WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a proclamation that he says will prevent future changes to the Oval Office and Cabinet Room, throwing up a potential barrier to future presidents who might want to restyle the iconic office that Trump has gradually filled with gold flourishes.
The proclamation was Trump's first official action after his party was swept aside in midterm elections on Tuesday. Sitting on the Resolute Desk as he signed the document was a red baseball cap with “VETO” on the front, a not-so-subtle nod to the shifting of powers in Washington. But when he gathered reporters, it was to talk about his effort to keep the Oval Office as it is.
Trump said the proclamation will make the Oval Office and Cabinet Room a national monument and that major modifications would require approval from Congress. But proclamations themselves can be reversed, as Trump has done to roll back national monuments.
“It will not be allowed to be touched by anybody, destroyed, ripped down by stupid people, in order to build something in a slightly different shape,” Trump said. “We like the Oval Office, and it's a symbol, like the White House itself.”
It was the third day this week that the president, a real estate mogul, delivered remarks fixated on his pet projects in Washington. On Wednesday, a day after Republicans suffered defeats in key races across the country, Trump gathered reporters to sign the final beam being raised during construction of his opulent ballroom project. On Monday, he went to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to talk about his renovation of the landmark.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has overseen numerous design changes to various rooms, including the Oval Office, where he has filled the wall space with portraits, a copy of the Declaration of Independence and numerous golden accents.
Trump did not elaborate on precisely what he was hoping to prevent but suggested that the Oval Office might face some threat in the future. Trump himself has faced several lawsuits alleging that his Washington beautification projects were done without the necessary approval.
“If anybody ever decides to come and start knocking down walls, you call me wherever I may be," Trump said, "and I’ll come back here and I’ll make sure it never happens."
His effort to preserve changes at the White House comes as Democrats gear up for new scrutiny of Trump. Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a flurry of letters Thursday to known donors to Trump’s ballroom, demanding that they provide information or face “alternative measures to obtain compliance.”
A hat with the word 'VETO' sits on the Resolute Desk as President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
A hat with the word 'VETO' sits on the Resolute Desk as President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that he’ll change more than 500 death sentences in the state to life in prison without the possibility of parole, though the state Supreme Court will have the final say in hundreds of those cases.
“I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundations of our legal system, and diminishes each of us,” Newsom said in a public letter.
Newsom’s decision comes as he prepares to leave office after eight years and considers a run for president. The Democrat, who’s long been opposed to the death penalty, placed a moratorium on executions in California in 2019.
His latest move came after he realized “the limits of what government can justly accomplish,” he said.
Newsom moved to grant clemency to 548 people currently sentenced to death in California, of whom 529 are men and 19 are women, according to numbers provided by his office.
The state constitution requires the California Supreme Court’s approval to grant clemency to anyone convicted of a felony more than once, which means the court would have to approve 382 of those commutations, or roughly 70%, according to Newsom's office.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Newsom’s action represents the largest mass clemency in American history. If they are all approved, it would reduce the U.S. death row population by nearly 30%, the center said.
Americans have long been divided over the death penalty. Nearly half of U.S. states have banned capital punishment outright, but executions are still carried out routinely around the country. On Thursday alone, Florida, Alabama and Indiana were scheduled to perform lethal injections.
Californians voted to uphold the death penalty in 2012 and 2016 ballot measures. No one has been executed in the state since 2006 and California has the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere.
Among the most notorious convicted killers on California’s death row are Richard Allen Davis, who kidnapped and murdered 12-year-old Polly Klaas in 1993, and Randy Kraft, the so-called “Scorecard Killer” who kept a list of his 16 victims in the 1970s and ’80s. Other prominent killers, including Scott Peterson and the Manson family members, received death sentences that were later commuted to life in prison.
Jess Nichol, Klaas' sister, said she previously believed Davis deserved the death penalty, but her views evolved.
“The system tells survivors that execution matters to our healing,” Nichol said in a statement. “It doesn’t. It’s a distraction from what we actually need.”
Newsom said the decision was among the most difficult choices of his career because it will surface painful memories for crime victims’ families.
“As Governor, I alone bear responsibility for this decision and its impact, just as I alone would bear responsibility for each execution,” Newsom wrote.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which has said the implementation of the death penalty reflects racial bias, applauded the announcement.
“These commutations reflect what justice demands: an end to a racist, error-prone, and inhumane punishment that has burdened California for far too long,” Executive Director Anthony Romero said in a statement.
The ACLU is involved in an ongoing legal challenge to California’s death penalty statute, alleging it is racially discriminatory and unconstitutional.
Patricia Wenskunas, founder of the California advocacy nonprofit Crime Survivors, which opposed the abolition of the death penalty, criticized Newsom's decision.
“My heart hurts for every one of the victims and every one of their family members,” she said, calling the decision “offensive” and “outrageous.”
Steve Herr, whose son Sam Herr was murdered along with his friend Julie Kibuishi by Daniel Wozniak in 2010, said he was “absolutely disgusted” by the governor's decision. He said the death of his son's killer would have meant closure.
“When somebody commits such a heinous crime, they do not deserve to live,” Herr said. “To hear what Newsom just did … he’s just an outright coward.”
The California District Attorneys Association condemned the decision. Last month, the group sent a letter to Newsom expressing “grave concerns” about him considering the move and warning that such a sweeping action would inflict additional pain on victims’ relatives.
“With the stroke of a pen, Governor Newsom has disregarded the decisions of hundreds of jurors and judges, and the anguish of families who lost loved ones to the worst crimes imaginable,” CDAA President Jeannine M. Pacioni said in a statement. “The victims were never given a commutation. Their families were never given a choice. They deserve far better than this.”
San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow called the move a “sickening abuse of power.”
Dow referenced Rachel Newhouse and Aundria Crawford, two women who were kidnapped, raped and murdered by Rex Allan Krebs in 1999, and Kesha Gurke, a 19-month-old girl tortured and murdered by Michael Whisenhunt in 1995.
“San Luis Obispo County juries sentenced both men to death. A unanimous California Supreme Court affirmed both judgments. Their families have waited decades for the State of California to keep its word. Today, the Governor broke it,” Dow said.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer also condemned the decision, calling it “mercy for the wolves and while inflicting the ultimate act of cruelty on the sheep.”
Newsom has said in the past that it is wrong for the government to kill its citizens and that capital punishment in practice has discriminated against mentally ill people and people of color.
Other governors have granted broad clemency to all death row prisoners in their states, including Gov. Kate Brown in Oregon in 2022 and Gov. Jared Polis in Colorado in 2020. Both are Democrats.
In 2024, President Joe Biden also granted clemency to 37 out of 40 federal prisoners sentenced to death.
Xavier Becerra, a Democrat who will take over from Newsom in January, has said he will extend the state’s moratorium on the death penalty.
Ding and Weber reported from Los Angeles.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom attends a rally with members of the state's Democratic Party, organized labor, and other advocates in San Francisco, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Heather Diehl)
File - Chairs are lined up in the witness gallery outside the death chamber at San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, Calif., Sept. 21, 2010. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a campaign event ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jill Connelly)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a campaign event ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jill Connelly)
