Getting on our last nerve, greasy California Gov. Gavin Newsom forces us to talk about something we would prefer to not discuss.
Investigations mostly shouldn’t be covered as news. By definition, if cops are investigating, they haven’t nailed down what happened. They have some preliminary allegations that they can’t prove yet. Even when they think they know what happened and get a prosecutor to file charges, we say that a defendant faces allegations. Talking about things that may in the future turn into allegations is a losing game, but one that a sitting governor forces us to play when he explicitly announces that he’s under investigation.
So all of this is speculation through the fog about things that may in the future be alleged, but we have some hints about the kinds of things that might draw law enforcement attention to Newsom and his wife.
The first is probably not the thing that you’ve heard about most recently, the charges involving Newsom’s former chief of staff stealing from campaign funds. The most likely topic of an investigation is a much-discussed reality of California politics called “behested payments.”
None of this is a new story. Way back in 2021, the Los Angeles Times reported that Newsom was causing concern in Sacramento by asking corporations to donate money to his favorite causes: “Facebook, Google, other corporate giants flooded Newsom with record $226 million in charity donations in 2020.” Knowing that a governor signs bills into law that can impose burdens on their businesses and choose companies for big government contracts, corporations turned out to be eager to comply.
And about those charities: “Three organizations, including Silicon Valley Bank, collectively gave $175,000 this year on behalf of the governor to the California Partners Project, a nonprofit launched by First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom that focuses on promoting gender equity and understanding the impact of technology and media on children.”
So the “behested payments” corporations made at the behest of the governor included contributions to a non-profit run by the governor’s wife.
Advancing the appearance of quid pro quo donations, the Washington Free Beacon reported last year that Newsom intervened with federal regulators in a dispute between tribes over the right to operate Indian casinos.
“In April 2024, a few months before Newsom sent his letter to the Biden Interior Department, the Democratic governor requested Graton Rancheria to contribute $500,000 to his wife’s charity, the California Partners Project,” the Free Beacon wrote. “And in April 2025, one month before Newsom filed his lawsuit against the Trump administration, he again asked Graton Rancheria to contribute another $500,000 to his wife’s charity.”
While Newsom suggests that Mean Orange Man is making prosecutors target him because he wants to run for president, then, a more plausible explanation for federal law enforcement interest centers on some not-at-all-new heat around pay-to-play allegations that are at least plausible: Give my wife’s charity some cash and I can do things for you as governor.
Related to the appearance of financial benefit for Jennifer Siebel Newsom from government business, the conservative journalist Jennifer Van Laar has been scrutinizing the Newsom family’s interesting real estate deals for years. Sample story: “Gavin Newsom’s $3.7 Million Estate Was Gifted to Him in 2019; 3 Months Later He Got a $2.7 Million Tax Free Cash-Out.”
And finally, proven corruption has been recently and successfully prosecuted in immediate proximity to the governor, as Newsom’s former chief of staff pled guilty in May to charges related to her theft from a political campaign fund that belonged to current gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra.
Whatever investigation turns out to be underway, none of this is recent, and every potential topic of controversy dates to the Biden administration. A Monday story in The New York Times explicitly added the detail that at least one federal investigation into Newsom began before Trump’s second term: “When Ms. Williamson was indicted last year, her attorney said that federal agents first approached her during the Biden administration. She was working for Mr. Newsom at the time, and the agents asked her if she would cooperate in an investigation of the governor.”
So Newsom is now in the awkward position of arguing that a Trump administration witch hunt began when Joe Biden was the president.
It’s highly unlikely that Newsom is under federal investigation because Trump said so, and there’s no reason for Newsom to announce the investigation if he thought it was likely to end without charges. He’s trying to get ahead of something, and there are old reasons to believe that the something is real.
We’re forced into the bizarre position of saying that Newsom has due process rights, and is entitled to the presumption of innocence, even as he himself drops hints that he may be facing charges.
Tread carefully around the California governor’s announcement that the governor of California is under investigation.
Finally, federal investigators have been mucking out California politics for decades, long before they answered to Trump. Among the many available examples, a Democrat former state senator went to prison for running a weapons trafficking racket, and the Los Angeles City Council just seems to cycle through regular seasons of federal indictment. This one is from 2024: “Former Los Angeles City Councilmember José Luis Huizar was sentenced today to 156 months in federal prison for using his powerful position at City Hall to enrich himself and his associates, as well as for cheating on his taxes.”
Political corruption investigations are a proud California tradition that began long before Trump became president. They’ll continue long after he leaves office. It’s the local version of normal.
