To listen to Audie Cornish, you might have thought ICE agents stormed Gavin Newsom's latest gerrymander speech and dragged the governor, hair and all, off the stage.
On today's CNN This Morning, host Cornish suggested that the presence of ICE outside an L.A. museum where Newsom was speaking looked like "an armed response to a political conversation."
She began by suggesting that it is "very common" for ICE to turn up in various places, to insert that part of the story." You mean, like Newsom turning up anywhere he has a chance to get his face on TV in preparation for his 2028 presidential bid?
Cornish put it to Rob Bluey, an MRC alum, and president of The Daily Signal: "It feels not an unforced error, but even if it's not a coincidence, does it help?" Audie clearly implying the answer was, "no!"
Rob queried, "The ICE piece of it?" To which Cornish emphatically replied:
"Yeah! Right outside a Newsom event? Like, what's the message there?"
Bluey wasn't biting on Cornish's downbeat take. To the contrary, he responded:
"The message is that the border is secure and that the Trump administration is moving full speed ahead with deportation plans. They're not going to let anyone, whether it be the California governor or any other Democrat politician, stand in the way of what they have promised the American people."
That's when Cornish unleashed her absurd "armed response" accusation. Bluey pushed back:
"These raids are happening all over the country. So it could have been a pure coincidence. It could have been an opportunity to send a message to those who had gathered to see the Newsom speech."
Cornish seemed troubled that not only were the ICE agents there, but they "even made an arrest."
Um, yeah. That's ICE's job: arresting illegal immigrants. Far from being improper, the arrest indicates a valid reason for the agents' presence.
Note the screencap's chyron: "Border Agents Crash Newsom's 'Big, Beautiful' Event."
Wrong. As Audie admitted, the agents remained outside. Perhaps Cornish got confused with the left-wing tactics of crashing, shouting down, and shutting down conservative speakers.
Let's guess CNN was like the other networks and ignored Biden's FBI sending 25 armed men with guns drawn into the home of pro-life protester Mark Houck in 2022, scaring his wife and children. Houck had shoved a protester in 2021 who was harassing his son. He was acquitted of any violation of the Freedom to Access Clinic Entrances Act in 2023.
CNN acted like the FBI Press team when they entered the home of Trump associate Roger Stone in 2019. Don't forget CNN thought it showed a healthy democracy when Biden's FBI engaged in an armed raid on former president Trump's home at Mar-a-Lago in 2022.
Here's the transcript.
CNN This Morning
8/15/25
6:20 am EDTAUDIE CORNISH: Dozens of Texas Democrats are ready to return home. They fled the state earlier this month to block Republicans from redrawing congressional maps. But they have two demands. First, that the Texas legislature has to end its first special session on Friday. And second, that California lawmakers introduce their gerrymandering proposal to offset the GOP gains in Texas.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has called for a special election in his state. But as he and his allies were laying out their own redistricting plan yesterday, masked federal agents were outside the venue and even made an arrest.
GAVIN NEWSOM: You think it's coincidental? Donald Trump and his minions, Tom Homan, tough guy. Cooly decided, coincidentally or not, that this was a location to advance ICE arrests.
Wake up, America. This is a serious moment. Wake up to what's going on.
. . .
CORNISH: There's sort of two things going on here. One, there is the issue itself, redistricting and the power of our vote. And then this other thing has to happen where it feels like, very common these days, ICE is there, right? Like kind of inserting that part of the story.
Rob, I want to start with you. Like, it feels not an unforced error, but even if it's not a coincidence, does it help?
ROB BLUEY: The ICE piece of it?
CORNISH: Yeah! Right outside a Newsom event? Like, what's the message there?
BLUEY: The message is that the border is secure and that the Trump administration is moving full speed ahead with deportation plans. They're not going to let anyone, whether it be the California governor or any other Democrat politician, stand in the way of what they have promised the American people.
CORNISH: But does it look like an armed response to a political conversation?
BLUEY: I don't know whether Kristi Noem or Gavin Newsom is telling the truth here, but I will say that these raids are happening all over the country. So it could have been a pure coincidence. It could have been an opportunity to send a message to those who had gathered to see the Newsom speech.
