Gavin Newsom thought he could gerrymander his way to victory.
President Trump wasn't about to let that happen.
And Karoline Leavitt just caught California Democrats with their hand in the cookie jar.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has been taking the media to school since January, but her latest performance defending President Trump's election integrity concerns over California's Proposition 50 left Democrats squirming.
The youngest press secretary in history faced down a hostile briefing room Tuesday to announce that California's redistricting vote is now under "very serious legal and criminal review."¹
Democrats went into full meltdown mode.
Trump drops the hammer on Newsom's gerrymandering scheme
President Trump didn't mince words when he called out California's mail-in ballot system on Tuesday morning.
"The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED," Trump posted on Truth Social.² "All 'Mail-In' Ballots, where the Republicans in that State are 'Shut Out,' is under very serious legal and criminal review. STAY TUNED!"²
The timing wasn't coincidental.
California voters were heading to the polls to decide Proposition 50, Governor Gavin Newsom's naked power grab to flip up to five Republican House seats by redrawing congressional districts.³
Newsom pushed this measure through the Democrat-controlled Legislature in August as payback for Texas Republicans' own redistricting efforts that added GOP seats.³
But Trump saw right through the scam.
Leavitt backed him up at the White House briefing with the confidence of someone who has the facts on her side.
"It's absolutely true that there are fraud in California's elections. It's just a fact," Leavitt told reporters.⁴ "Fraudulent ballots that are being mailed in, in the names of other people, in the names of illegal aliens who shouldn't be voting in American elections."⁴
She announced the White House is working on an executive order to crack down on California's universal mail-in ballot system.⁴
California's mail ballot mess keeps getting exposed
The evidence keeps piling up against California's election system.
Sacramento County deputies discovered 99 stolen mail-in ballots at a homeless encampment just days before the Proposition 50 vote.⁵
That came after Yolo County reported 135 ballots stolen from cluster mailboxes in Woodland.⁵
A 2023 audit by The Transparency Foundation found a 14.17% likely fraud rate among rejected mail-in ballots in California's 2022 election.⁶
The audit examined 388 individuals whose ballots were rejected for signature mismatches and remained "uncured" despite repeated contact attempts by county officials.⁶
Even more damning, a Lodi City Councilman was charged with 14 felony counts in 2023 after investigators found 41 sealed and completed mail-in ballots in his home during a search.⁷
Shakir Khan allegedly registered 71 fictitious voters to his address in a scheme to rig the 2020 city council election.⁷
But Democrats and their media allies keep pretending California's election system is squeaky clean.
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber dismissed Trump's concerns as "desperate, unsubstantiated attempts to dissuade Americans from participating in our democracy."⁸
Newsom mocked Trump on social media, calling the President's warnings "the ramblings of an old man that knows he's about to lose."⁹
The hypocrisy is staggering.
Democrats had no problem when Texas redistricted to add Republican seats earlier this year.
Now they're crying foul when Trump calls out their identical scheme in California.
The White House isn't backing down
Leavitt stood her ground during the contentious briefing, refusing to let hostile reporters intimidate her into backing off the fraud allegations.
The 27-year-old press secretary has been praised even by critics for her "incredibly smooth" performance at the podium since taking office in January.¹⁰
CNN's Brian Stelter admitted Leavitt has become Trump's "new No. 1 publicist" after watching her command the briefing room.¹⁰
That kind of talent is exactly what Trump needs to fight back against California Democrats trying to steal congressional seats.
The President made clear he's not going to sit back while Newsom games the system.
Trump threatened "very serious legal and criminal review" of California's mail-in ballots, signaling the Justice Department may get involved.²
Heritage Foundation's voter fraud database documents 69 cases of election fraud in California since 1982.¹¹
That's just what got caught and prosecuted.
The real number is likely far higher given California's lax ballot security and refusal to clean up voter rolls.
The Transparency Foundation audit found more than 6.6 million people moved out of California to other states since 2010, but the state's VoteCal system fails to provide county officials the data needed to remove them from voter rolls.⁶
Millions of inactive voters remain registered, creating opportunities for ballot harvesting and fraud.
A 2005 bipartisan commission report identified absentee ballots as "the largest source of potential voter fraud."¹¹
California has done nothing to address those vulnerabilities.
Instead, Democrats expanded mail-in voting and eliminated basic security measures like signature verification standards.
Now they're shocked when Trump calls out the obvious problems with their system.
Proposition 50 passed overwhelmingly Tuesday night despite Trump's warnings, giving Newsom exactly what he wanted – a gerrymandered map that could flip five Republican seats to Democrats in 2026.¹²
But the legal fight is just beginning.
The California Republican Party filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging the new maps, alleging they violate the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments by favoring Hispanic voters.¹³
Trump's promised executive order on election integrity will add more pressure on California to clean up its act.
Leavitt made clear the White House won't tolerate "blatant fraud" in California's universal mail-in ballot system.⁴
Democrats can mock Trump all they want.
But Americans know what they're seeing with their own eyes – a rigged system designed to keep Democrats in power by any means necessary.
¹ KCRA, "Trump alleges voter fraud in Prop 50 redistricting election. California officials reject claim," November 4, 2025.
² The Daily Signal, "Trump Clashes With California Over Election Fraud," November 4, 2025.
³ NBC Los Angeles, "California voters to decide on Prop 50 in key battle over congressional redistricting," November 4, 2025.
⁴ Democracy Docket, "Trump Pushes Baseless Claims of 'Rigged' California Election, Promises 'Criminal Review' of Mail Ballots," November 4, 2025.
⁵ ABC10, "Nearly 100 stolen mail-In ballots found at Sacramento homeless encampment, officials investigating mail theft," 2025.
⁶ The Transparency Foundation, "Audit Reveals Evidence of Voter Fraud in California's 2022 Election," 2023.
⁷ The Heritage Foundation, "Voter Fraud Map: Election Fraud Database," 2023.
⁸ KCRA, "Trump alleges voter fraud in Prop 50 redistricting election. California officials reject claim," November 4, 2025.
⁹ Deadline, "Newsom Mocks Trump For Prop 50 'Legal & Criminal Review' Threats On Election Day," November 4, 2025.
¹⁰ Poynter, "The new White House press secretary debuts with bluster and a bang," January 29, 2025.
¹¹ Al Jazeera, "Trump claims California election was rigged. Is he correct?," November 6, 2025.
¹² CalMatters, "What happened in California's election while you were sleeping," November 5, 2025.
¹³ Wikipedia, "2025 California Proposition 50," November 6, 2025.
