Kimberly Guilfoyle slams Gavin Newsom on California ‘nightmare’ and Silicon Valley Bank

During Kimberly Guilfoyle's online show, she also revealed that she supported the recall election against her ex-husband and cracked a joke about his French Laundry scandal.

The gloves have come off for Kimberly Guilfoyle when it comes to talking about her ex-husband Gavin Newsom and their political differences, with the pro-Trump pundit blasting the Democratic governor this week for his leadership of California and for failing to publicly discuss his business ties to the Silicon Valley Bank.

In Thursday’s episode of her online “The Kimberly Guilfoyle Show,” Guilfoyle also strongly suggested that she supported the 2021 recall election against Newsom and cracked a joke about one of his biggest political embarrassments — being caught dining maskless at The French Laundry in November 2020, just after he urged Californians to stay in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Guilfoyle began her show with a rant against what she called the Democrats’ far-left agenda, claiming it had turned California into “a nightmare” — “unlivable, unaffordable and unsafe.” She talked about how San Francisco and Los Angeles have been overrun with homeless people, making the sidewalks “toilets” and creating images that could come out of a post-apocalyptic zombie movie.

“All that’s happened under the one-party Democratic rule in Sacramento and under the reign of Gov. Gavin Newsom,” Guilfoyle said.

Guilfoyle and Newsom were married from 2001 to 2006. During that time she was first lady of San Francisco, a well-known prosecutor and part of an up-and-coming progressive power couple, at one point labeled “The New Kennedys.”

Things apparently changed when she moved to New York City to work in TV and eventually became a host at Fox News. Guilfoyle is now engaged to Donald Trump Jr., the oldest son of President Donald Trump. On her show, Guilfoyle talked about happily relocating to Florida. She’s also become a divisive figure in U.S. politics, because of her support for Trump’s debunked claims of election fraud during the 2020 election and because of reports alleging that she was fired from Fox News over sexually inappropriate behavior around co-workers.

On her show, Guilfoyle indicated that she hasn’t backed down on Trump’s view that the 2020 election was stolen from him and that he truly belongs in the White House. She also presented a dark view of her home state, saying, “Hard-working, middle-class families are saying good by to the palm trees, the weather. It’s become too expensive, too unsafe and too unbearable. Across the state, homelessness has spiraled completely out of control.”

“All this raises the question: Can California ever be golden again?” said Guilfoyle, a native of San Francisco.

In a conversation with conservative political commentator Dave Rubin, Guilfoyle praised him for campaigning to recall her ex-husband. She also expressed dismay over Newsom’s recent handling of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. She cited reports, originally from The Intercept, that Newsom lobbied the White House and the Treasury Department about the bank’s pending bailout, even as three of his private wineries had been among the bank’s clients.

In a statement, Newsom praised the Biden administration’s decision to intervene on behalf of the bank’s clients after it was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The White House “acted swiftly and decisively to protect the American economy and strengthen public confidence in our banking system,” Newsom said. What Newsom didn’t mention is that the action helped protect his three wineries — Cade, Odette and PlumpJack — which are listed as clients on SVB’s website, The Intercept reported.

In response to the report, a spokesperson for the governor said that his business and financial holdings are held and managed by a blind trust, as they have been since he was first elected governor in 2018.

Guilfoyle didn’t comment on her ex-husband’s response and criticized him for not mentioning his SVB ties in the first place.

“Here’s the problem,” Guilfoyle said. “This is an obvious case of why don’t you disclose?” Guilfoyle then said, “I’m a full disclosure kind of gal.” She said she once was “an owner” in PlumpJack, presumably when she and Newsom were married. PlumpJack Winery in Oakville is one of several businesses operated by the PlumpJack Group, which was founded in 1992 by Newsom and his friend, the billionaire philanthropist Gordon Getty.

“I sold it. I’m out of it,” Guilfoyle said about PlumpJack. She said it’s “pretty obvious” that her ex-husband should have been more upfront about his financial ties to SVB. “Especially for somebody who wants to run for president, ethically speaking, if you’re going to lobby the White House and the Treasury and you have a vested interest, that needs to be put upfront,” she said.

After she and Rubin jokingly acknowledged that she was dishing about her ex-husband, Rubin said that Newsom is an example of “D.P.” — “Democratic privilege.” Rubin said Newsom believes he can basically “get away with anything, no matter how much destruction is wrought.”

“They will keep giving him promotions,” Rubin said. “They will keep getting him better jobs, and the media will keep fawning over him.” Rubin noted that Newsom easily won the recall election and was re-elected in 2022, so he therefore feels like Californians will reward him “no matter what he does” and won’t care if he didn’t immediately disclose his ties to Silicon Valley Bank.

Guilfoyle agreed with Rubin’s point, saying, “I guess it’s the whole ‘the rules apply to thee and not to me.'” That’s when Guilfoyle referred to The French Laundry controversy, saying, “I guess he celebrates that nothing will happen to him at the French Laundry again.”

Ever since Guilfoyle began dating Trump’s oldest son and became one of the leading proponents of the ex-president’s far-right MAGA politics, she and Newsom have mostly steered clear of publicly talking much about their marriage or their political differences. In 2018, Guilfoyle diplomatically asserted to the Washington Post that she and Newsroom remained friendly and would occasionally chat on the phone. Meanwhile, Newsom would usually offer cursory remarks about his ex-wife or sometimes convey to reporters that discussion about her was off-limits.

However, in a Feb. 9 interview with David Axelrod for CNN’s Axe Files podcast, Newsom opened up about Guilfoyle when asked about her apparent transition from a supporter of progressive ideals to a conservative firebrand. Newsom said she was a “different person” back when they were married and that she ended up becoming a right-wing personality because “she fell prey” to the culture at Fox News.

“She’s got a prosecutorial mindset, she always had that,” Newsom said. “She’s whip-smart and she fell prey, I think, (to) the culture at Fox. In a deep way, she would disagree with that assessment — she’d perhaps suggest she ‘found the light.’ Obviously, we have contrasting points of view.”