California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he canceled trip to climate summit after an 'intervention' from his kids

Amid a swirl of questions about his absence from the public eye over the past week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday that he had decided to cancel his plans to attend the United Nations climate summit in Scotland after what he described as "an intervention" from his kids, who couldn't believe he was going to miss Halloween.

The Democratic governor, who spent much of the summer campaigning against the ultimately unsuccessful effort to remove him from office, spoke about the pull of his responsibilities as a father and a husband during an in-person appearance at the California Economic Summit in Monterey. He said that "it's been a hell of a couple of years for all of us," especially parents. And he encouraged fathers to prioritize family time, especially after a year when mothers have picked up a lot of extra responsibilities.

"I've been on this damn treadmill. We've gone from crisis to crisis -- from wildfires to extreme drought to social justice and unrest" while dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, Newsom said. He added that after he had defeated the recall effort in mid-September, he had jumped back into bill signings and other state business during an intense work period.