Gov. Newsom pledges to convert old motels to homeless shelters

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- In an interview with Eyewitness News, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he's proud of how aggressive his administration has been during his first 100 days in office.

Newsom has constantly defended California's policies against attacks from President Donald Trump.

"I don't wake up every morning and look to put a crowbar in the spokes of his wheel to trip him up. I want a president I can work with. That's how I approach things. That said, when he attacks our diverse communities, our clean air, clean water, our vehicle-emission standard programs, protocols, when he threatens sanctuary cities and pulling funding from California, we're going to push back," said Newsom.

From withdrawing most of the National Guard troops from the border to pushing for foreign aid to address the migrant crisis, the governor has displayed sharp contrasts to the Trump administration's immigration policy.

"They're already sending people to sanctuary cities. Ask the folks in San Diego. A sanctuary city where migrants are being dumped on the streets and sidewalks every day and have been for years," said Newsom.

On the issue of homelessness, Newsom says mayors can't solve this alone and the state will put funding toward converting old motels into housing for the homeless.

"You have a lot of these old roadside motels. Tons of them up and down the state. Many are vacant. Many are places that need to be shut down for other reasons. The ability to rehab those, bring on on-site services provides us a huge bridge opportunity," said Newsom.

One of Newsom's biggest moves in his first 100 days was scaling back California's high-speed rail project because he says the money isn't there. Trump has vowed to pull federal funding for the project.

"Even if he takes back the money in the short term, which may be a headline, the trend line is one where the response is a lawsuit and the overwhelming majority of those lawsuits, we win. They have no legal standing. This is pure political retribution," said Newsom.