Gavin Newsom says DOJ probe is political — but – Latest News
Federal investigators are reportedly inspecting the funds and nonprofit actions of Jennifer Siebel Newsom, California’s “first partner” and spouse of Gov. Gavin Newsom. The governor went public Monday, accusing President Donald Trump of orchestrating the probes as political revenge in opposition to a potential 2028 presidential rival.
That framing deserves a laborious look.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom is not merely the governor’s spouse caught in a crossfire. She is the founder of a number of nonprofit organizations. She is a public advocate who has used her place to affect public coverage. She is related to organizations which have obtained hundreds of thousands of {dollars} from donors, together with these with direct pursuits earlier than state authorities.
That makes her a public determine, a political actor, and a participant in California’s affect ecosystem.
California Governor Gavin Newsom talking on the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ 94th Annual Meeting. David Buchan for Ca Post
For years, Californians have been instructed that the primary associate’s initiatives deserve public consideration, media protection, donor assist, and a seat on the policymaking desk. If that is true, those self same actions can not out of the blue develop into off limits the second investigators begin asking questions.
Public affect brings public scrutiny.
According to a number of information reviews, federal investigators are conducting at the very least two probes linked to the Newsom household. One focuses on Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s personal taxes. Another examines her nonprofit organizations, together with the California Partners Project and the Representation Project, financial relationships, donors, and affiliated entities.
Those inquiries aren’t unfolding in a vacuum.
Newsom’s former chief of employees, Dana Williamson, pleaded guilty final month to 3 felonies, together with mendacity to the FBI about passing confidential state litigation info to former purchasers for his or her personal benefit — crimes dedicated whereas she labored inside the governor’s workplace.
Siebel Newsom, 51, is a documentary filmmaker and nonprofit founder. AFP by way of Getty Images
That doesn’t implicate Newsom or his spouse. But federal investigators are already deeply conversant in the inside workings of his political operation.
Those details don’t set up wrongdoing. They do set up that scrutiny is warranted.
Reporting has highlighted funds from the Representation Project to Girls Club Entertainment — a movie manufacturing company that Jennifer Siebel Newsom additionally owns — totaling $161,250 in 2024 alone. She was additionally reportedly paid a $150,000 wage from the Representation Project. A nonprofit she controls paid six figures to a company she controls, whereas additionally paying her six figures personally.
Gov. Newsom has additionally reported soliciting hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in behested funds — donations made to favored charities at a politician’s personal solicitation — directed to the California Partners Project since 2020. That reportedly contains $1.8 million from a Native American tribe holding a state on line casino settlement.
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None of that proves corruption. But it raises critical questions concerning the intersection of political energy, donor money, nonprofit fundraising, and personal benefit — questions that deserve solutions, not dismissal.
Newsom’s political strategy is clear. If the story turns into Donald Trump versus Gavin Newsom, many Californians will instinctively select sides.
But that framing is a dodge.
The actual challenge is whether or not organizations linked to California’s First Family operated appropriately when donor money, political affect, and public workplace intersected.
Questions aren’t convictions. Investigations aren’t indictments. But neither are they political persecution just because the governor declares them to be.
Complicating Newsom’s narrative additional: each investigations have reportedly been underway for about a 12 months — launched by federal prosecutors in Sacramento based mostly on whistleblower suggestions and native sources, not directed from Washington.
Media sources disputed that the probes had been politically motivated.
If these reviews are correct, the governor’s most well-liked rationalization collapses.
The public deserves solutions concerning the financial and political networks which have developed round California’s First Family. Californians ought to reject the demand that these networks are someway past scrutiny.
The governor can call it a vendetta. Californians ought to call it accountability.
Jon Fleischman, a longtime strategist in California politics, writes at SoDoesItMatter.com
