California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) admitted on Wednesday that he once asked for a Target employee's manager because that employee blamed him for the shoplifting epidemic.
Speaking on a Zoom meeting with California mayors, Newsom recounted what he called "my Target story." One time while in a Target checkout line, Newsom said he witnessed a man leave the store without paying for merchandise. When he confronted a Target employee about the incident, that employee blamed him.
"I said, 'Why didn't you stop him?' She goes, 'Oh, the governor.' Swear to God, true story, on my mom's grave. 'The governor lowered the threshold, there's no accountability,'" Newsom recalled.
"I said that's just not true. I said we have the tenth-toughest — $950 — the tenth-toughest in America," he continued. "She said, 'Well, we don't stop them because of the governor.'"
