California Governor Newsom files civil rights complaint against Dr. Oz in latest clash with Trump administration

NEW YORK (AP) — A new front has opened in the battle between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Trump administration over a video in which Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Director Dr. Mehmet Oz visits Los Angeles and alleges that members of the Armenian community orchestrated widespread health care fraud.

He watches: Dr. Oz questions the legitimacy of ACA coverage for millions of Americans

The days-long public fray escalated on social media Thursday evening, when Newsom announced that his office would file a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services accusing Oz of discrimination.

Newsom’s office argued in the complaint that Oz “made baseless and racially charged allegations” threatening intimidating participation in home care and home care programs among the targeted community. The governor’s office noted that the allegations “have already caused real harm” by impairing business at an Armenian bakery shown in the video.

Oz and CMS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the complaint or the content of the video, nor have they publicly shared details confirming the alleged fraud.

He watches: FBI raids Georgia elections office as Trump administration seeks voter data from states

A video posted on social media earlier this week shows a CMS director visiting the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles and pointing to a four-block radius that he says is home to 42 nursing homes, suggesting possible fraud. He points to a company he says was part of a $16 million fraud scheme.

Then, while standing in front of a building housing an Armenian bakery, he claimed that nearly $3.5 billion in hospice and home care fraud had occurred in Los Angeles and that “a fair portion of it” was run by the “Armenian-Russian Mafia.”

Oz describes the Armenian script on business signs as the camera pans toward the bakery.

“I noticed that the letters and the language I read were from that dialect,” says Oz, whose parents immigrated to the United States from Turkey. He also claims that “there has been little attention to these issues” in California.

Read more: California Governor Newsom asks court to block Trump administration from using troops in immigration raids

Türkiye and Armenia have long suffered from tension over historical grievances and Türkiye’s alliance with Azerbaijan. There are no formal diplomatic relations between the two neighboring countries, and their common borders have remained closed since the 1990s, although they agreed late last year to simplify visa procedures in an attempt to normalize relations.

Newsom disputed the claims in Oz’s video and noted on social media that California has revoked more than 280 nursing home licenses and banned new ones starting in 2022 over concerns about fraud. The two leaders then exchanged several sharp attacks back and forth on social media.

Read more: California Republicans are preparing to shrink representation under Newsom’s redistricting plan

The dispute is among many that have arisen between Newsom, who is seen as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential nominee, and the Republican administration of President Donald Trump. Newsom and Trump have disagreed on issues ranging from the deployment of the Federal Reserve’s National Guard to Los Angeles to the president’s efforts to block California’s 2035 ban on new gas-powered cars, the first of its kind nationwide.

The Oz video also points to larger efforts by the Trump administration to highlight fraud across the country. The efforts come after allegations of fraud involving day care centers run by Somali residents in Minneapolis sparked a widespread anti-immigration crackdown in the Midwestern city, leading to widespread protests. Two people were shot and killed in the city by federal agents this month.