Newsom seeks political advantage in probe he says Trump ordered
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- As he eyes a 2028 run for president, strategists say California Gov. Gavin Newsom is taking advantage of a federal probe to boost his national profile.
- Questions remain about the focus, timeline and origin of the investigation that Newsom cast as a “witch hunt” directed by President Trump targeting him and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom did something this week that most politicians would only in a nightmare: He announced that the federal government is investigating him and his wife.
The revelation, delivered in a direct-to-camera 4½-minute video set against a backdrop of U.S. and California flags, became a top headline across the country.
In the upside-down politics of the Trump era, that was exactly as intended.
“He seems to be wearing this as a badge of honor because his brand is being the strongest opponent of Donald Trump,” said Thad Kousser, a professor of political science at UC San Diego. “The ability to show that you’re going on offense and that you know how to effectively fight back against this president is part of making your case for office.”
Newsom said that in recent days, “federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” and have been “demanding records” in a quest to find any kind of wrongdoing by him or his wife.
As he eyes a run for president in 2028, an antagonistic relationship with President Trump is Newsom’s political currency.
So when friends and former employees said the FBI and Internal Revenue Service had knocked on their doors and asked about him and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, last Wednesday, the governor took advantage of the situation to boost his political profile.
“Mr. President, come after me,” Newsom said in the video he posted online. “I’m not going anywhere, and the country is watching.”
Newsom, who is in his final year as California’s governor, has not declared his intent to run for president, though his claim that Trump is targeting him because he’s considering a bid for the White House was an open acknowledgment of his thoughts about the future. Announcing the probe himself — before federal authorities had a chance to describe it on their terms — allowed him to get ahead of and try to discredit any findings as a “personal vendetta” long before potential charges are brought.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday morning said he was not surprised the Trump administration blocked his appearance at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland the day before, saying it was another example of an unhinged president trying to stifle dissent.
Celinda Lake, a Democratic strategist and national pollster, said Newsom publicly defending his wife could also play well with voters.
“He’s positioned himself as the front-runner because he’s the one who’s under attack,” Lake said. “Primary voters love it when he engages Trump, and I think the combination of engaging Trump and then also the sexism of going after your wife is just a real home run for a primary electorate that’s 59% female.”
The video released Monday seemed similar to a speech Newsom delivered after Trump sent federal troops to Los Angeles last summer.
That address, in which he countered Trump’s version of events and challenged the president to come after him instead of women and child immigrants, made Newsom the captain of the Democratic response to the unprecedented deployment and ended his attempt to play the part of respectful statesman and ease political tensions following the 2024 election.
Along with focusing on deportations, the administration is deploying other tactics to deter legal, as well as illegal, immigration.
Liberals have since seemed to relish Newsom’s near-constant derision of the president on social media.
But David McCuan, a professor of political science at Sonoma State University, said casting the case as another instance of Trump’s political weaponization ignores questions about the murky timeline and origin of the investigation.
Newsom’s aides point to Trump saying that the governor should be arrested during last summer’s anti-ICE protests as evidence that he personally called for the inquiry. The claim has gained oxygen — and been echoed by other Democratic leaders in the state — while going largely unchallenged by federal officials. The Justice Department has declined to comment, as has the White House.
A source familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly, said two federal probes have been going on for about a year, and that they originated not from Washington, D.C. but from conversations between whistleblowers and federal prosecutors based in Sacramento. The probes are linked to Newsom’s former chief-of-staff, Dana Williamson, and Siebel Newsom’s taxes, the source said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom urged European and other global leaders to “stand tall and firm” and to “have a backbone,” bemoaning that too many have been “rolling over” in the face of Trump’s actions and rhetoric.
Newsom’s critics have also noted that federal prosecutors under the Biden administration had pursued questions about his involvement in a state lawsuit against Activision Blizzard Inc., a major video game distributor, before Trump retook office.
“This is something that could lead to other elements that blow up, so there’s a risk,” McCuan said.
Newsom’s aides described the investigation as a fishing expedition, with federal authorities searching for anything they can use against the governor.
They said federal authorities appeared to initially investigate allegations that turned up nothing about the Activision case before refocusing their questions on nonprofits and other entities tied to the couple. Investigators also asked about personal information related to the family’s household, Newsom’s office said.
Killings in Los Angeles plummeted in 2025, mirroring trends statewide. Gov. Gavin Newsom touted the latest numbers in his speech Thursday, pushing back against President Trump’s insistence that crime in the state is out of control.
McCuan said three nonprofits that surround the couple have received millions of dollars from donors and political interests and are not subject to campaign finance limits.
The California Partners Project is a nonprofit that promotes gender equity. The Representation Project is an avenue for Siebel Newsom’s documentary films. The California State Protocol Foundation uses private donations to pay for gubernatorial expenses and was founded under former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“It’s a long-running game,” McCuan said. “It’s just the Newsom first couple has perfected it and moved it forward.”
Newsom getting out ahead of prosecutors and framing their probes as nothing but a “witch hunt” — borrowing a phrase often used by Trump during his own previous prosecutions — carries risk.
Even before President Trump’s latest wave of unfounded claims of election fraud in California, a significant percentage of voters in the state expressed concerns about federal interference in the electoral process, according to a new poll.
If prosecutors do turn up evidence of wrongdoing, Newsom’s decision to parade his indignation could backfire.
Publicly challenging Trump also runs the risk that the president could instruct the Justice Department to dig in deeper on an investigation that might have otherwise petered out.
But Lake and others said there’s no placating Trump, who has targeted Newsom and other Democrats.
While traditional politics suggest facing federal charges could sink Newsom’s political ambitions, the rules have been thrown out under Trump.
“You know the last person who got tied up in courts on the campaign trail?” Kousser asked. “That was Donald Trump, and nothing elevated Donald Trump more than doing courthouse press appearances and being seen as the target of an unfair political prosecution.”
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