California Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom claimed on Tuesday that he skipped out of a global climate conference in Scotland because his kids “had an intervention” for him where they pressed him not to miss Halloween.
Newsom’s remarks come as skepticism has swirled for days about his whereabouts as he remained largely out of public view for the better part of two weeks.
“I was a pirate,” Newsom said. “But we all were pirates this year. And I had, was actually, you know, it’s interesting even asked that question, because it does beg some questions that have been asked, interestingly, to me, in the last few days, you know, I was, you know, it’s been a been a hell of a couple years for all of us, for each and every one of you, particularly parents. And I want to speak particularly to the parents out here, the fits and starts at schools, the stresses of balancing your responsibilities at work, and also your responsibilities at home. And I’d extend those responsibilities, particularly to fathers that may not be doing as much, let’s be honest, as the moms have been doing in the last few years in balancing the responsibilities at home and, you know, I’ve been on this damn treadmill we, you know, we’ve gone from crisis to crisis, from wildfires and extremes from droughts and social justice and unrest, obviously, with COVID had this recall, you may have read about. And right after that recall, we just jumped right back into it.”
“We had all those bills, that three weeks of intensity around bill signing and I signed up to go to Europe and I was ready to go and have that dinner, [inaudible] this dinner with the family. And the kids literally, they kind of had an intervention, they said they couldn’t believe that I was gonna miss Halloween,” Newsom claimed. “And we got a five-year-old, my oldest is 12, four young kids. And I’m defending myself, I gotta go honey, this and that. And my wife was gonna go as well. And, you know, mom and dad missing Halloween, for them that’s worse than Christmas, missing Christmas.”
Newsom concluded, “And I woke up that next morning with something’s probably familiar to a lot of parents, that knot in your stomach that I had no damn choice. I had to cancel that trip. … And so not only did I get that costume, not only did I go trick or treating. I enjoyed the weekend. All four play soccer at the Boo Fest, anyone from Sacramento knows what the Boo Fest is, this big soccer tournament. And I was able to bring the kids to work.”
Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, posted and later deleted a tweet this week in an apparent response to critics questioning Newsom’s whereabouts.
“It’s funny how certain folks can’t handle the truth,” she wrote. “When someone cancels something, maybe they’re just in the office working; maybe in their free time they’re at home with their family, at their kids’ sports matches, or dining out with their wife. Please stop hating and get a life. ”
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