California leaders hit back after Trump says Iran can ‘take out’ LA and San Diego

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Breaking News · October 6, 2026, 9:20 AM CDT

As reported by bbc.com:

White House defends Trump comment to let Iran 'take out' LA and San Diego Donald Trump's remark that Iran could "take out" Los Angeles and San Diego have sparked fierce backlash from California politicians – and a strongly worded rebuttal from the White House.

California Governor Gavin Newsom responded to the comments – made by Trump during a midterms rally in Nebraska – as "deranged and dangerous," while LA Mayor Karen Bass described them as threats and an attempt to "encourage attacks on American lives".

According to the White House, however, Trump was saying that American cities would have been threatened by Iran had he not launched a war there earlier this year. Both LA and San Diego house major US military installations including Navy ports and Air Force bases.

While speaking in Nebraska about the Iran conflict, he said: "It's a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe. They can take out a city.^[1]

Video: CNN, October 6, 2026 — “Trump draws backlash after he suggests Iran could 'take out' Los Angeles or San Diego”. Matched to this story by shared names and terms in its title; watch the original for full context.

On the record

California Governor Gavin Newsom responded to the comments – made by Trump during a midterms rally in Nebraska – as "deranged and dangerous," while LA Mayor Karen Bass described them as threats and an attempt to "encourage attacks on American lives".^[1]

And we will continue to remind folks of that every day.” “San Diego is not collateral damage,” San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria posted.^[2]

The numbers in the reporting

70,000

It is also where Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is located, a base which 70,000 service members and civilians work at.^[1]

1,240

The Associated Press reported at the time that Iran has a self-imposed limit on its ballistic missile program, limiting the range to 1,240 miles.^[2]

120 miles

Located approximately 120 miles (193 KM) north of San Diego, Los Angeles is the second most populous city in the US.^[1]

How 5 outlets are reporting it

What Los Angeles Times reports

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Set us as preferred – California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the president ‘deranged and dangerous.’ The crowd in Grand Island, Neb., cheered the remarks about Los Angeles and San Diego.^[2]

What is not yet confirmed

U.S. officials, however, long have alleged that Iran’s space program could allow it to build intercontinental ballistic missiles.^[2]

What the official record says

We searched government, military, court and international-body sites for a statement or document on this story and found none published yet. The officials quoted in this report are quoted as the outlets reported them, so treat those statements as secondhand until the original is published.

How to Verify This Yourself

Each headline above links to that outlet’s own report. The quoted passages come from the first two of those reports that could be retrieved in full.

References

Investigative methodology: this story was selected because 5 separate news organizations were reporting it at the same time. The quoted text is verbatim from the cited reports; nothing is paraphrased or added. Produced by scripts/breaking_news_monitor.py, not a language model.

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Breaking News Oct 6, 2026California leaders hit back after Trump says Iran can ‘take out’ LA and San Diego