California Governor Gavin Newsom slammed President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday for temporarily lifting Iran oil sanctions and “handing” the enemy of the United States $14 billion. Newsom wrote on social media: “HUGE STORY FOX REFUSES TO COVER Trump and Scott Bessent just handed Iran $14 BILLION by easing oil sanctions. Fox spent YEARS screaming about Obama’s fake ‘pallet of cash.’ Now? Total. Silence.”
Note: Media outlets including NPR reported that in January 2016, “the Obama administration arranged for a $400 million cash payment to be flown to Iran on wooden pallets, using an unmarked cargo plane. This delivery was part of a larger $1.7 billion settlement with Iran, which resolved a decades-old dispute over a failed arms deal from before the 1979 Iranian Revolution.”
Newsom tagged Fox News star and Trump supporter Sean Hannity and wrote: “Hey, @seanhannity — remember your years of rambling about Obama’s fake ‘pallet of cash to Iran?’ Your silence is deafening.”
.@GavinNewsom you do make me chuckle. Not only are you the worst no show governor in the country, you’re also the dumbest governor in the country.
In case you’re not watching the news because you’re too busy tweeting, traveling the world, stalking me and President Trump and… https://t.co/wIgbdcTU8u
— Sean Hannity
(@seanhannity) March 24, 2026
Hannity replied to Newsom: “@GavinNewsom you do make me chuckle. Not only are you the worst no show governor in the country, you’re also the dumbest governor in the country.” He added: “In case you’re not watching the news because you’re too busy tweeting, traveling the world, stalking me and President Trump and writing a book no one will buy and podcasting – Irans [sic] military and its nuclear program have been obliterated.
“Trump did what every other democratic president you supported promised to do, but never did. The world is a safer place.”
Newsom’s press office account, which employs Trump-style rhetoric, punctuation and capitalization to flame critics and reframe narratives, replied to Hannity: “WOW!!! LOW-RATINGS SEAN HANNITY MUST’VE LEFT HIS VOICE IN THE GREEN ROOM WITH ALL HIS MAKEUP!!! AFTER RANTING ABOUT THE FAKE OBAMA STORY FOR YEARS ABOUT ‘A PALLET OF CASH,’ SEAN’S TINY TONGUE IS GONE AFTER TRUMP GIVES IRAN BILLIONS. AT THIS RATE, LOW-RATINGS HANNITY WILL BE OFF-AIR DOING 3AM ‘SLEEPING PILL COMMERCIALS’”‘ WITH HUCKABEE AND THE ‘MYPILLOW GUY.’ SNOOZE FEST!!! — Governor GCN”
WOW!!! LOW-RATINGS SEAN HANNITY MUST’VE LEFT HIS VOICE IN THE GREEN ROOM WITH ALL HIS MAKEUP!!! AFTER RANTING ABOUT THE FAKE OBAMA STORY FOR YEARS ABOUT “A PALLET OF CASH,” SEAN’S TINY TONGUE IS GONE AFTER TRUMP GIVES IRAN BILLIONS. AT THIS RATE, LOW-RATINGS HANNITY WILL BE… https://t.co/CwTNtfzREq
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) March 25, 2026
The Newsom-Hannity relationship, which after on-air debate-style interviews between the two in 2023 was described in the press as a “cable news bromance,” seems to have hit a rougher stretch after years of civil, if opposing, argument. Many observers, stirred by the Fox New host’s admissions, even speculated that Hannity and Newsom were friends, even as they occupied different political worlds.
“From the first time we met we just hit it off and there was a certain relationship that developed that was like, ‘Oh, come on, you don’t believe all that,’” Hannity, in a Fox News interview, said of Newsom in back in 2023. “It was always friendly and never contentious. You can say anything to him. You can have fun with him.”
Hannity also acknowledged that Newsom was a unique political figure, bringing the proper weapons to the fight unlike other Democrats who kept bringing the proverbial knives to gunfights. “I warn conservatives and Republicans, you’d better pay attention to this guy,” Hannity said in 2023 of the California Governor he now insults and calls the “worst.”