California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that he is under investigation by the Trump administration’s Department of Justice. The investigation, Newsom said, is just a further expansion of Trump’s efforts to jail his political opponents.
An anonymous source familiar with the multiple federal investigations contended to the New York Times, however, that the investigations “were initiated by federal law enforcement officials in California, based on government witnesses offering information there, and were not launched by officials in Washington.”
Newsom’s office, meanwhile, said that the investigations into the governor began around the time that Trump nominated Todd Blanche to be his attorney general.
For much of the public, the investigation is unlikely to be seen as legitimate unless and until evidence is presented because of the reputation Trump and his Justice Department have developed, fairly or unfairly, of going after the president’s political opponents. Trump has, for his part, said former Rep. Adam Schiff, former Special Counsel Jack Smith, former Rep. Liz Cheney, and former President Joe Biden, among others, should face prosecutions. The Justice Department under Trump has charged former National Security Adviser John Bolton (securing a plea deal) and former FBI Director James Comey, and has opened an investigation into Minnesota Gov. and former vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.
But Newsom has done himself few favors when it comes to being seen as above reproach.
Newsom’s aides told the New York Times that some of the federal investigation appears to center on Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Her activities with nonprofit organizations have long drawn scrutiny for having the appearance of impropriety. (RELATED: Gavin Newsom’s Extremely Odd Wife)
One of Siebel Newsom’s nonprofits, the Representation Project, received $800,000 in donations from companies that had business in the state, including AT&T and the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, according to the Sacramento Bee. Given that Siebel Newsom benefited from the Representation Project both from the salary she received from it as well as the $2 million that the nonprofit paid to her film production company, those payments created the appearance of a pay-to-play arrangement.
It certainly seemed as though some of those who donated to the Representation Project benefited from their involvement. For example, Kaiser Permanente donated tens of thousands of dollars to the Representation Project in 2018 and 2019 before going on to sign a $500 million no-bid contract with the state of California under Newsom. Of course, it’s difficult to prove that a specific advantage was given to a person or company in exchange for a donation that occurred years earlier. It is true, however, that Newsom associated himself with the Representation Project. At its 2019 fundraising gala, Newsom attended and spoke at the event.
Moreover, Siebel Newsom profited from the screening of her gender justice films in California public schools. This prompted scrutiny because Siebel Newsom had been deeply intertwined in securing billions of dollars in additional funding for public school counselors. Making appearances worse, the then-director of the California Association of School Counselors, Loretta Whitson, stated publicly that the additional funding for counselors would lead to greater licensing of Siebel Newsom’s films. While I was writing my book on Gavin Newsom, Newsom Unleashed: The Progressive Lust for Unbridled Power, Whitson told me that Siebel Newsom’s films are “extremely affordable or free.” Open the Books found that the cost to screen one of Siebel Newsom’s films ranged from $49 to $599. Presumably, Siebel Newsom had a personal interest in boosting her films to America’s children that went beyond the monetary value it afforded her.
There are even more appearances of financial impropriety that have surrounded Newsom’s wife.
Huge sums of money — over $4 million — were given to Siebel Newsom’s other nonprofit, the California Partners Project, at the specific request of Gov. Newsom. Four payments of $25,000 from Silicon Valley Bank to Siebel Newsom’s nonprofit drew particular suspicion after the bank collapsed. Concern has also surrounded a $1.8 million donation from a Native American tribe with a casino that operates in California. That donation was given at Gov. Newsom’s official request.
There have also been suspicions surrounding Newsom related to his former chief of staff, Dana Williamson. Last month, Williamson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, subscribing to a false tax return, and making false statements to a federal agent. Williamson’s lawyer alleged that she first learned she was under investigation when federal agents approached her asking if she could “help in some sort of investigation they were conducting of the governor.” As the Los Angeles Times put it, federal investigations “tried to pressure Williamson into implicating Newsom,” according to an anonymous source. The investigation of Dana Williamson began during the Biden administration, indicating that the Department of Justice under the Biden administration was conducting a probe of Newsom. (RELATED: Newsom’s Ticking Time Bomb: Dana Williamson)
One of the charges Williamson pleaded to related to lying about a sex discrimination lawsuit brought by the state of California against the video game company Activision. Newsom fired the state lawyer leading the suit, and he was asked to respond earlier this year to questions about his firing of that lawyer by the Justice Department, a Newsom spokesperson told the New York Times. That could be another potential avenue for the federal investigation.
Newsom’s governor’s office said that former employees of Newsom, as well as people associated with Siebel Newsom’s nonprofits, have been questioned by federal investigators in recent weeks. In addition, Newsom’s aides said that federal agents had subpoenaed some of the governor’s banking records.
Suspicious circumstances have surrounded Newsom and his wife for a long time, making this investigation far from shocking. The fact that a federal probe of Newsom existed during the Biden administration makes this investigation all the more unsurprising. Yet at the same time, actual proof of wrongdoing is something that has so far eluded the public eye.
READ MORE from Ellie Gardey Holmes:
Gavin Newsom’s Extremely Odd Wife
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