{"id":1153,"date":"2026-06-21T10:30:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T10:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=1153"},"modified":"2026-06-21T10:30:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T10:30:04","slug":"federal-probe-of-newsom-creates-lots-of-smoke-is-there-any-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=1153","title":{"rendered":"Federal probe of Newsom creates lots of smoke. Is there any fire?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The U.S. Department of Justice \u2014 make that the U.S. Department of \u201cJustice\u201d \u2014 is sniffing around Gavin Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.<\/p>\n

Read more How the plan to expand the L.A. City Council got shelved once again<\/a><\/p>\n

This is widely seen as a throw-me-in-the-briar-patch gift from President Trump, coming as California\u2019s governor edges ever closer toward a 2028 run for the White House. The presumed effort to cut down a political foe could instead boost Newsom\u2019s chances of winning the Democratic nomination, or so it\u2019s being suggested.<\/p>\n

After all, look at how Trump\u2019s verbal bludgeoning elevated former Rep. Adam Schiff. The House has typically been a dead end for lawmakers seeking statewide office in California. Today, the former Burbank congressman and Trump tormentor is a United States senator.<\/p>\n

In truth, however, it\u2019s far too early to say how the investigation of Newsom and his wife plays out politically, not least because it\u2019s unclear whether there\u2019s merit to the probe or if it\u2019s merely a fruitless search-and-destroy mission by Trump\u2019s Department of Retribution, Vengeance and Settling Old Scores<\/p>\n

Beyond that, the first ballots of the 2028 campaign won\u2019t be cast for roughly a year and a half. The Democratic National Convention, where the party will install its nominee, doesn\u2019t begin for another 778 days. <\/p>\n

Your friendly political columnist won\u2019t resort to that hoariest of cliches about such-and-such duration being a lifetime in politics. But for some perspective, let\u2019s go back 778 days.<\/p>\n

President Joe Biden was running for reelection and about to challenge Trump to a pair of early debates. Trump was sequestered in a New York City courtroom being prosecuted on 34 felony counts.<\/p>\n

A lot happened in the weeks and months that followed, including Biden\u2019s self-immolation on the debate stage and Trump\u2019s criminal conviction. A lot more will happen in the weeks and months to come. There\u2019s no telling what. But it\u2019s safe to say the fight for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination will not be decided by anything that\u2019s taken place in June 2026.<\/p>\n

Still, Newsom is once again sunning himself in the national spotlight and for that he has Trump to thank.<\/p>\n

With his exquisitely tuned political antennae, the governor jumped out front of the president by announcing last week the feds were targeting him and his wife. (Naturally, Newsom\u2019s revelation was accompanied by a rage-bait email \u2014 subject line: \u201cBecause I am thinking of running for president\u201d \u2014 that denounced the \u201cpolitical witch hunt\u201d and asked for money.)<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter calling for my arrest<\/u> last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me,\u201d Newsom said in a 4 \u00bd-minute, direct-to-camera video that framed the investigation before prosecutors had the chance. \u201cAnd just in the last week, I\u2019ve learned his campaign has reached my own home: To get me, he\u2019s coming after my wife, Jen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more They found a new park hiding in plain sight in the middle of Los Angeles<\/a><\/p>\n

Newsom and his wife both adamantly denied any wrongdoing and, of course, they must be presumed innocent until and unless proven otherwise. <\/p>\n

But there was something a bit disingenuous about the governor\u2019s chivalrous defense. Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker who calls herself California\u2019s \u201cFirst Partner,\u201d is no mere housewife baking cookies and holding teas, in the famous words of Hillary Rodham Clinton. (Hold the outrage, folks, this is not some retrograde criticism of career-seeking women.)<\/p>\n

Among her many public-facing activities, Siebel Newsom heads The Representation Project, a nonprofit focused on challenging gender stereotypes. The organization has faced criticism for accepting donations from companies that lobby the governor, so it\u2019s not unreasonable to ask whether those interests have improperly sought to influence Newsom by giving money to Siebel Newsom\u2019s causes.<\/p>\n

My Times colleagues reported that an investigation related to Siebel Newsom has been underway for about a year and was launched by federal prosecutors in Sacramento based on whistle-blower information provided in California. It was not, their source said, the result of a directive out of Washington. <\/p>\n

A second probe, they reported, is related to Newsom\u2019s ex-chief of staff, Dana Williamson, who pleaded guilty last month to bank and wire fraud involving a scheme to steal campaign funds from Xavier Becerra, the Democratic candidate for governor. <\/p>\n

The problem with all this federal sleuthing is the utter lack of credibility attached to Trump\u2019s Justice Department. Which is what happens when you turn the department into an arm of Trump\u2019s malevolent fiefdom and deploy its prosecutors as henchmen targeting the president\u2019s perceived enemies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a huge problem,\u201d Randall Eliason, former chief of the Public Corruption Section of the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office in Washington, told Politico. \u201cIn any political corruption prosecution, the defense almost always claims it is a \u2018political witch hunt,\u2019 that prosecutors are targeting him or her for some political reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best defense to that has always been [the Justice Department\u2019s] tradition of independence from politics and long track record of pursuing corruption cases based only on the facts and law, without regard to political considerations,\u201d Eliason said. \u201cThe Trump administration has abandoned that independence without even trying to hide it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The probe of Newsom and his wife presents more questions than answers.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s grody, but not criminal on its face, for lobbyists to curry favor with the governor by throwing cash at his wife\u2019s endeavors \u2014 if, in fact, that\u2019s been the case. Special interests spending money to gain access and influence is about as common in Sacramento and other capitals as statues, domed buildings and manicured lawns.<\/p>\n

So why then are the feds investigating Newsom? Why now? Is there any fire, or is it all a lot of smoke?<\/p>\n

Read more Behested payments aren\u2019t illegal, but they are a problem. Especially for Newsom<\/a><\/p>\n

Perhaps most important, where can you turn to get an impartial answer?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some say the investigation will boost the governor’s presidential prospects. But it\u2019s too soon to say. The action by Trump’s corrupted Department of “Justice” presents more questions than answers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nFederal probe of Newsom creates lots of smoke. 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