Newsom’s Wife, Ex-Chief of Staff Under Federal Investigation by California Prosecutors

There are “several” federal investigations currently being conducted into the personal and political orbit of Governor Gavin Newsom, one of which pertains to Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s tax records, a source familiar with the matter tells the New York Sun. Mr. Newsom argues the investigations are taking place only because he is thinking about running for president in 2028. On Mr. Trump’s very lengthy list of political enemies, Mr. Newsom sits above countless others. The California governor has not been shy about his national political ambitions, and, as the chief executive of the nation’s wealthiest and most populous state, has used his platform to constantly troll Mr. Trump since he returned to the White House last year. Mr. Newsom has won praise for his effort to fight back against the president’s gerrymandering scheme by redrawing his own state’s congressional maps. On Monday, Mr. Newsom said he and his wife are the latest targets of Mr. Trump’s revenge tour, which has included investigations into Senator Adam Schiff and Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, prosecutions of New York attorney general Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey, and the slashing of federal funds being sent to blue states. A source familiar with the matter says Mr. Newsom himself is not under investigation, however.“In recent days, federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees — not because they found a crime, [but] because they’re simply trying to find one,” the governor said in a video posted to social media on Monday. “They’re demanding records. They’re abusing the grand jury process, digging through years and years of random documents.”“He’s coming after me because I’m considering running for president,” Mr. Newsom said in his direct-to-camera video. Both the White House and the Justice Department declined to comment.Mr. Newsom did not disclose what, exactly, federal investigators are looking into, though a Trump administration source familiar with the matter says there are “several” probes into the Newsoms and their political orbit. The source says that the investigations did not come about as a result of Mr. Trump’s desire to see Mr. Newsom punished, but rather from a number of whistleblowers in California. The investigations were initiated by federal prosecutors in Sacramento last year, the source says.The source added that the scope of the investigation is broader than just Mr. and Mrs. Newsom’s personal affairs. One of Mr. Newsom’s ex-chiefs of staff — whom the source declined to name — is also being investigated. Since becoming governor in January 2019, Mr. Newsom has had four chiefs of staff. “After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me and just in the last week, I’ve learned that his campaign has reached my own home. To get me, he’s coming after my wife, Jen,” Mr. Newsom claimed. “If they can’t intimidate me, they’ll go after the mother of our children.”“Donald Trump picked the wrong target,” Mr. Newsom said. Mr. Trump first called for Mr. Newsom to be jailed last summer after protests broke out in Los Angeles during a surge of federal immigration enforcement officers to southern California. “I think it’s great. Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing,” Mr. Trump said when asked if his border tsar, Tom Homan, should try to arrest the governor. Mr. Trump then called Mr. Newsom a “nice guy” who is “grossly incompetent.”Mr. Newsom on Monday said investigators are welcome to see any record they want from his and his wife’s personal lives, offering them “every record” and “every page.”“But they’ll be looking in the wrong place, because if they really want to find corruption, look no further than 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” Mr. Newsom said.

Newsom’s Wife, Ex-Chief of Staff Under Federal Investigation by California Prosecutors

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