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GAVIN NEWSOM SAYS TRUMP’S JUSTICE DEPARTMENT IS INVESTIGATING HIM AND HIS WIFE

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Are we now seeing the unfolding of the latest manifestation of Donald Trump’s second term retribution campaign? It seems we are:

Major Democratic Trump critic California Governor Gavin Newsom says Trump’s Justice Department is investigating him and his wife. And he’s throwing down the gauntlet.

Federal agents have questioned friends and associates of Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and his wife, Mr. Newsom said on Monday in a video in which he accused President Trump of using the Justice Department to punish a political enemy.

The full scope of any investigation remains unclear. But Mr. Newsom’s aides say part of the federal investigation appears to focus on his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Former employees of the governor and people affiliated with his wife’s nonprofit groups are among those who have been questioned by agents, according to the governor’s office.

A person familiar with the matter confirmed that multiple federal investigations were underway related to the governor, including one looking at his wife’s finances. But the person disputed Mr. Newsom’s assertion that the investigations were politically motivated, and said they had been initiated by federal law enforcement officials in California, not launched by officials in Washington. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.

Mr. Newsom, a Democrat who is widely seen as a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2028, the last year of Mr. Trump’s term, described the investigation as a fishing expedition in which federal agents had started sifting through “years and years of random documents” and knocking on the doors of family friends and associates of the Newsoms to try to find evidence of an unspecified crime.

“Donald Trump isn’t just coming after me because of my mean tweets,” Mr. Newsom said in the video. “He’s coming after me because I am considering running for president.” He added, “To get me, he’s coming after my wife.”

Several people associated with the Newsoms have been contacted by federal agents in the past week, according to the governor’s office. Mr. Newsom’s aides believe the agents have also subpoenaed banking records, but said they had seen no written evidence of that.

Siebal Newsom is also speaking out:

Ms. Siebel Newsom said Mr. Trump would stop at nothing to try to punish those who stand up to him.

“This is not presidential behavior, and the Governor and I will continue to speak truth to power because the American people deserve so much more,” she said in a statement.

Ms. Siebel Newsom, who calls herself California’s first partner, is a documentary filmmaker whose work focuses on the social impacts of sexism. She founded a nonprofit organization called the Representation Project that advocates for gender equity, in part by developing educational materials based on Ms. Siebel Newsom’s documentaries.

Ms. Siebel Newsom also owns a film production company called Girls Club Entertainment. It is listed as a contractor of the Representation Project on the nonprofit’s tax returns. Tax records show that the Representation Project makes annual payments to Girls Club Entertainment. In 2024, the nonprofit paid Girls Club Entertainment $161,250 for film production work.

Ms. Siebel Newsom is also a co-founder of the California Partners Project, a nonprofit that works to get more women onto corporate boards, address the gender pay gap and make technology safer for children. Some of the donors that support the California Partners Project are groups with business before the state government.

For years, critics have raised the possibility of self-dealing, but no public evidence of wrongdoing by any of the entities tied to Ms. Siebel Newsom has surfaced, and it remains unclear what precise issues and actions investigators have been asking questions about.