BUSTED: DOJ Confirms Investigations Into Gavin Newsom and Wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced this week that he and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, are the subjects of active federal investigations being run out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento.

Newsom broke the news himself in a video posted to social media on Monday, framing the probes as a political hit job ordered by President Trump in retaliation for his criticism of the administration and his possible 2028 presidential ambitions.

In his video, Newsom claimed federal agents had been “knocking on the doors of family, friends, and former employees,” demanding records and digging through years of personal documents.

He insisted investigators were not following evidence of a crime but were instead trying to manufacture one.

“Donald Trump isn’t just coming after me because of my mean tweets,” Newsom said. “He’s coming after me because I’m considering running for president.”

The governor’s office held a call with reporters Monday afternoon in which aides said more than a dozen people connected to the Newsoms, including family members, friends, and former staff, had been contacted by FBI and IRS agents.

Aides said some of the questions asked of those contacts referenced specific financial transactions and credit card statements, which led the governor’s team to conclude that subpoenas for financial records had already been issued, even though they say they have not received any subpoenas directed at the governor or his wife personally.

Sources familiar with the matter, speaking to multiple outlets including Politico, Axios, and CBS News, confirmed there are at least two separate ongoing federal investigations.

One involves Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s taxes.

The other relates to the governor’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and possibly current members of his staff.

Both investigations reportedly began roughly a year ago, well before the current controversy became public, and originated from whistleblower complaints filed in California rather than from a directive issued out of Washington.

That timeline is central to the story and cuts directly against Newsom’s effort to present himself as the victim of a brand-new Trump-ordered political attack.

Dana Williamson, who served as Newsom’s chief of staff until late 2024, pleaded guilty in May to federal fraud and corruption charges in a scheme connected to a former gubernatorial campaign.

Prosecutors say Williamson used her political consulting firm to bill a campaign for services that were never performed, funneling the money to an associate’s spouse in what authorities described as a “no show job.”

The case also alleges Williamson created backdated, false contracts after receiving a federal subpoena related to Paycheck Protection Program loans tied to her business.

The investigation into Williamson reportedly began during the Biden administration, not under Trump’s Justice Department, a fact that makes Newsom’s political persecution argument harder to sustain.

A second thread of scrutiny, according to Time and other outlets, involves a $54 million settlement California reached in December 2023 with video game maker Activision Blizzard over workplace discrimination allegations.

Federal investigators have reportedly examined that settlement, and the inquiry was said to have recently expanded.

Activision Blizzard had previously been a client of Williamson’s consulting business before she joined the governor’s office, a connection that adds another layer to the overlapping probes.

Newsom’s office has pushed back hard on any suggestion that the investigations are simply routine law enforcement matters.

The governor’s general counsel sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the Justice Department demanding records from January 2025 to the present involving senior DOJ leadership, including former Attorney General Pam Bondi, former acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, related to communications referencing Newsom or his wife by name.

The request set a deadline of July 6 for compliance.

The Justice Department has declined to confirm or deny any of the specifics.

Eric Grant, the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California who oversees the Sacramento office, has said through a spokesperson that his office “does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations,” a standard line used in ongoing federal matters.

The White House, for its part, referred all questions about Newsom’s claims to the Justice Department, which itself declined to comment when reached by NBC News, ABC News, and CBS News.

Notably, Grant has a long career inside the department spanning multiple administrations, a detail Newsom allies have downplayed but which cuts against the narrative that the investigations were freshly conjured up by political appointees loyal to Trump.

He was first installed as interim U.S. Attorney by Bondi last year and was later confirmed in that post by the district’s panel of judges, a process that includes judicial sign off rather than a unilateral political appointment.

Newsom has nonetheless leaned into the narrative that he is the latest in a string of Trump critics targeted by the Justice Department.

He pointed to federal scrutiny of former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, former Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and California Senator Adam Schiff as evidence of a pattern.

None of those cases, however, are identical to one another, and none have yet produced a conviction against the named officials themselves, a point Newsom’s critics say undercuts his framing that this is a coordinated campaign rather than separate matters working through the normal channels of federal law enforcement.

Schiff, who has faced his own accusations of mortgage fraud which he denies, quickly came to Newsom’s defense, posting on social media that “the President’s abuse of the Justice Department continues, with new targets every day.”

Other Democrats echoed the claim that the Trump administration has weaponized federal law enforcement against political rivals.

Trump’s allies reject that charge, noting that the Sacramento investigations reportedly predate his second term and were opened under career prosecutors responding to whistleblower tips rather than a political directive from Washington.

Newsom’s own past statements have added a layer of irony for his critics.

As attorney general nominee, Pam Bondi testified under oath to the Senate Judiciary Committee that she would not target people because of their political affiliation, and Democrats including Senator Sheldon Whitehouse had previously warned her against following any directive from Trump to “start with a name and look for a crime.”

Newsom’s allies now argue that is precisely what has happened to him, while DOJ officials and Republican lawmakers counter that the investigations were already underway long before Newsom’s national profile rose, and that whistleblower complaints, not political targeting, triggered them.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who refers to herself as California’s “first partner,” is a documentary filmmaker who founded The Representation Project, a nonprofit focused on gender stereotypes, and co-founded the California Partners Project, another nonprofit promoting gender equality initiatives.

Newsom’s video framed his wife as an innocent target swept up in a political vendetta, describing her as “a public servant” who has “done nothing wrong other than having the temerity to advocate for what she believes in.”

In his statement, Newsom went well beyond defending his wife, using the moment to launch a broader attack on the Trump administration’s ethics record, citing the president’s cryptocurrency ventures, a $400 million private jet reportedly accepted from a foreign government, and his sons’ business dealings in countries where the administration is simultaneously setting policy.

Newsom claimed Trump’s personal fortune had grown by $4 billion since returning to office and accused the administration of running “an open air corruption market” out of the White House.

Critics of Newsom note that pivoting to unrelated allegations against the president does not answer the specific financial questions raised by the Sacramento investigations into his wife’s taxes and his former chief of staff’s conduct.

They argue that turning a federal tax and corruption inquiry into a referendum on Trump’s ethics is a deflection tactic rather than a substantive defense, especially given that the underlying probes were opened by career prosecutors working from whistleblower tips well before Newsom emerged as a national figure ahead of 2028.

Republican lawmakers have largely stayed quiet on the specifics of the Sacramento investigations, in part because the Justice Department has not confirmed details publicly.

But some have noted that Newsom chose to publicize an ongoing federal investigation before any indictment or formal charge has been filed, an unusual step that critics say is designed to control the narrative and frame any future charges as politically motivated before they are even brought.

As of this writing, no subpoenas have reportedly been issued directly to Newsom or his wife, no target letters indicating that charges are imminent have been sent, and the Justice Department has not commented on the substance, scope, or status of any investigation.

The matter remains unresolved, with Newsom’s office continuing to press for transparency through its FOIA request while federal investigators in Sacramento continue their work largely behind closed doors.

The story is likely to remain a flashpoint heading into the 2028 presidential cycle, where Newsom is widely viewed as a potential Democratic contender.

Whether the investigations produce formal charges, fade quietly, or become a defining feature of his future campaign narrative remains to be seen.

What is already clear is that Newsom is trying to turn the investigation into a political shield before federal prosecutors have even shown their hand.