California first lady defends Governor Newsom’s absence from public life then deletes tweet

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The first lady of California has defended her husband’s apparent absence from public life in a now-deleted tweet.

Governor Gavin Newsom has not made a public appearance in 12 days and abruptly cancelled a planned trip to the Cop26 conference in Scotland, citing family obligations.

His office has not given any details as to what the family matters were.

Against a backdrop of mounting speculation, Jennifer Siebel Newsom tweeted on Sunday: “It’s funny how certain folks can’t handle the truth.

“When someone cancels something, maybe they’re just in the office working; maybe in their free time they’re at home with their family, at their kids’ sports matches, or dining out with their wife.”

She added: “Please stop hating and get a life.”

The tweet was deleted a short time later and no further tweets have been posted by the governor’s wife.

Mr Newsom was last seen on 27 October when he received a Covid-19 booster shot. Since then he has been active on Twitter and on Instagram shared photos of Halloween with his family in which he was dressed as a pirate.

The Californian delegation at Cop26 was led by Lieutenant Governor  Eleni Kounalakis, who confirmed that the governor’s absence was due to family matters.

“The governor has a young family and we should all be understanding, especially those of us who have been there,” she said.

On Twitter, Mr Newsom released statements of support and congratulations to fellow Democrats around election day last week, plugged to availability of vaccine shots to children over five years old, and posted a video wishing a happy Diwali to those who celebrate.

The state legislature is not in session and will not be again until January, so Sacramento is relatively quiet politically speaking.

Mr Newsom’s spokesperson Erin Mellon said that the governor will appear virtually at the Cop26 conference this week and will participate in events focused on advocating for zero-emission vehicles and moving beyond oil.

It is understood that he is disappointed not to have been able to attend in person at the UN climate conference.

In September, Mr Newsom survived a Republican-led recall election, beating radio host Larry Elder with 61.9 per cent of the vote to 38.1 per cent.