Newsom punches back at California's critics and Trump in his final State of the State speech

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state must stand up to Republican President Donald Trump ’s “assault on our values,” using his final State of the State address Thursday to declare his state a bulwark against what he called a chaotic federal government.

The Democrat, who is eyeing a 2028 presidential run, defended his record as he nears the end of eight years leading the nation’s most populous state. He highlighted California’s work on homelessness, climate policy, crime and health care costs, saying he’s committed to tackling the state’s thorniest issues even without a stable partner in Washington.

“The federal government, respectfully, it’s unrecognizable, protecting the powerful at the expense of the vulnerable," Newsom said, accusing the Trump administration of governing through fear. He criticized what he called a “carnival of chaos,” pointing to National Guard deployments to Democratic-led cities, disputes over food aid, and cuts to medical research.

Newsom said California should serve as a national model as it defends its policies from what he called federal overreach, noting the state has sued the Trump administration more than 50 times. He spoke for more than an hour to lawmakers in Sacramento, often drawing applause from Democrats. He did not spend much time on immigration, an area where he has sharply criticized Trump.

Republicans remained largely silent during the speech and argued afterward that Newsom has not done enough to address high electricity and gas prices.

“After years of one-party rule under Gov. Gavin Newsom, the results don’t match the rhetoric,” said state Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, who represents part of the Inland Empire region. “While the governor takes victory laps, families are taking extra shifts.”

The White House said the governor's policies “have completely destroyed the great state of California.”

“Instead of using his state-of-the-state to lie about the President in hopes of courting left wing voters ahead of his doomed-to-fail Presidential campaign, Newscum should’ve talked about how he planned to undo the damage he’s done to California," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement, using Trump’s favored nickname for Newsom.

The governor is scheduled to release his proposed budget Friday after years of fiscal strain from repeated shortfalls.

Newsom has long used his annual address to tout California’s economic growth and technological innovation while responding to critiques of its high cost of living and having the nation's largest homeless population. This year, he dismissed critics as suffering from “California Derangement Syndrome,” echoing Trump’s use of the phrase “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

Newsom and Trump have clashed over issues ranging from the federal administration's National Guard deployment in Los Angeles to the president's efforts to block California’s 2035 ban on new gas-powered cars, a nationwide first.

The speech came a day after the state marked the one-year anniversary of the devastating Los Angeles-area fires that killed 31 people and destroyed neighborhoods. Newsom has asked Congress and Trump for nearly $34 billion to help the region recover. He faulted Trump for not responding to the request, saying the federal government is neglecting Californians affected by the disaster.

“It’s time for the president of the United States to do his job,” Newsom said, “not turn his back on Americans who happen to live in the great state of California.”

Newsom spent part of the speech highlighting progress on several policy fronts. He said unsheltered homelessness dropped 9% last year. His office said the number is based on data reported by local officials who conducted an annual estimate of the homeless population in their communities. He praised the state’s cleanup work after the L.A.-area fires and efforts to provide mortgage relief to survivors, while urging lawmakers to speed rebuilding. He acknowledged survivors of the fires who were in the audience Thursday.

He called for action against large investors buying up affordable homes, arguing the practice is driving up rents and shutting families out of homeownership. He also pointed to falling homicide rates in Oakland and San Francisco and the $267 million the state sent to law enforcement agencies in 2023 to help combat retail and property crime. He highlighted the California Highway Patrol’s crime prevention work in Bakersfield, San Bernardino, Stockton and other cities.

This is the first time Newsom has delivered the State of the State to lawmakers in person since 2022. He referenced his dyslexia Thursday, saying it makes it difficult to read from a written text live.

“It’s always been something that I have to work through," he said.

In recent years, he has submitted his address in writing to lawmakers, fulfilling a constitutional requirement that he report to the Legislature in some form.

He also tried other approaches that have departed from tradition, including posting a prerecorded speech online and touring the state to announce policies aimed at tackling homelessness and mental health crises.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during his State of the State address Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Gov. Gavin Newsom gives his State of the State address at the State Capitol on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee via AP, Pool)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom arrives for his State of the State address Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, left, takes part in a moment of silence for the victim of a fatal shooting involving federal law enforcement agents in Minnesota, alongside California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, right, before his State of the State address Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during his State of the State address Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom arrives for his State of the State address Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

FILE - California Gov. Gavin Newsom walks through the venue for the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in Belem, Brazil. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

GUATIRE, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela released a number of citizens and foreigners from its prisons on Thursday in what a top government official described as a gesture to “seek peace” less than a week after former President Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. forces to face drug-trafficking charges in New York.

Jorge Rodríguez, brother of acting President Delcy Rodríguez and head of the National Assembly, said a “significant number” of people would be freed, but he was not specific about how many or provide names. As night fell, The Associated Press identified only five released detainees — all Spanish citizens — but advocates said they expected more people to walk free in the coming hours.

Venezuela's government has a history of releasing people imprisoned for political reasons — including real and perceived opponents — during moments of high tension to signal openness to dialogue. The releases on Thursday were the first since Maduro was deposed.

Human rights groups and members of the opposition were encouraged by the move, though it wasn’t clear yet what it represented — whether the growing pains of a government in transition or a symbolic overture to placate the Trump administration, which has allowed Maduro’s loyalists to stay in power as it exerts pressure through crippling sanctions.

Journalists, lawyers and human rights activists were among those freed on Thursday. At prisons across the country, families waited for hours in hopes their loved ones would be among those released.

“Consider this a gesture by the Bolivarian government, which is broadly intended to seek peace,” Rodríguez announced, using the term for the government in tribute to Simon Bolívar, Venezuela’s independence hero.

For Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, the gesture was more “an act of moral restitution."

“Nothing brings back the stolen years,” she said in an audio message from exile addressed to families of released detainees, urging them to take comfort in the knowledge that “injustice will not be eternal and that the truth, though badly wounded, eventually prevails.”

The releases also signaled “good news” in the eyes of Alfredo Romero, president of Foro Penal, an advocacy group for prisoners based in Caracas.

He expressed cautious hope "that this is indeed the beginning of the dismantling of a repressive system in Venezuela ... and not a mere gesture, a charade of releasing some prisoners and incarcerating others.”

Despite a widespread crackdown during the tumultuous 2024 election — in which the government said it detained 2,000 people — Venezuela's government denies that there are prisoners unjustly detained, accusing them of plotting to destabilize Maduro’s government.

Romero's organization said that as of Dec. 29, 2025, there were 863 people detained in Venezuela “for political reasons.”

The Spanish government said Thursday that five of its citizens had been released from custody in Venezuela and would soon return to Spain. Among them was prominent Venezuelan-Spanish lawyer and human rights activist Rocío San Miguel, according to the country's top diplomat.

Speaking to Spanish broadcaster RNE, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares identified the other Spanish nationals released as Andrés Martínez, José María Basoa, Ernesto Gorbe and Miguel Moreno.

Two of them, Martínez and Basoa, were arrested in Venezuela in September 2024 and accused of plotting to destabilize Maduro’s government as Spanish spies — allegations vehemently denied by Spain.

Spain’s El País newspaper reported Thursday that another freed detainee, Gorbe, was arrested in 2024 on allegations of overstaying his visa.

As the news of the release broke Thursday, families of detainees rushed to prisons across the country, seeking information on their loved ones.

Pedro Durán, 60, was among those hoping to reunite with his brother Franklin Durán as he waited outside a prison in the town of Guatire, around 25 miles (43 kilometers) outside of Caracas. Durán said his brother was detained in 2021 on charges of trying to overthrow Maduro’s government — an accusation his family denies.

Durán, who has been living in Spain, heard rumors on Wednesday that the government could release a number of detainees and immediately bought a plane ticket from Madrid to Caracas to find his brother.

“I don’t have words to express the emotion I’m feeling,” Durán said. “We’re feeling a lot of hope ... We’re just waiting now.”

Despite the anticipation, fear persists.

“Of course everyone here is very scared, but what more could (the government) do to us that they haven’t done already,” he added.

Ronal Rodríguez, a researcher at the Venezuelan Observatory at the University of Rosario in Bogotá, Colombia, said the government releases prisoners at politically strategic moments.

In July last year, Venezuela released 10 jailed U.S. citizens and permanent residents in exchange for the repatriation of over 200 Venezuelans deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador, where they had been held in a prison built to house criminal gangs.

“The regime uses them like a bargaining chip,” he said of prisoners in Venezuela. It will be telling to see not only how many people the government releases, he said, but also under what conditions and whether the releases include anyone high-profile.

On Wednesday, the Trump administration sought to assert its control over Venezuelan oil, seizing a pair of sanctioned tankers transporting petroleum and announcing plans to relax some sanctions so the U.S. can oversee the sale of Venezuela’s petroleum worldwide.

Both moves reflect the administration’s determination to make good on its effort to control the next steps in Venezuela through its vast oil resources after U.S. President Donald Trump pledged after the capture of Maduro that the U.S. will “run” the country.

Associated Press reporters Jorge Rueda and Ariana Cubillos in Caracas, Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires and Suman Naishadham in Madrid contributed to this report. Janetsky reported from Mexico City.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Relatives of political prisoners gather outside the Rodeo I prison in Guatire, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, after National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said the government would release Venezuelan and foreign prisoners. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Riot police arrive to El Helicoide, the headquarters of Venezuela's intelligence service and detention center, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, after National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said the government would release Venezuelan and foreign prisoners. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Relatives of political prisoners gather outside the Rodeo I prison in Guatire, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, after National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said the government would release Venezuelan and foreign prisoners. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Police guard El Helicoide, the headquarters of Venezuela's intelligence service and detention center, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, after National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said the government would release Venezuelan and foreign prisoners. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

El Helicoide, top, the headquarters of Venezuela's intelligence service and detention center, stands in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, after National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said the government would release a significant number of Venezuelan and foreign prisoners. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

FILE - Activists and relatives of prisoners release balloons calling for the freedom of political prisoners, in Caracas, Venezuela, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

Commuters ride a bus past a mural calling for the release of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was detained by U.S. forces, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)