Sacramento, California - California Governor Gavin Newsom has called out White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt after she made the bold and ironic assertion that the Democratic Party is "protecting" pedophiles.
While speaking with reporters on Monday, Leavitt criticized Democrats for speaking out after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good, a US citizen, in Minnesota last week.
Leavitt continued pushing the claim by President Donald Trump and his administration that Good was "a lunatic who was a part of a group, an organized group to interject and to impede on law enforcement organizations."
"It's disgusting what we have seen from the left, and I think it just shows you where the modern-day Democrat Party stands today, in protecting illegal alien pedophiles and rapists and murderers over law-abiding American citizens and our brave men and women who serve in law enforcement," she added.
Newsom shared a clip of Leavitt's comments in an X post, and pointed out the clear irony behind them.
"The Trump Administration has still not complied with Congressional law and released the Epstein Files... WHY?" Newsom wrote.
Trump administration opposes release of Epstein files
President Trump ran on the promise of releasing the files on notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to the public. But after multiple delays, and countless news stories exposing Trump's close ties with Epstein, the DOJ ultimately declined to release them.
In response, members of Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which forced the DOJ to release the files in full. The DOJ then missed the deadline to release the files and has since released documents in very small batches, most of which are heavily redacted.
Leavitt's comments were similarly called out for their irony by other X critics, as Democrats have accused Trump of protecting wealthy and powerful people who were either involved in Epstein's crimes, or aware of them.
The account White House Xray described the remarks as "projection perfected," while the media group Meidas Touch wrote, "Pedo protector says what now?"
One user wrote, "She says all this bulls**t with a smile on her face, and a cross around her neck."
President Trump has openly admitted that he has been opposed to the files being released as he believes many rich and powerful people who "did nothing wrong" will be "hurt" by them.