Newsom’s office has received, but not confirmed, reports that live ordnance will be fired from offshore vessels during the event commemorating the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary. The event is titled “Sea to Shore — A Review of Amphibious Strength” and will feature Vice President JD Vance.

Newsom’s office said it has received little information about the event or safety plans. The military show of force coincides with No Kings rallies and marches across the state on Saturday that are expected to draw large crowds, demonstrations challenging Trump and what critics say is government overreach.

“Donald Trump and JD Vance think that shutting down the I-5 to shoot out missiles from ships is how you respect the military,” Newsom posted on the social media site X Wednesday.

A media advisory said the celebration will include a live amphibious assault demonstration. The Times could not confirm whether live ordnance will be fired over the freeway. The White House and Marine Corps did not respond to questions from The Times.

“California always honors our Marines — but this isn’t the right way to go about it,” said a Newsom spokesperson. “The White House should focus on paying their military, lowering grocery prices and honoring these soldiers for their service instead of pompous displays of power. The lack of coordination and communication from the federal government on this event — and the overall impact to our society and economy — is evident of the larger disarray that is the Trump Administration.”

Freeway closures are being considered for a section of I-5 between Orange County to San Diego County from Friday to Saturday, which would cut off a major traffic artery that moves upward of 80,000 travelers a day. A closure with little notice would likely result in massive gridlock from Dana Point in the north to well past Del Mar in the south.

Vance, the first Marine veteran to serve as vice president, is expected to attend the event Saturday along with 15,000 Marines, Sailors, veterans and their families, according to event’s media release. Along with Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to deliver remarks.

Camp Pendleton advised nearby residents that there will be live-fire training with high explosive munitions through Sunday.

The Trump administration previously had plans for a major celebration next month for the 250th anniversary of the Navy and Marines, which would have included an air and sea show — with the Blue Angels and parading warships — attended by President Trump, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Plans to host that show in San Diego have been called off, the paper reported.

Camp Pendleton is a 125,000-acre base in northwestern San Diego County that has been critical in preparing soldiers for amphibious missions since World War II thanks to its miles of beach and coastal hills. The U.S. Department of Defense is considering making a portion of the base available for development or lease.

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“Tomorrow, I will have the honor of hosting the Charlie Kirk Show. Please join me as I pay tribute to my friend,” he posted on X along with a photo of a microphone set up on a desk.

Erika Kirk, the slain conservative activist’s widow, on Friday called the vice president a “dear friend” of Charlie Kirk and thanked him and the second lady Usha Vance “for their love and support.”

JD Vance, along with with the second lady, escorted Erika Kirk and her husband’s casket to Phoenix last week on a flight aboard Air Force Two from Salt Lake City. The second lady held Kirk’s hand as they got off the plane.

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Trump did not say what the people’s jobs were or where they worked, and the White House had no immediate comment. But with the fresh comments, Trump shed a little light on the reason why he has said he had ended the relationship with Epstein, though Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, recently said on X that, “The fact is that the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep.”

Epstein killed himself, authorities say, in a New York jail cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. Trump and his top allies stoked conspiracy theories about Epstein’s death before Trump returned to power and are now struggling to manage the fallout after the Justice Department said Epstein did in fact die by suicide and that it would not release additional documents about the case.

The president and his allies, some of whom are now in the administration, had promised to release the files.

The case has dogged Trump at home and abroad and even followed Vice President JD Vance during an appearance in his home state of Ohio on Monday. A small group of protesters assembled outside a factory in Canton that Vance toured, holding signs that spelled out “JD Protects Pedophiles” and indicating that “GOP” stands for “Guardians Of Pedophiles.”

The Republican president spoke at his golf property in Turnberry, Scotland, as he sat with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer after the leaders had met and were answering questions from U.S. and U.K. journalists. Asked to explain why the relationship had faltered, Trump said, “That’s such old history, very easy to explain, but I don’t want to waste your time by explaining it.”

He then explained, saying he stopped talking to Epstein after “he did something that was inappropriate.”

“He hired help and I said, ‘Don’t ever do that again,’” Trump said. “He stole people that worked for me. I said, ‘Don’t ever do that again.’ He did it again, and I threw him out of the place, persona non grata.”

“I threw him out and that was it. I’m glad I did, if you want to know the truth,” Trump added.

Trump recently directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the public release of sealed grand jury transcripts in the case. One federal judge has denied that request; a second judge has yet to rule.

Vance on Monday visited the factory to promote Trump’s tax cut and border bill, but also addressed the Epstein matter, saying the president wants “full transparency” in the case.

“The president has been very clear. We’re not shielding anything,” Vance said in response to a reporter’s question. “The president has directed the attorney general to release all credible information and, frankly, to go and find additional credible information related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.”

“Some of that stuff takes time,” Vance said, adding that Trump has been “very clear. He wants full transparency.”

Trump had said back in 2019 that Epstein was a fixture in Palm Beach but that the two had had a falling-out a long time ago and he hadn’t spoken with Epstein for 15 years.

Trump on Monday also denied contributing to a compilation of letters and drawings to mark Epstein’s 50th birthday, first reported on by the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper said the letter believed to be from Trump included a drawing of a woman’s body.

“I don’t do drawings of women, that I can tell you,” Trump said.

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They also expressed concern about the devastation wrought in the Southeast by Hurricane Helene and called for a vigorous response from government to help those affected by the powerful storm. Helene was one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history, with the death toll surpassing 150 across six states. Damage stretched from Florida to Virginia, with some of the worst in western North Carolina, which experienced substantial inland flooding.

Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio and former President Trump’s running mate, called the destruction from Helene an “unbelievable and unspeakable human tragedy.” He said that he and Trump “want as robust and aggressive [of] a federal response as we can get to save as many lives as possible and then of course, afterwards, to help the people in those communities rebuild.”

“I commit that when Donald Trump is president again, the government will put the citizens of this country first when they suffer from a disaster,” he said.

On climate change, Vance said that “a lot of people are justifiably worried about all these crazy weather patterns,” and that he and Trump “support clean air, clean water” and “want the environment to be cleaner and safer.”

Vance did not answer how a Trump administration would address climate change, but said it would support more domestic energy production. He called Democratic concerns about carbon emissions a debate about “weird science.”

If emissions are a concern, Vance said, Democrats are addressing them in the wrong way. He said Democrats should be more interested in making energy cleanly in the United States than allowing energy to be produced in dirtier ways in other countries, such as China.

“If we actually care about getting cleaner air and cleaner water, the best thing to do is to double down and invest in American workers and the American people. And unfortunately, Kamala Harris has done exactly the opposite,” Vance said.

Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota and Vice President Harris’ running mate, also called the devastation in the Southeast “a horrific tragedy,” adding that he and other governors have been in contact on how to address the disaster.

Walz said officials are working on helping people, and “we need to make sure that they’re staying there, staying focused.”

On climate change, Walz attacked Trump for calling it a “hoax” in the past and for suggesting that rising ocean levels will provide more beachfront property.

Walz said his constituents in Minnesota, including many farmers, understand that climate change is very real. And they are helping to lead the country on the right path forward, toward truly clean energy.

“They’ve seen 500-year droughts, 500-year floods back to back. But what they’re doing is adapting, and this has allowed them to tell me, ‘Look, I harvest corn, I harvest soybean and I harvest wind.’ ”

He also said the Biden-Harris administration has invested in infrastructure and other programs that are helping communities adapt to climate change and has invested in domestic energy.

“We are producing more natural gas and more oil at any time than we ever have. We’re also producing more clean energy,” Walz said. “So the solution for us is to continue to move forward. That climate change is real. Reducing our impact is absolutely critical.”

Trump has slammed the Biden administration’s response to Helene as inadequate, and alleged with no evidence that the administration and Democratic leaders in North Carolina were “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas.”

The Biden administration has rejected Trump’s claims. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dismissed them as unfounded and said that more than 1,400 people have been supported or rescued in affected areas. Republican leaders have said the White House has been helpful in disaster relief.

President Biden has approved major disaster declarations in Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina, which will ease the path for those states to receive recovery funds.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a red state or blue state,” Jean-Pierre said Monday. “This is their job — to get food there, to get generators there, to save some lives, to rescue people.”

Trump’s supporters, including those behind Project 2025, have called for federal agencies that warn of weather disasters to be disbanded or face dramatic budget cuts, and Trump as president delayed post-hurricane aid to Puerto Rico. He also diverted money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which responds to natural disasters, to an initiative aimed at returning undocumented migrants to Mexico.

More than 150,000 households have already registered for assistance from FEMA in the wake of Helene, and that number is expected to rise rapidly in coming days, agency officials have said.

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