Gov. Gavin Newsom says both he and his wife are under investigation by the Trump Department of Justice. Newsom made the announcement in a video which he posted on his X account today.
Today, my wife & I joined Donald Trump’s hit list. He has directed his Department of Justice to investigate us. They have not found a crime - they are simply trying to find one.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 15, 2026
He isn't coming after me because of mean tweets, but because I am considering running for President.… pic.twitter.com/tVYk3WUvO8
Newsom seems to be all but declaring this an attack on his candidacy for President, but is that what's going on?
Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, has had an adversarial relationship with Newsom and has launched political attacks against the California governor on social media.
But the investigation does not appear to have emerged from Essayli’s office, but rather is being run out of Sacramento, under the control of Eastern District of California U.S. Attorney Eric Grant, according to two sources familiar with the investigation.
Last month, Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, pleaded guilty to a few federal charges in a case out of that district. The governor’s wife is under investigation for “her taxes,” one of the sources said. The focus of the probe into Newsom is unclear.
CBS News has a bit more, suggesting this particular probe may be a year old.
A source familiar with the investigations said there are several ongoing Justice Department probes related to the governor that are being handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento. At least one of the investigations has been going on for about a year, the source said, and one or more originated with a whistleblower complaint.
Two sources familiar with the matter said one of the ongoing investigations relates to Jennifer Siebel Newsom's taxes. One source said one of the probes relates to Newsom's former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, who was indicted last year on nearly two dozen federal charges last year.
Dana Williamson was Newsom's Chief-of-Staff for two years. Last month she pleaded guilty to bank fraud and other crimes. As for the other investigation, the Washington Post confirms that originated in California and not in Washington, DC.
The Justice Department has multiple open investigations around Newsom, according to two people familiar with the probe, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing law enforcement matter. They said the investigations date back at least a year.
The investigations emerged from law enforcement officials in California — and not in Washington, according to the two people familiar.
One of the investigations is examining Newsom’s wife for potential tax crimes related to a nonprofit she is linked to, the people said.
It sounds as if Newsom's people know what this is about but aren't saying.
“Let’s be clear, earning income for writing, producing and distributing a film is not a crime. … The fact that federal investigators are now scrutinizing lawful compensation for creative work tells you how far this investigation has drifted from any legitimate search for wrongdoing,” the governor’s office said in a statement. The statement did not offer further detail on what income is potentially being scrutinized.
This could have something to do with the salary that one of Jennifer Newsom's nonprofits has been paying her.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, reportedly has paid herself and her company more than $3.7 million over the past decade from a nonprofit organization...
The Representation Project, which fights against “gender stereotypes” and “harmful gender norms” has taken in between $1 million and $1.7 million annually in grants and donations.
The Daily Mail reported that around $300,000 has gone straight to Siebel Newsom and Girls Club LLC in recent years.
IRS filings up to March 2024 show that Siebel Newsom receives a $150,000 annual salary from the Representation Project, with the other $150,000 going to Girls Club LLC.
The article says the media salary for running a nonprofit of this size is about $31,000 a year. Jennifer Newsom is taking 5 times that plus another five times that for her LLC. All of that puts her payments in the 95th percentile for a charity of this size.
We'll have to wait and see if Newsom has something to complain about or if he's just trying to get out ahead of a bad news story about his wife.
Editor’s Note: The American people overwhelmingly support President Trump’s law and order agenda.
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