didn't do more to combat the protests. But Newsom contends the guard never came up during the conversation. "Stone-cold liar,"Newsom told Fox News in Los Angeles. "He made that up, like he makes up so many other things. He never said that." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Newsom slams Trump's mental ability in immigration feud
