California Governor Gavin Newsom let pictures do the talking in a swipe at the officials President Donald Trump has put in charge of U.S. security.
Newsom posted a series of humiliating photos showing the Trump administration officials who have been put in charge of security. The post comes as Trump’s war with Iran has amplified fears of attacks on U.S. soil.
“The 4 people tasked with our nation’s security,” the Democratic governor’s press office wrote on X, alongside photos of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel, newly-confirmed Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and Thomas Fugate, the 22-year-old ex-DHS secretary Kristi Noem put in charge of a unit fighting domestic terror last year.
The California governor posted the infamous photo of Hegseth holding a champagne bottle on-air while ringing in the New Year as a Fox News host in 2023.
After Trump tapped him for defense secretary, a number of Hegseth’s former Fox News colleagues went public with their concerns about his drinking habits. Former colleagues said they would often smell alcohol on him before his segments, with one former Fox employee telling NBC News at the time, “His drinking should be disqualifying.”
Hegseth, who has denied the allegations, has been repeatedly embroiled in scandals during his tenure as Pentagon chief, including the Signalgate controversy, in which he shared sensitive war plans on a messaging app, and accusations of war crimes after sources claimed he ordered a second strike to kill survivors on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean.
For Patel, Newsom, 58, chose a similarly boozy photo of the FBI director chugging a beer while partying with the U.S. men’s hockey team after their gold medal win at the Milan Olympics in February. Footage of Patel’s partying even led Trump, a teetotaler, to scold the former podcast host, according to reports.
Patel, 46, who used a taxpayer-funded plane to get to the party—despite his agency’s insistence that the trip was strictly for business, has been dubbed “Keystone Kash” for his bungled handling of several high-profile investigations.
Newsom posted a photo of Mullin during the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, when the former MMA fighter assisted officers in barricading the doors to the House floor but nonetheless later voted against certifying election results and spread Trump’s baseless fraud claims.
The Oklahoma senator, 48, was confirmed as the new DHS secretary on Monday, despite concerns over his temperament and his ties to a hardline evangelical Christian group.
To top off his list, Newsom posted the eyebrow-raising photo of Fugate. The Daily Beast revealed last year that the official tapped to oversee the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) had no experience in fighting terrorism—and in fact had only ever worked as a gardener and a grocery store clerk. DHS later sought to downplay his role.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Pentagon, the FBI, the DHS, and Mullin’s office for comment.
