Ex-Biden official stuns panel by saying she doesn’t trust leading Dem candidate to be California governor
Former Biden DOJ spokeswoman
California’s governor needs to be someone who can fight the President, Hinojosa said during a panel on “CNN News Night” Donald Trump“Whoever becomes governor is going to have to go up against Donald Trump. Let me tell you, after working joe Biden’s management? “I don’t trust Xavier Becerra to do this.”
The statement surprised members of the CNN panel, including analysts Scott Jennings and Van Jones, prompting one panelist to exclaim, “Wow!” he was heard saying.
“I don’t trust him to be able to do that because I don’t trust him to be able to stand up to Trump and lead,” he said.
Former Biden Cabinet Member Joins California Governorship Bid
Host Abby Phillip then asked Hinojosa why.
“Because when I saw him on the board, I think a lot of people saw that too, and people understand that,” Hinojosa said. “He wasn’t effective in the administration. And I think a lot of people in the Biden administration are talking about that because they recognize that he wasn’t an effective HHS secretary.”
“If you ask any Cabinet secretary they will tell you the same thing,” he continued. “And I think people realize that. And I think that’s why Tom Steyer came out on top.”
Former First Lady Jill Biden speaks alongside former President Joe Biden and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra during the Cancer Cabinet meeting at the White House on September 13, 2023 in Washington, DC.
(Getty Images)
Phillip stated that this was not the first time he heard this and said, “What he is talking about is real.” he said.
“The attacks on Becerra were not about what he would or would not do in California,” the host continued. “It had to do with his history in the Biden administration. It had to do with his character. It had to do with his leadership, and I think that’s going to be an issue.”
“I’m not sure the brand next door to Joe Biden is a good brand anywhere in this country right now,” Phillip added. “I also think that the HHS situation, when we dig deeper into what he does in this role, that could be an issue for him.”
Policy Becerra reported. He had become the “Joe Biden of the California governor race.”
When reached for comment, the Becerra campaign directed Fox News Digital to a statement from former White House chief of staff Ron Klain to President Biden: “Secretary Becerra was among the most valuable and highest-performing members of the President’s Cabinet. His leadership on immigration issues and health care coverage was unmatched, and he achieved a historic victory for the American people in lowering the prices of prescription drugs.”
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Matt Mahan, Xavier Becerra, Chad Bianco, Steve Hilton, Tom Steyer and Katie Porter appear during a gubernatorial debate at KRON Studios in San Francisco on April 22, 2026. California will hold its primary on June 2, and the general election for the top two finishers, regardless of party affiliation, will be held in November.
Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco and Democrats Katie Porter, Matt Mahan, Antonio Villaraigosa and Becerra participated in a debate on CNN on Tuesday.
The New York Times reported Tuesday many Democrats wished former Vice President Kamala Harris would run for governor.
Former Representative Eric Swalwell ending his campaign Running for governor and resigning from Congress over sexual misconduct allegations disrupted the race, and the Times noted that Rusty Hicks, chairman of the California state Democratic Party, “called on candidates to ‘honestly consider’ whether they should remain in the race.”
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David Axelrod, a Democratic strategist and former adviser to Obama, said the situation resembled “a high-stakes NASCAR race where the cars aren’t going very fast, but they’re running each other off the road before getting ahead at the end of the track.”
Original article source: Former Biden official stuns panel by saying he doesn’t trust the leading Democratic candidate to be governor of California
