California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently got one of the most valuable gifts any Democratic presidential aspirant could receive: He is being investigated by President Donald Trump’s Justice Department.
Newsom and his advisers quickly recognized their unlikely political windfall, announcing last week that Todd Blanche, Trump’s personal lawyer turned acting attorney general, and his minions were investigating the governor’s spouse as well as his former top adviser. Newsom’s team released a video casting the inquiry in starkly partisan terms, followed hours later by a fundraising appeal asking supporters for their help in the fight against Trump.
Based on what’s currently known, the greater danger for Newsom is less likely legal than political — and not just from Trump.
Because Trump and his appointees have used the DOJ as an instrument of personal vengeance against the president’s opponents, Newsom’s pitch of a biased investigation is not a tough sell. The Wall Street Journal counted almost 20 investigations, and prosecutions have followed the more than four dozen demands that Trump has made for such actions since returning to office last year. The result of Trump’s statements and the subsequent legal actions is that not only loyal Democrats but also swing voters — not to mention grand juries — are inclined to view these investigations with great suspicion.
If Trump had not so badly compromised the integrity of the DOJ, questions about the financial and tax activities of both Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and his former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, might have been taken far more seriously. But Newsom has astutely tapped into suspicions about Trump’s motivations to preemptively cast doubt on the allegations.
California’s first partner, Siebel Newsom is a documentary filmmaker, actress and advocate on gender issues. She runs several nonprofit organizations that focus on gender equity and identity projects. She has raised millions of dollars for these organizations, much of which have come from donors with business before the governor and who contributed in response to his direct requests. She has been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for her work on these projects.
But as journalist Michael Kinsley wrote long ago, “The scandal isn’t what’s illegal, the scandal is what’s legal.” While some might view Siebel Newsom’s fundraising as a way of avoiding campaign finance regulations, California’s laws on behest payments are notoriously lenient and allow officeholders to solicit money for philanthropic organizations — even ones run by a member of the politician’s immediate family. There are only two ways these fundraising practices could cause the Newsoms substantive legal problems: if the governor verbally framed his donation shakedown as an explicitly stated quid pro quo (and Gavin Newsom is far too politically savvy for that) or if the requests were not appropriately reported (the governor has already paid substantial fines for late reporting of such payments).
Unless Trump and his lawyers become (improbable) advocates for sweeping campaign finance reform, they are likely to be disappointed if and when Siebel Newsom’s adherence to the loophole-ridden requirements does not lead to a smoking gun. But legal violations aren’t the only potential fallout. At a time when voters are highly attuned to widespread political corruption, it’s likely another Democratic presidential campaign will run ads against Newsom in 2028 targeted at working-class voters who do not have access to six-figure sinecures.
Someone other than Trump might have been able to look into this in a believable way, but the DOJ’s track record in this second Trump term means its investigation will be viewed skeptically by many from the outset.
And political liabilities already appear likely for the governor over the conduct of his former chief of staff, Williamson. She pleaded guilty last month to multiple federal charges, including lying to the FBI regarding her involvement in a gender-related lawsuit brought and later dropped by the Newsom administration. Before joining the governor’s office in late 2022, Williamson advised the Activision Blizzard video game company, which was sued in 2021 by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing for gender discrimination and wage disparities and for ignoring reports of egregious sexual harassment. The state lawyer spearheading the case was fired while Williamson was Newsom’s chief of staff, prompting the Fair Employment and Housing Department’s chief deputy to resign in protest, alleging interference of the governor’s office.
Newsom has not been accused of having any role in the Williamson controversy. But his top aide’s involvement — and the fact that she lied to authorities about it under oath — raises questions about whether he knew anything about such a highly charged matter, one that touches on such sensitive and politically fraught topics as gender discrimination and sexual harassment. (Newsom put her on leave in 2024 when Williamson informed him she was questioned by the FBI, and she officially left his administration a month later.) Someone other than Trump might have been able to look into this in a believable way, but the DOJ’s track record in this second Trump term means its investigation will be viewed skeptically by many from the outset.
For Newsom, the likely threats tied to these investigations are less legal than political. Before he faces Vice President JD Vance or any other GOP successor to Trump in a 2028 general election, he will have to confront a large and unwieldy field of fellow Democrats in their party’s primary. It’s hard to imagine that at least some of them would not use these developments as ammunition against Newsom, regardless of how questionable they find the source of the original charges.
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