Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday accused the Justice Department of launching — at President Trump’s request — a baseless and politically-motivated investigation into him and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me,” Newsom said. “And just in the last week, I’ve learned his campaign has reached my own home: to get me, he’s coming after my wife, Jen.”
Newsom adamantly denied any wrongdoing by him or his wife.
The White House declined to respond to Newsom’s allegations that Trump was involved in instigating the probes, referring all questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.
A source familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times that there are two federal probes underway, one related to Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and one related to Siebel Newsom’s taxes.
The source said both investigations have been ongoing for about a year; were launched by federal prosecutors in Sacramento based on information provided by whistleblowers and other local sources in California; and were not the result of directives out of Washington or the White House.
Lauren Horwood, a spokesperson for the office of U.S. Atty. Eric Grant, a Trump appointee who oversees federal prosecutors in Sacramento, said the office “does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”
Siebel Newsom, in her own statement, also accused Trump of initiating the investigations.
“There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” she said. “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.”
Newsom said that in recent days, “federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” and have been “demanding records,” “digging through years and years of random documents” and “abusing the grand jury process” in a quest to find any kind of wrongdoing by him or his wife.
“Not because they found a crime. Because they are simply trying to find one,” he said.
Newsom did not describe the specific nature of the alleged probe, the line of questioning faced by friends and employees or the types of records taken or reviewed by federal investigators.
Newsom’s office said previous allegations of wrongdoing by Newsom in his handling of Activision Blizzard Inc., a video game company where Williamson once worked, were baseless and went no where, and did not appear to be a focus of the current investigations.
Newsom’s office said the current probes appeared to in part involve Siebel Newsom’s professional and personal affairs, and that donors, business associates and organizations connected to both Newsom and his wife have also been contacted.
It said neither Newsom nor his wife have been subpoenaed, but that they expect to be. It said that they both release annual reports on their income, assets and any gifts they receive.
A longtime documentary film maker, Siebel Newsom in 2011 founded the Representation Project, a nonprofit focused on challenging gender stereotypes. She earned a salary of about $161,000 from the non-profit, according to federal forms filed in 2024.
The non-profit has faced criticism for accepting donations from companies, including Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and AT&T, that are active in state politics and lobby the governor.
The Representation Project paid $161,250 to Girls Club Entertainment LLC in 2024, according to federal forms, which is Siebel Newsom’s film company.
Siebel Newsom is also behind the California Partners Project which champions gender equity, but does not receive a salary for that work, according to federal forms.
Newsom’s office said the governor chose to make a public statement about the investigations Monday because he thought it was important to inform the public directly about what he sees as a Trump-directed attack on him and his wife.
In his video address, Newsom alleged that Trump instigated the probes because Newsom is considering running for president in 2028, and because Trump “hates that I’ve consistently called him out — over and over again — for his lies and deceit.”
“He has turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministries to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents,” Newsom said.
Newsom cited Justice Department investigations of several other of the president’s political opponents, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, former FBI director James Comey, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and former vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list,” he said. “And today, I proudly join that list.”
Federal authorities arrested Williamson last year following a three-year-long investigation that began during the Biden administration.
Williamson pleaded guilty to three counts, including lying to authorities, last month. She admitted she lied to FBI agents who interviewed her about her role in the state’s handling of alleged sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard Inc., which she had represented as a consultant before joining Newsom’s office as chief of staff.
Williamson’s attorney, McGregor Scott, a former U.S. attorney in Sacramento, told The Times that federal authorities had approached
Williamson before her arrest seeking help with an investigation of the governor himself. Scott said it was his belief that investigators were looking into the governor and Activision.
Williamson’s plea agreement stated that she lied to the FBI when she was interviewed about her role in “passing information to former clients and business partners to give them an advantage in litigation against the state.”
The state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing in 2021 sued Activision Blizzard, which distributes video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” alleging that company officials discriminated against women, paid them less than men and ignored reports of egregious sexual harassment. Activision officials denied the allegations.
The case again drew national attention the next year when the lawyer overseeing the case for the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Janet Wipper, was fired by the Newsom administration, and her chief deputy resigned and alleged that she was doing so to protest alleged interference of Newsom’s office in the investigation. Newsom’s office denied any interference.
As Newsom noted, the federal investigations into Newsom and his wife mark the latest targeting prominent Democrats since Trump returned to office. Several of the others originated in U.S. attorneys offices controlled by Trump loyalists — and they have had little success in courts.
The Justice Department has lost cases brought against James, Comey and Powell. No charges have been filed against Schiff, despite the president accusing him of committing a crime.
Schiff has denounced Trump for turning the Justice Department into a vehicle for pursuing his personal political vendettas, and on Monday denounced the investigations of Newsom and his wife as more of the same.
“The President’s abuse of the Justice Department continues, with new targets every day,” Schiff posted to X, atop the governor’s video address. “The Governor won’t be silenced. Nor will my Senate colleagues. Nor will I. In the face of vindictive and baseless investigations, we are defiant and unbowed.”
Grant, the federal prosecutor in Sacramento, was first appointed as an interim leader of the office in August by then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, after the acting U.S. attorney there, Michele Beckwith, said she was fired for telling the Border Patrol chief in charge of immigration raids in California that his agents were not allowed to arrest people without probable cause in the Central Valley.
When Grant’s interim term expired, the district’s judges voted to re-appoint him, a stark difference from how judges have approached other controversial Trump appointees.
Unlike the highly inexperienced federal prosecutors involved in some of the other cases against prominent Democrats, Grant has a decades long career in the department.
In the early 1990s, he worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel and then, from 2017 to 2021, as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he supervised more than a hundred department litigators. He previously served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during the Supreme Court’s October 1994 term, according to the Justice Department.
In a March interview, Grant — who grew up in Modesto and raised his family in Sacramento County — said it is “a very important principle of all federal prosecutors, and certainly of mine and my office, to prosecute and investigate without fear or favor, and that means without regard to partisan affiliation, without regard to whether the target is rich and powerful, or friend, or a foe of any particular person.”
“So, whatever you read about the rest of the country,” he said, “in the Eastern District of California, that is an important principle to which we adhere, and to which we shall adhere, as long as I hold this office.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday accused the Justice Department of launching — at President Trump’s request — a baseless and politically-motivated investigation into him and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me,” Newsom said. “And just in the last week, I’ve learned his campaign has reached my own home: to get me, he’s coming after my wife, Jen.”
Newsom adamantly denied any wrongdoing by him or his wife.
The White House declined to respond to Newsom’s allegations that Trump was involved in instigating the probes, referring all questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.
A source familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times that there are two federal probes underway, one related to Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and one related to Siebel Newsom’s taxes.
The source said both investigations have been ongoing for about a year; were launched by federal prosecutors in Sacramento based on information provided by whistleblowers and other local sources in California; and were not the result of directives out of Washington or the White House.
Lauren Horwood, a spokesperson for the office of U.S. Atty. Eric Grant, a Trump appointee who oversees federal prosecutors in Sacramento, said the office “does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”
Siebel Newsom, in her own statement, also accused Trump of initiating the investigations.
“There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” she said. “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.”
Newsom said that in recent days, “federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” and have been “demanding records,” “digging through years and years of random documents” and “abusing the grand jury process” in a quest to find any kind of wrongdoing by him or his wife.
“Not because they found a crime. Because they are simply trying to find one,” he said.
Newsom did not describe the specific nature of the alleged probe, the line of questioning faced by friends and employees or the types of records taken or reviewed by federal investigators.
Newsom’s office said previous allegations of wrongdoing by Newsom in his handling of Activision Blizzard Inc., a video game company where Williamson once worked, were baseless and went no where, and did not appear to be a focus of the current investigations.
Newsom’s office said the current probes appeared to in part involve Siebel Newsom’s professional and personal affairs, and that donors, business associates and organizations connected to both Newsom and his wife have also been contacted.
It said neither Newsom nor his wife have been subpoenaed, but that they expect to be. It said that they both release annual reports on their income, assets and any gifts they receive.
A longtime documentary film maker, Siebel Newsom in 2011 founded the Representation Project, a nonprofit focused on challenging gender stereotypes. She earned a salary of about $161,000 from the non-profit, according to federal forms filed in 2024.
The non-profit has faced criticism for accepting donations from companies, including Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and AT&T, that are active in state politics and lobby the governor.
The Representation Project paid $161,250 to Girls Club Entertainment LLC in 2024, according to federal forms, which is Siebel Newsom’s film company.
Siebel Newsom is also behind the California Partners Project which champions gender equity, but does not receive a salary for that work, according to federal forms.
Newsom’s office said the governor chose to make a public statement about the investigations Monday because he thought it was important to inform the public directly about what he sees as a Trump-directed attack on him and his wife.
In his video address, Newsom alleged that Trump instigated the probes because Newsom is considering running for president in 2028, and because Trump “hates that I’ve consistently called him out — over and over again — for his lies and deceit.”
“He has turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministries to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents,” Newsom said.
Newsom cited Justice Department investigations of several other of the president’s political opponents, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, former FBI director James Comey, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and former vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list,” he said. “And today, I proudly join that list.”
Federal authorities arrested Williamson last year following a three-year-long investigation that began during the Biden administration.
Williamson pleaded guilty to three counts, including lying to authorities, last month. She admitted she lied to FBI agents who interviewed her about her role in the state’s handling of alleged sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard Inc., which she had represented as a consultant before joining Newsom’s office as chief of staff.
Williamson’s attorney, McGregor Scott, a former U.S. attorney in Sacramento, told The Times that federal authorities had approached
Williamson before her arrest seeking help with an investigation of the governor himself. Scott said it was his belief that investigators were looking into the governor and Activision.
Williamson’s plea agreement stated that she lied to the FBI when she was interviewed about her role in “passing information to former clients and business partners to give them an advantage in litigation against the state.”
The state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing in 2021 sued Activision Blizzard, which distributes video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” alleging that company officials discriminated against women, paid them less than men and ignored reports of egregious sexual harassment. Activision officials denied the allegations.
The case again drew national attention the next year when the lawyer overseeing the case for the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Janet Wipper, was fired by the Newsom administration, and her chief deputy resigned and alleged that she was doing so to protest alleged interference of Newsom’s office in the investigation. Newsom’s office denied any interference.
As Newsom noted, the federal investigations into Newsom and his wife mark the latest targeting prominent Democrats since Trump returned to office. Several of the others originated in U.S. attorneys offices controlled by Trump loyalists — and they have had little success in courts.
The Justice Department has lost cases brought against James, Comey and Powell. No charges have been filed against Schiff, despite the president accusing him of committing a crime.
Schiff has denounced Trump for turning the Justice Department into a vehicle for pursuing his personal political vendettas, and on Monday denounced the investigations of Newsom and his wife as more of the same.
“The President’s abuse of the Justice Department continues, with new targets every day,” Schiff posted to X, atop the governor’s video address. “The Governor won’t be silenced. Nor will my Senate colleagues. Nor will I. In the face of vindictive and baseless investigations, we are defiant and unbowed.”
Grant, the federal prosecutor in Sacramento, was first appointed as an interim leader of the office in August by then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, after the acting U.S. attorney there, Michele Beckwith, said she was fired for telling the Border Patrol chief in charge of immigration raids in California that his agents were not allowed to arrest people without probable cause in the Central Valley.
When Grant’s interim term expired, the district’s judges voted to re-appoint him, a stark difference from how judges have approached other controversial Trump appointees.
Unlike the highly inexperienced federal prosecutors involved in some of the other cases against prominent Democrats, Grant has a decades long career in the department.
In the early 1990s, he worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel and then, from 2017 to 2021, as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he supervised more than a hundred department litigators. He previously served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during the Supreme Court’s October 1994 term, according to the Justice Department.
In a March interview, Grant — who grew up in Modesto and raised his family in Sacramento County — said it is “a very important principle of all federal prosecutors, and certainly of mine and my office, to prosecute and investigate without fear or favor, and that means without regard to partisan affiliation, without regard to whether the target is rich and powerful, or friend, or a foe of any particular person.”
“So, whatever you read about the rest of the country,” he said, “in the Eastern District of California, that is an important principle to which we adhere, and to which we shall adhere, as long as I hold this office.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday accused the Justice Department of launching — at President Trump’s request — a baseless and politically-motivated investigation into him and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me,” Newsom said. “And just in the last week, I’ve learned his campaign has reached my own home: to get me, he’s coming after my wife, Jen.”
Newsom adamantly denied any wrongdoing by him or his wife.
The White House declined to respond to Newsom’s allegations that Trump was involved in instigating the probes, referring all questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.
A source familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times that there are two federal probes underway, one related to Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and one related to Siebel Newsom’s taxes.
The source said both investigations have been ongoing for about a year; were launched by federal prosecutors in Sacramento based on information provided by whistleblowers and other local sources in California; and were not the result of directives out of Washington or the White House.
Lauren Horwood, a spokesperson for the office of U.S. Atty. Eric Grant, a Trump appointee who oversees federal prosecutors in Sacramento, said the office “does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”
Siebel Newsom, in her own statement, also accused Trump of initiating the investigations.
“There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” she said. “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.”
Newsom said that in recent days, “federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” and have been “demanding records,” “digging through years and years of random documents” and “abusing the grand jury process” in a quest to find any kind of wrongdoing by him or his wife.
“Not because they found a crime. Because they are simply trying to find one,” he said.
Newsom did not describe the specific nature of the alleged probe, the line of questioning faced by friends and employees or the types of records taken or reviewed by federal investigators.
Newsom’s office said previous allegations of wrongdoing by Newsom in his handling of Activision Blizzard Inc., a video game company where Williamson once worked, were baseless and went no where, and did not appear to be a focus of the current investigations.
Newsom’s office said the current probes appeared to in part involve Siebel Newsom’s professional and personal affairs, and that donors, business associates and organizations connected to both Newsom and his wife have also been contacted.
It said neither Newsom nor his wife have been subpoenaed, but that they expect to be. It said that they both release annual reports on their income, assets and any gifts they receive.
A longtime documentary film maker, Siebel Newsom in 2011 founded the Representation Project, a nonprofit focused on challenging gender stereotypes. She earned a salary of about $161,000 from the non-profit, according to federal forms filed in 2024.
The non-profit has faced criticism for accepting donations from companies, including Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and AT&T, that are active in state politics and lobby the governor.
The Representation Project paid $161,250 to Girls Club Entertainment LLC in 2024, according to federal forms, which is Siebel Newsom’s film company.
Siebel Newsom is also behind the California Partners Project which champions gender equity, but does not receive a salary for that work, according to federal forms.
Newsom’s office said the governor chose to make a public statement about the investigations Monday because he thought it was important to inform the public directly about what he sees as a Trump-directed attack on him and his wife.
In his video address, Newsom alleged that Trump instigated the probes because Newsom is considering running for president in 2028, and because Trump “hates that I’ve consistently called him out — over and over again — for his lies and deceit.”
“He has turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministries to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents,” Newsom said.
Newsom cited Justice Department investigations of several other of the president’s political opponents, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, former FBI director James Comey, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and former vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list,” he said. “And today, I proudly join that list.”
Federal authorities arrested Williamson last year following a three-year-long investigation that began during the Biden administration.
Williamson pleaded guilty to three counts, including lying to authorities, last month. She admitted she lied to FBI agents who interviewed her about her role in the state’s handling of alleged sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard Inc., which she had represented as a consultant before joining Newsom’s office as chief of staff.
Williamson’s attorney, McGregor Scott, a former U.S. attorney in Sacramento, told The Times that federal authorities had approached
Williamson before her arrest seeking help with an investigation of the governor himself. Scott said it was his belief that investigators were looking into the governor and Activision.
Williamson’s plea agreement stated that she lied to the FBI when she was interviewed about her role in “passing information to former clients and business partners to give them an advantage in litigation against the state.”
The state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing in 2021 sued Activision Blizzard, which distributes video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” alleging that company officials discriminated against women, paid them less than men and ignored reports of egregious sexual harassment. Activision officials denied the allegations.
The case again drew national attention the next year when the lawyer overseeing the case for the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Janet Wipper, was fired by the Newsom administration, and her chief deputy resigned and alleged that she was doing so to protest alleged interference of Newsom’s office in the investigation. Newsom’s office denied any interference.
As Newsom noted, the federal investigations into Newsom and his wife mark the latest targeting prominent Democrats since Trump returned to office. Several of the others originated in U.S. attorneys offices controlled by Trump loyalists — and they have had little success in courts.
The Justice Department has lost cases brought against James, Comey and Powell. No charges have been filed against Schiff, despite the president accusing him of committing a crime.
Schiff has denounced Trump for turning the Justice Department into a vehicle for pursuing his personal political vendettas, and on Monday denounced the investigations of Newsom and his wife as more of the same.
“The President’s abuse of the Justice Department continues, with new targets every day,” Schiff posted to X, atop the governor’s video address. “The Governor won’t be silenced. Nor will my Senate colleagues. Nor will I. In the face of vindictive and baseless investigations, we are defiant and unbowed.”
Grant, the federal prosecutor in Sacramento, was first appointed as an interim leader of the office in August by then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, after the acting U.S. attorney there, Michele Beckwith, said she was fired for telling the Border Patrol chief in charge of immigration raids in California that his agents were not allowed to arrest people without probable cause in the Central Valley.
When Grant’s interim term expired, the district’s judges voted to re-appoint him, a stark difference from how judges have approached other controversial Trump appointees.
Unlike the highly inexperienced federal prosecutors involved in some of the other cases against prominent Democrats, Grant has a decades long career in the department.
In the early 1990s, he worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel and then, from 2017 to 2021, as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he supervised more than a hundred department litigators. He previously served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during the Supreme Court’s October 1994 term, according to the Justice Department.
In a March interview, Grant — who grew up in Modesto and raised his family in Sacramento County — said it is “a very important principle of all federal prosecutors, and certainly of mine and my office, to prosecute and investigate without fear or favor, and that means without regard to partisan affiliation, without regard to whether the target is rich and powerful, or friend, or a foe of any particular person.”
“So, whatever you read about the rest of the country,” he said, “in the Eastern District of California, that is an important principle to which we adhere, and to which we shall adhere, as long as I hold this office.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday accused the Justice Department of launching — at President Trump’s request — a baseless and politically-motivated investigation into him and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me,” Newsom said. “And just in the last week, I’ve learned his campaign has reached my own home: to get me, he’s coming after my wife, Jen.”
Newsom adamantly denied any wrongdoing by him or his wife.
The White House declined to respond to Newsom’s allegations that Trump was involved in instigating the probes, referring all questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.
A source familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times that there are two federal probes underway, one related to Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and one related to Siebel Newsom’s taxes.
The source said both investigations have been ongoing for about a year; were launched by federal prosecutors in Sacramento based on information provided by whistleblowers and other local sources in California; and were not the result of directives out of Washington or the White House.
Lauren Horwood, a spokesperson for the office of U.S. Atty. Eric Grant, a Trump appointee who oversees federal prosecutors in Sacramento, said the office “does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”
Siebel Newsom, in her own statement, also accused Trump of initiating the investigations.
“There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” she said. “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.”
Newsom said that in recent days, “federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” and have been “demanding records,” “digging through years and years of random documents” and “abusing the grand jury process” in a quest to find any kind of wrongdoing by him or his wife.
“Not because they found a crime. Because they are simply trying to find one,” he said.
Newsom did not describe the specific nature of the alleged probe, the line of questioning faced by friends and employees or the types of records taken or reviewed by federal investigators.
Newsom’s office said previous allegations of wrongdoing by Newsom in his handling of Activision Blizzard Inc., a video game company where Williamson once worked, were baseless and went no where, and did not appear to be a focus of the current investigations.
Newsom’s office said the current probes appeared to in part involve Siebel Newsom’s professional and personal affairs, and that donors, business associates and organizations connected to both Newsom and his wife have also been contacted.
It said neither Newsom nor his wife have been subpoenaed, but that they expect to be. It said that they both release annual reports on their income, assets and any gifts they receive.
A longtime documentary film maker, Siebel Newsom in 2011 founded the Representation Project, a nonprofit focused on challenging gender stereotypes. She earned a salary of about $161,000 from the non-profit, according to federal forms filed in 2024.
The non-profit has faced criticism for accepting donations from companies, including Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and AT&T, that are active in state politics and lobby the governor.
The Representation Project paid $161,250 to Girls Club Entertainment LLC in 2024, according to federal forms, which is Siebel Newsom’s film company.
Siebel Newsom is also behind the California Partners Project which champions gender equity, but does not receive a salary for that work, according to federal forms.
Newsom’s office said the governor chose to make a public statement about the investigations Monday because he thought it was important to inform the public directly about what he sees as a Trump-directed attack on him and his wife.
In his video address, Newsom alleged that Trump instigated the probes because Newsom is considering running for president in 2028, and because Trump “hates that I’ve consistently called him out — over and over again — for his lies and deceit.”
“He has turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministries to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents,” Newsom said.
Newsom cited Justice Department investigations of several other of the president’s political opponents, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, former FBI director James Comey, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and former vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list,” he said. “And today, I proudly join that list.”
Federal authorities arrested Williamson last year following a three-year-long investigation that began during the Biden administration.
Williamson pleaded guilty to three counts, including lying to authorities, last month. She admitted she lied to FBI agents who interviewed her about her role in the state’s handling of alleged sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard Inc., which she had represented as a consultant before joining Newsom’s office as chief of staff.
Williamson’s attorney, McGregor Scott, a former U.S. attorney in Sacramento, told The Times that federal authorities had approached
Williamson before her arrest seeking help with an investigation of the governor himself. Scott said it was his belief that investigators were looking into the governor and Activision.
Williamson’s plea agreement stated that she lied to the FBI when she was interviewed about her role in “passing information to former clients and business partners to give them an advantage in litigation against the state.”
The state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing in 2021 sued Activision Blizzard, which distributes video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” alleging that company officials discriminated against women, paid them less than men and ignored reports of egregious sexual harassment. Activision officials denied the allegations.
The case again drew national attention the next year when the lawyer overseeing the case for the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Janet Wipper, was fired by the Newsom administration, and her chief deputy resigned and alleged that she was doing so to protest alleged interference of Newsom’s office in the investigation. Newsom’s office denied any interference.
As Newsom noted, the federal investigations into Newsom and his wife mark the latest targeting prominent Democrats since Trump returned to office. Several of the others originated in U.S. attorneys offices controlled by Trump loyalists — and they have had little success in courts.
The Justice Department has lost cases brought against James, Comey and Powell. No charges have been filed against Schiff, despite the president accusing him of committing a crime.
Schiff has denounced Trump for turning the Justice Department into a vehicle for pursuing his personal political vendettas, and on Monday denounced the investigations of Newsom and his wife as more of the same.
“The President’s abuse of the Justice Department continues, with new targets every day,” Schiff posted to X, atop the governor’s video address. “The Governor won’t be silenced. Nor will my Senate colleagues. Nor will I. In the face of vindictive and baseless investigations, we are defiant and unbowed.”
Grant, the federal prosecutor in Sacramento, was first appointed as an interim leader of the office in August by then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, after the acting U.S. attorney there, Michele Beckwith, said she was fired for telling the Border Patrol chief in charge of immigration raids in California that his agents were not allowed to arrest people without probable cause in the Central Valley.
When Grant’s interim term expired, the district’s judges voted to re-appoint him, a stark difference from how judges have approached other controversial Trump appointees.
Unlike the highly inexperienced federal prosecutors involved in some of the other cases against prominent Democrats, Grant has a decades long career in the department.
In the early 1990s, he worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel and then, from 2017 to 2021, as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he supervised more than a hundred department litigators. He previously served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during the Supreme Court’s October 1994 term, according to the Justice Department.
In a March interview, Grant — who grew up in Modesto and raised his family in Sacramento County — said it is “a very important principle of all federal prosecutors, and certainly of mine and my office, to prosecute and investigate without fear or favor, and that means without regard to partisan affiliation, without regard to whether the target is rich and powerful, or friend, or a foe of any particular person.”
“So, whatever you read about the rest of the country,” he said, “in the Eastern District of California, that is an important principle to which we adhere, and to which we shall adhere, as long as I hold this office.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday accused the Justice Department of launching — at President Trump’s request — a baseless and politically-motivated investigation into him and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me,” Newsom said. “And just in the last week, I’ve learned his campaign has reached my own home: to get me, he’s coming after my wife, Jen.”
Newsom adamantly denied any wrongdoing by him or his wife.
The White House declined to respond to Newsom’s allegations that Trump was involved in instigating the probes, referring all questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.
A source familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times that there are two federal probes underway, one related to Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and one related to Siebel Newsom’s taxes.
The source said both investigations have been ongoing for about a year; were launched by federal prosecutors in Sacramento based on information provided by whistleblowers and other local sources in California; and were not the result of directives out of Washington or the White House.
Lauren Horwood, a spokesperson for the office of U.S. Atty. Eric Grant, a Trump appointee who oversees federal prosecutors in Sacramento, said the office “does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”
Siebel Newsom, in her own statement, also accused Trump of initiating the investigations.
“There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” she said. “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.”
Newsom said that in recent days, “federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” and have been “demanding records,” “digging through years and years of random documents” and “abusing the grand jury process” in a quest to find any kind of wrongdoing by him or his wife.
“Not because they found a crime. Because they are simply trying to find one,” he said.
Newsom did not describe the specific nature of the alleged probe, the line of questioning faced by friends and employees or the types of records taken or reviewed by federal investigators.
Newsom’s office said previous allegations of wrongdoing by Newsom in his handling of Activision Blizzard Inc., a video game company where Williamson once worked, were baseless and went no where, and did not appear to be a focus of the current investigations.
Newsom’s office said the current probes appeared to in part involve Siebel Newsom’s professional and personal affairs, and that donors, business associates and organizations connected to both Newsom and his wife have also been contacted.
It said neither Newsom nor his wife have been subpoenaed, but that they expect to be. It said that they both release annual reports on their income, assets and any gifts they receive.
A longtime documentary film maker, Siebel Newsom in 2011 founded the Representation Project, a nonprofit focused on challenging gender stereotypes. She earned a salary of about $161,000 from the non-profit, according to federal forms filed in 2024.
The non-profit has faced criticism for accepting donations from companies, including Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and AT&T, that are active in state politics and lobby the governor.
The Representation Project paid $161,250 to Girls Club Entertainment LLC in 2024, according to federal forms, which is Siebel Newsom’s film company.
Siebel Newsom is also behind the California Partners Project which champions gender equity, but does not receive a salary for that work, according to federal forms.
Newsom’s office said the governor chose to make a public statement about the investigations Monday because he thought it was important to inform the public directly about what he sees as a Trump-directed attack on him and his wife.
In his video address, Newsom alleged that Trump instigated the probes because Newsom is considering running for president in 2028, and because Trump “hates that I’ve consistently called him out — over and over again — for his lies and deceit.”
“He has turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministries to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents,” Newsom said.
Newsom cited Justice Department investigations of several other of the president’s political opponents, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, former FBI director James Comey, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and former vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list,” he said. “And today, I proudly join that list.”
Federal authorities arrested Williamson last year following a three-year-long investigation that began during the Biden administration.
Williamson pleaded guilty to three counts, including lying to authorities, last month. She admitted she lied to FBI agents who interviewed her about her role in the state’s handling of alleged sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard Inc., which she had represented as a consultant before joining Newsom’s office as chief of staff.
Williamson’s attorney, McGregor Scott, a former U.S. attorney in Sacramento, told The Times that federal authorities had approached
Williamson before her arrest seeking help with an investigation of the governor himself. Scott said it was his belief that investigators were looking into the governor and Activision.
Williamson’s plea agreement stated that she lied to the FBI when she was interviewed about her role in “passing information to former clients and business partners to give them an advantage in litigation against the state.”
The state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing in 2021 sued Activision Blizzard, which distributes video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” alleging that company officials discriminated against women, paid them less than men and ignored reports of egregious sexual harassment. Activision officials denied the allegations.
The case again drew national attention the next year when the lawyer overseeing the case for the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Janet Wipper, was fired by the Newsom administration, and her chief deputy resigned and alleged that she was doing so to protest alleged interference of Newsom’s office in the investigation. Newsom’s office denied any interference.
As Newsom noted, the federal investigations into Newsom and his wife mark the latest targeting prominent Democrats since Trump returned to office. Several of the others originated in U.S. attorneys offices controlled by Trump loyalists — and they have had little success in courts.
The Justice Department has lost cases brought against James, Comey and Powell. No charges have been filed against Schiff, despite the president accusing him of committing a crime.
Schiff has denounced Trump for turning the Justice Department into a vehicle for pursuing his personal political vendettas, and on Monday denounced the investigations of Newsom and his wife as more of the same.
“The President’s abuse of the Justice Department continues, with new targets every day,” Schiff posted to X, atop the governor’s video address. “The Governor won’t be silenced. Nor will my Senate colleagues. Nor will I. In the face of vindictive and baseless investigations, we are defiant and unbowed.”
Grant, the federal prosecutor in Sacramento, was first appointed as an interim leader of the office in August by then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, after the acting U.S. attorney there, Michele Beckwith, said she was fired for telling the Border Patrol chief in charge of immigration raids in California that his agents were not allowed to arrest people without probable cause in the Central Valley.
When Grant’s interim term expired, the district’s judges voted to re-appoint him, a stark difference from how judges have approached other controversial Trump appointees.
Unlike the highly inexperienced federal prosecutors involved in some of the other cases against prominent Democrats, Grant has a decades long career in the department.
In the early 1990s, he worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel and then, from 2017 to 2021, as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he supervised more than a hundred department litigators. He previously served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during the Supreme Court’s October 1994 term, according to the Justice Department.
In a March interview, Grant — who grew up in Modesto and raised his family in Sacramento County — said it is “a very important principle of all federal prosecutors, and certainly of mine and my office, to prosecute and investigate without fear or favor, and that means without regard to partisan affiliation, without regard to whether the target is rich and powerful, or friend, or a foe of any particular person.”
“So, whatever you read about the rest of the country,” he said, “in the Eastern District of California, that is an important principle to which we adhere, and to which we shall adhere, as long as I hold this office.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday accused the Justice Department of launching — at President Trump’s request — a baseless and politically-motivated investigation into him and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me,” Newsom said. “And just in the last week, I’ve learned his campaign has reached my own home: to get me, he’s coming after my wife, Jen.”
Newsom adamantly denied any wrongdoing by him or his wife.
The White House declined to respond to Newsom’s allegations that Trump was involved in instigating the probes, referring all questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.
A source familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times that there are two federal probes underway, one related to Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and one related to Siebel Newsom’s taxes.
The source said both investigations have been ongoing for about a year; were launched by federal prosecutors in Sacramento based on information provided by whistleblowers and other local sources in California; and were not the result of directives out of Washington or the White House.
Lauren Horwood, a spokesperson for the office of U.S. Atty. Eric Grant, a Trump appointee who oversees federal prosecutors in Sacramento, said the office “does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”
Siebel Newsom, in her own statement, also accused Trump of initiating the investigations.
“There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” she said. “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.”
Newsom said that in recent days, “federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” and have been “demanding records,” “digging through years and years of random documents” and “abusing the grand jury process” in a quest to find any kind of wrongdoing by him or his wife.
“Not because they found a crime. Because they are simply trying to find one,” he said.
Newsom did not describe the specific nature of the alleged probe, the line of questioning faced by friends and employees or the types of records taken or reviewed by federal investigators.
Newsom’s office said previous allegations of wrongdoing by Newsom in his handling of Activision Blizzard Inc., a video game company where Williamson once worked, were baseless and went no where, and did not appear to be a focus of the current investigations.
Newsom’s office said the current probes appeared to in part involve Siebel Newsom’s professional and personal affairs, and that donors, business associates and organizations connected to both Newsom and his wife have also been contacted.
It said neither Newsom nor his wife have been subpoenaed, but that they expect to be. It said that they both release annual reports on their income, assets and any gifts they receive.
A longtime documentary film maker, Siebel Newsom in 2011 founded the Representation Project, a nonprofit focused on challenging gender stereotypes. She earned a salary of about $161,000 from the non-profit, according to federal forms filed in 2024.
The non-profit has faced criticism for accepting donations from companies, including Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and AT&T, that are active in state politics and lobby the governor.
The Representation Project paid $161,250 to Girls Club Entertainment LLC in 2024, according to federal forms, which is Siebel Newsom’s film company.
Siebel Newsom is also behind the California Partners Project which champions gender equity, but does not receive a salary for that work, according to federal forms.
Newsom’s office said the governor chose to make a public statement about the investigations Monday because he thought it was important to inform the public directly about what he sees as a Trump-directed attack on him and his wife.
In his video address, Newsom alleged that Trump instigated the probes because Newsom is considering running for president in 2028, and because Trump “hates that I’ve consistently called him out — over and over again — for his lies and deceit.”
“He has turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministries to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents,” Newsom said.
Newsom cited Justice Department investigations of several other of the president’s political opponents, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, former FBI director James Comey, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and former vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list,” he said. “And today, I proudly join that list.”
Federal authorities arrested Williamson last year following a three-year-long investigation that began during the Biden administration.
Williamson pleaded guilty to three counts, including lying to authorities, last month. She admitted she lied to FBI agents who interviewed her about her role in the state’s handling of alleged sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard Inc., which she had represented as a consultant before joining Newsom’s office as chief of staff.
Williamson’s attorney, McGregor Scott, a former U.S. attorney in Sacramento, told The Times that federal authorities had approached
Williamson before her arrest seeking help with an investigation of the governor himself. Scott said it was his belief that investigators were looking into the governor and Activision.
Williamson’s plea agreement stated that she lied to the FBI when she was interviewed about her role in “passing information to former clients and business partners to give them an advantage in litigation against the state.”
The state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing in 2021 sued Activision Blizzard, which distributes video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” alleging that company officials discriminated against women, paid them less than men and ignored reports of egregious sexual harassment. Activision officials denied the allegations.
The case again drew national attention the next year when the lawyer overseeing the case for the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Janet Wipper, was fired by the Newsom administration, and her chief deputy resigned and alleged that she was doing so to protest alleged interference of Newsom’s office in the investigation. Newsom’s office denied any interference.
As Newsom noted, the federal investigations into Newsom and his wife mark the latest targeting prominent Democrats since Trump returned to office. Several of the others originated in U.S. attorneys offices controlled by Trump loyalists — and they have had little success in courts.
The Justice Department has lost cases brought against James, Comey and Powell. No charges have been filed against Schiff, despite the president accusing him of committing a crime.
Schiff has denounced Trump for turning the Justice Department into a vehicle for pursuing his personal political vendettas, and on Monday denounced the investigations of Newsom and his wife as more of the same.
“The President’s abuse of the Justice Department continues, with new targets every day,” Schiff posted to X, atop the governor’s video address. “The Governor won’t be silenced. Nor will my Senate colleagues. Nor will I. In the face of vindictive and baseless investigations, we are defiant and unbowed.”
Grant, the federal prosecutor in Sacramento, was first appointed as an interim leader of the office in August by then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, after the acting U.S. attorney there, Michele Beckwith, said she was fired for telling the Border Patrol chief in charge of immigration raids in California that his agents were not allowed to arrest people without probable cause in the Central Valley.
When Grant’s interim term expired, the district’s judges voted to re-appoint him, a stark difference from how judges have approached other controversial Trump appointees.
Unlike the highly inexperienced federal prosecutors involved in some of the other cases against prominent Democrats, Grant has a decades long career in the department.
In the early 1990s, he worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel and then, from 2017 to 2021, as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he supervised more than a hundred department litigators. He previously served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during the Supreme Court’s October 1994 term, according to the Justice Department.
In a March interview, Grant — who grew up in Modesto and raised his family in Sacramento County — said it is “a very important principle of all federal prosecutors, and certainly of mine and my office, to prosecute and investigate without fear or favor, and that means without regard to partisan affiliation, without regard to whether the target is rich and powerful, or friend, or a foe of any particular person.”
“So, whatever you read about the rest of the country,” he said, “in the Eastern District of California, that is an important principle to which we adhere, and to which we shall adhere, as long as I hold this office.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday accused the Justice Department of launching — at President Trump’s request — a baseless and politically-motivated investigation into him and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me,” Newsom said. “And just in the last week, I’ve learned his campaign has reached my own home: to get me, he’s coming after my wife, Jen.”
Newsom adamantly denied any wrongdoing by him or his wife.
The White House declined to respond to Newsom’s allegations that Trump was involved in instigating the probes, referring all questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.
A source familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times that there are two federal probes underway, one related to Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and one related to Siebel Newsom’s taxes.
The source said both investigations have been ongoing for about a year; were launched by federal prosecutors in Sacramento based on information provided by whistleblowers and other local sources in California; and were not the result of directives out of Washington or the White House.
Lauren Horwood, a spokesperson for the office of U.S. Atty. Eric Grant, a Trump appointee who oversees federal prosecutors in Sacramento, said the office “does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”
Siebel Newsom, in her own statement, also accused Trump of initiating the investigations.
“There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” she said. “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.”
Newsom said that in recent days, “federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” and have been “demanding records,” “digging through years and years of random documents” and “abusing the grand jury process” in a quest to find any kind of wrongdoing by him or his wife.
“Not because they found a crime. Because they are simply trying to find one,” he said.
Newsom did not describe the specific nature of the alleged probe, the line of questioning faced by friends and employees or the types of records taken or reviewed by federal investigators.
Newsom’s office said previous allegations of wrongdoing by Newsom in his handling of Activision Blizzard Inc., a video game company where Williamson once worked, were baseless and went no where, and did not appear to be a focus of the current investigations.
Newsom’s office said the current probes appeared to in part involve Siebel Newsom’s professional and personal affairs, and that donors, business associates and organizations connected to both Newsom and his wife have also been contacted.
It said neither Newsom nor his wife have been subpoenaed, but that they expect to be. It said that they both release annual reports on their income, assets and any gifts they receive.
A longtime documentary film maker, Siebel Newsom in 2011 founded the Representation Project, a nonprofit focused on challenging gender stereotypes. She earned a salary of about $161,000 from the non-profit, according to federal forms filed in 2024.
The non-profit has faced criticism for accepting donations from companies, including Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and AT&T, that are active in state politics and lobby the governor.
The Representation Project paid $161,250 to Girls Club Entertainment LLC in 2024, according to federal forms, which is Siebel Newsom’s film company.
Siebel Newsom is also behind the California Partners Project which champions gender equity, but does not receive a salary for that work, according to federal forms.
Newsom’s office said the governor chose to make a public statement about the investigations Monday because he thought it was important to inform the public directly about what he sees as a Trump-directed attack on him and his wife.
In his video address, Newsom alleged that Trump instigated the probes because Newsom is considering running for president in 2028, and because Trump “hates that I’ve consistently called him out — over and over again — for his lies and deceit.”
“He has turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministries to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents,” Newsom said.
Newsom cited Justice Department investigations of several other of the president’s political opponents, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, former FBI director James Comey, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and former vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list,” he said. “And today, I proudly join that list.”
Federal authorities arrested Williamson last year following a three-year-long investigation that began during the Biden administration.
Williamson pleaded guilty to three counts, including lying to authorities, last month. She admitted she lied to FBI agents who interviewed her about her role in the state’s handling of alleged sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard Inc., which she had represented as a consultant before joining Newsom’s office as chief of staff.
Williamson’s attorney, McGregor Scott, a former U.S. attorney in Sacramento, told The Times that federal authorities had approached
Williamson before her arrest seeking help with an investigation of the governor himself. Scott said it was his belief that investigators were looking into the governor and Activision.
Williamson’s plea agreement stated that she lied to the FBI when she was interviewed about her role in “passing information to former clients and business partners to give them an advantage in litigation against the state.”
The state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing in 2021 sued Activision Blizzard, which distributes video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” alleging that company officials discriminated against women, paid them less than men and ignored reports of egregious sexual harassment. Activision officials denied the allegations.
The case again drew national attention the next year when the lawyer overseeing the case for the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Janet Wipper, was fired by the Newsom administration, and her chief deputy resigned and alleged that she was doing so to protest alleged interference of Newsom’s office in the investigation. Newsom’s office denied any interference.
As Newsom noted, the federal investigations into Newsom and his wife mark the latest targeting prominent Democrats since Trump returned to office. Several of the others originated in U.S. attorneys offices controlled by Trump loyalists — and they have had little success in courts.
The Justice Department has lost cases brought against James, Comey and Powell. No charges have been filed against Schiff, despite the president accusing him of committing a crime.
Schiff has denounced Trump for turning the Justice Department into a vehicle for pursuing his personal political vendettas, and on Monday denounced the investigations of Newsom and his wife as more of the same.
“The President’s abuse of the Justice Department continues, with new targets every day,” Schiff posted to X, atop the governor’s video address. “The Governor won’t be silenced. Nor will my Senate colleagues. Nor will I. In the face of vindictive and baseless investigations, we are defiant and unbowed.”
Grant, the federal prosecutor in Sacramento, was first appointed as an interim leader of the office in August by then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, after the acting U.S. attorney there, Michele Beckwith, said she was fired for telling the Border Patrol chief in charge of immigration raids in California that his agents were not allowed to arrest people without probable cause in the Central Valley.
When Grant’s interim term expired, the district’s judges voted to re-appoint him, a stark difference from how judges have approached other controversial Trump appointees.
Unlike the highly inexperienced federal prosecutors involved in some of the other cases against prominent Democrats, Grant has a decades long career in the department.
In the early 1990s, he worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel and then, from 2017 to 2021, as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he supervised more than a hundred department litigators. He previously served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during the Supreme Court’s October 1994 term, according to the Justice Department.
In a March interview, Grant — who grew up in Modesto and raised his family in Sacramento County — said it is “a very important principle of all federal prosecutors, and certainly of mine and my office, to prosecute and investigate without fear or favor, and that means without regard to partisan affiliation, without regard to whether the target is rich and powerful, or friend, or a foe of any particular person.”
“So, whatever you read about the rest of the country,” he said, “in the Eastern District of California, that is an important principle to which we adhere, and to which we shall adhere, as long as I hold this office.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday accused the Justice Department of launching — at President Trump’s request — a baseless and politically-motivated investigation into him and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me,” Newsom said. “And just in the last week, I’ve learned his campaign has reached my own home: to get me, he’s coming after my wife, Jen.”
Newsom adamantly denied any wrongdoing by him or his wife.
The White House declined to respond to Newsom’s allegations that Trump was involved in instigating the probes, referring all questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.
A source familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times that there are two federal probes underway, one related to Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and one related to Siebel Newsom’s taxes.
The source said both investigations have been ongoing for about a year; were launched by federal prosecutors in Sacramento based on information provided by whistleblowers and other local sources in California; and were not the result of directives out of Washington or the White House.
Lauren Horwood, a spokesperson for the office of U.S. Atty. Eric Grant, a Trump appointee who oversees federal prosecutors in Sacramento, said the office “does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”
Siebel Newsom, in her own statement, also accused Trump of initiating the investigations.
“There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” she said. “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.”
Newsom said that in recent days, “federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” and have been “demanding records,” “digging through years and years of random documents” and “abusing the grand jury process” in a quest to find any kind of wrongdoing by him or his wife.
“Not because they found a crime. Because they are simply trying to find one,” he said.
Newsom did not describe the specific nature of the alleged probe, the line of questioning faced by friends and employees or the types of records taken or reviewed by federal investigators.
Newsom’s office said previous allegations of wrongdoing by Newsom in his handling of Activision Blizzard Inc., a video game company where Williamson once worked, were baseless and went no where, and did not appear to be a focus of the current investigations.
Newsom’s office said the current probes appeared to in part involve Siebel Newsom’s professional and personal affairs, and that donors, business associates and organizations connected to both Newsom and his wife have also been contacted.
It said neither Newsom nor his wife have been subpoenaed, but that they expect to be. It said that they both release annual reports on their income, assets and any gifts they receive.
A longtime documentary film maker, Siebel Newsom in 2011 founded the Representation Project, a nonprofit focused on challenging gender stereotypes. She earned a salary of about $161,000 from the non-profit, according to federal forms filed in 2024.
The non-profit has faced criticism for accepting donations from companies, including Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and AT&T, that are active in state politics and lobby the governor.
The Representation Project paid $161,250 to Girls Club Entertainment LLC in 2024, according to federal forms, which is Siebel Newsom’s film company.
Siebel Newsom is also behind the California Partners Project which champions gender equity, but does not receive a salary for that work, according to federal forms.
Newsom’s office said the governor chose to make a public statement about the investigations Monday because he thought it was important to inform the public directly about what he sees as a Trump-directed attack on him and his wife.
In his video address, Newsom alleged that Trump instigated the probes because Newsom is considering running for president in 2028, and because Trump “hates that I’ve consistently called him out — over and over again — for his lies and deceit.”
“He has turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministries to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents,” Newsom said.
Newsom cited Justice Department investigations of several other of the president’s political opponents, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, former FBI director James Comey, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and former vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list,” he said. “And today, I proudly join that list.”
Federal authorities arrested Williamson last year following a three-year-long investigation that began during the Biden administration.
Williamson pleaded guilty to three counts, including lying to authorities, last month. She admitted she lied to FBI agents who interviewed her about her role in the state’s handling of alleged sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard Inc., which she had represented as a consultant before joining Newsom’s office as chief of staff.
Williamson’s attorney, McGregor Scott, a former U.S. attorney in Sacramento, told The Times that federal authorities had approached
Williamson before her arrest seeking help with an investigation of the governor himself. Scott said it was his belief that investigators were looking into the governor and Activision.
Williamson’s plea agreement stated that she lied to the FBI when she was interviewed about her role in “passing information to former clients and business partners to give them an advantage in litigation against the state.”
The state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing in 2021 sued Activision Blizzard, which distributes video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” alleging that company officials discriminated against women, paid them less than men and ignored reports of egregious sexual harassment. Activision officials denied the allegations.
The case again drew national attention the next year when the lawyer overseeing the case for the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Janet Wipper, was fired by the Newsom administration, and her chief deputy resigned and alleged that she was doing so to protest alleged interference of Newsom’s office in the investigation. Newsom’s office denied any interference.
As Newsom noted, the federal investigations into Newsom and his wife mark the latest targeting prominent Democrats since Trump returned to office. Several of the others originated in U.S. attorneys offices controlled by Trump loyalists — and they have had little success in courts.
The Justice Department has lost cases brought against James, Comey and Powell. No charges have been filed against Schiff, despite the president accusing him of committing a crime.
Schiff has denounced Trump for turning the Justice Department into a vehicle for pursuing his personal political vendettas, and on Monday denounced the investigations of Newsom and his wife as more of the same.
“The President’s abuse of the Justice Department continues, with new targets every day,” Schiff posted to X, atop the governor’s video address. “The Governor won’t be silenced. Nor will my Senate colleagues. Nor will I. In the face of vindictive and baseless investigations, we are defiant and unbowed.”
Grant, the federal prosecutor in Sacramento, was first appointed as an interim leader of the office in August by then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, after the acting U.S. attorney there, Michele Beckwith, said she was fired for telling the Border Patrol chief in charge of immigration raids in California that his agents were not allowed to arrest people without probable cause in the Central Valley.
When Grant’s interim term expired, the district’s judges voted to re-appoint him, a stark difference from how judges have approached other controversial Trump appointees.
Unlike the highly inexperienced federal prosecutors involved in some of the other cases against prominent Democrats, Grant has a decades long career in the department.
In the early 1990s, he worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel and then, from 2017 to 2021, as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he supervised more than a hundred department litigators. He previously served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during the Supreme Court’s October 1994 term, according to the Justice Department.
In a March interview, Grant — who grew up in Modesto and raised his family in Sacramento County — said it is “a very important principle of all federal prosecutors, and certainly of mine and my office, to prosecute and investigate without fear or favor, and that means without regard to partisan affiliation, without regard to whether the target is rich and powerful, or friend, or a foe of any particular person.”
“So, whatever you read about the rest of the country,” he said, “in the Eastern District of California, that is an important principle to which we adhere, and to which we shall adhere, as long as I hold this office.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday accused the Justice Department of launching — at President Trump’s request — a baseless and politically-motivated investigation into him and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me,” Newsom said. “And just in the last week, I’ve learned his campaign has reached my own home: to get me, he’s coming after my wife, Jen.”
Newsom adamantly denied any wrongdoing by him or his wife.
The White House declined to respond to Newsom’s allegations that Trump was involved in instigating the probes, referring all questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.
A source familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times that there are two federal probes underway, one related to Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and one related to Siebel Newsom’s taxes.
The source said both investigations have been ongoing for about a year; were launched by federal prosecutors in Sacramento based on information provided by whistleblowers and other local sources in California; and were not the result of directives out of Washington or the White House.
Lauren Horwood, a spokesperson for the office of U.S. Atty. Eric Grant, a Trump appointee who oversees federal prosecutors in Sacramento, said the office “does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”
Siebel Newsom, in her own statement, also accused Trump of initiating the investigations.
“There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” she said. “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.”
Newsom said that in recent days, “federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” and have been “demanding records,” “digging through years and years of random documents” and “abusing the grand jury process” in a quest to find any kind of wrongdoing by him or his wife.
“Not because they found a crime. Because they are simply trying to find one,” he said.
Newsom did not describe the specific nature of the alleged probe, the line of questioning faced by friends and employees or the types of records taken or reviewed by federal investigators.
Newsom’s office said previous allegations of wrongdoing by Newsom in his handling of Activision Blizzard Inc., a video game company where Williamson once worked, were baseless and went no where, and did not appear to be a focus of the current investigations.
Newsom’s office said the current probes appeared to in part involve Siebel Newsom’s professional and personal affairs, and that donors, business associates and organizations connected to both Newsom and his wife have also been contacted.
It said neither Newsom nor his wife have been subpoenaed, but that they expect to be. It said that they both release annual reports on their income, assets and any gifts they receive.
A longtime documentary film maker, Siebel Newsom in 2011 founded the Representation Project, a nonprofit focused on challenging gender stereotypes. She earned a salary of about $161,000 from the non-profit, according to federal forms filed in 2024.
The non-profit has faced criticism for accepting donations from companies, including Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and AT&T, that are active in state politics and lobby the governor.
The Representation Project paid $161,250 to Girls Club Entertainment LLC in 2024, according to federal forms, which is Siebel Newsom’s film company.
Siebel Newsom is also behind the California Partners Project which champions gender equity, but does not receive a salary for that work, according to federal forms.
Newsom’s office said the governor chose to make a public statement about the investigations Monday because he thought it was important to inform the public directly about what he sees as a Trump-directed attack on him and his wife.
In his video address, Newsom alleged that Trump instigated the probes because Newsom is considering running for president in 2028, and because Trump “hates that I’ve consistently called him out — over and over again — for his lies and deceit.”
“He has turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministries to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents,” Newsom said.
Newsom cited Justice Department investigations of several other of the president’s political opponents, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, former FBI director James Comey, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and former vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list,” he said. “And today, I proudly join that list.”
Federal authorities arrested Williamson last year following a three-year-long investigation that began during the Biden administration.
Williamson pleaded guilty to three counts, including lying to authorities, last month. She admitted she lied to FBI agents who interviewed her about her role in the state’s handling of alleged sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard Inc., which she had represented as a consultant before joining Newsom’s office as chief of staff.
Williamson’s attorney, McGregor Scott, a former U.S. attorney in Sacramento, told The Times that federal authorities had approached
Williamson before her arrest seeking help with an investigation of the governor himself. Scott said it was his belief that investigators were looking into the governor and Activision.
Williamson’s plea agreement stated that she lied to the FBI when she was interviewed about her role in “passing information to former clients and business partners to give them an advantage in litigation against the state.”
The state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing in 2021 sued Activision Blizzard, which distributes video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” alleging that company officials discriminated against women, paid them less than men and ignored reports of egregious sexual harassment. Activision officials denied the allegations.
The case again drew national attention the next year when the lawyer overseeing the case for the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Janet Wipper, was fired by the Newsom administration, and her chief deputy resigned and alleged that she was doing so to protest alleged interference of Newsom’s office in the investigation. Newsom’s office denied any interference.
As Newsom noted, the federal investigations into Newsom and his wife mark the latest targeting prominent Democrats since Trump returned to office. Several of the others originated in U.S. attorneys offices controlled by Trump loyalists — and they have had little success in courts.
The Justice Department has lost cases brought against James, Comey and Powell. No charges have been filed against Schiff, despite the president accusing him of committing a crime.
Schiff has denounced Trump for turning the Justice Department into a vehicle for pursuing his personal political vendettas, and on Monday denounced the investigations of Newsom and his wife as more of the same.
“The President’s abuse of the Justice Department continues, with new targets every day,” Schiff posted to X, atop the governor’s video address. “The Governor won’t be silenced. Nor will my Senate colleagues. Nor will I. In the face of vindictive and baseless investigations, we are defiant and unbowed.”
Grant, the federal prosecutor in Sacramento, was first appointed as an interim leader of the office in August by then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, after the acting U.S. attorney there, Michele Beckwith, said she was fired for telling the Border Patrol chief in charge of immigration raids in California that his agents were not allowed to arrest people without probable cause in the Central Valley.
When Grant’s interim term expired, the district’s judges voted to re-appoint him, a stark difference from how judges have approached other controversial Trump appointees.
Unlike the highly inexperienced federal prosecutors involved in some of the other cases against prominent Democrats, Grant has a decades long career in the department.
In the early 1990s, he worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel and then, from 2017 to 2021, as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he supervised more than a hundred department litigators. He previously served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during the Supreme Court’s October 1994 term, according to the Justice Department.
In a March interview, Grant — who grew up in Modesto and raised his family in Sacramento County — said it is “a very important principle of all federal prosecutors, and certainly of mine and my office, to prosecute and investigate without fear or favor, and that means without regard to partisan affiliation, without regard to whether the target is rich and powerful, or friend, or a foe of any particular person.”
“So, whatever you read about the rest of the country,” he said, “in the Eastern District of California, that is an important principle to which we adhere, and to which we shall adhere, as long as I hold this office.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday accused the Justice Department of launching — at President Trump’s request — a baseless and politically-motivated investigation into him and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me,” Newsom said. “And just in the last week, I’ve learned his campaign has reached my own home: to get me, he’s coming after my wife, Jen.”
Newsom adamantly denied any wrongdoing by him or his wife.
The White House declined to respond to Newsom’s allegations that Trump was involved in instigating the probes, referring all questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.
A source familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times that there are two federal probes underway, one related to Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and one related to Siebel Newsom’s taxes.
The source said both investigations have been ongoing for about a year; were launched by federal prosecutors in Sacramento based on information provided by whistleblowers and other local sources in California; and were not the result of directives out of Washington or the White House.
Lauren Horwood, a spokesperson for the office of U.S. Atty. Eric Grant, a Trump appointee who oversees federal prosecutors in Sacramento, said the office “does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”
Siebel Newsom, in her own statement, also accused Trump of initiating the investigations.
“There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” she said. “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.”
Newsom said that in recent days, “federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” and have been “demanding records,” “digging through years and years of random documents” and “abusing the grand jury process” in a quest to find any kind of wrongdoing by him or his wife.
“Not because they found a crime. Because they are simply trying to find one,” he said.
Newsom did not describe the specific nature of the alleged probe, the line of questioning faced by friends and employees or the types of records taken or reviewed by federal investigators.
Newsom’s office said previous allegations of wrongdoing by Newsom in his handling of Activision Blizzard Inc., a video game company where Williamson once worked, were baseless and went no where, and did not appear to be a focus of the current investigations.
Newsom’s office said the current probes appeared to in part involve Siebel Newsom’s professional and personal affairs, and that donors, business associates and organizations connected to both Newsom and his wife have also been contacted.
It said neither Newsom nor his wife have been subpoenaed, but that they expect to be. It said that they both release annual reports on their income, assets and any gifts they receive.
A longtime documentary film maker, Siebel Newsom in 2011 founded the Representation Project, a nonprofit focused on challenging gender stereotypes. She earned a salary of about $161,000 from the non-profit, according to federal forms filed in 2024.
The non-profit has faced criticism for accepting donations from companies, including Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and AT&T, that are active in state politics and lobby the governor.
The Representation Project paid $161,250 to Girls Club Entertainment LLC in 2024, according to federal forms, which is Siebel Newsom’s film company.
Siebel Newsom is also behind the California Partners Project which champions gender equity, but does not receive a salary for that work, according to federal forms.
Newsom’s office said the governor chose to make a public statement about the investigations Monday because he thought it was important to inform the public directly about what he sees as a Trump-directed attack on him and his wife.
In his video address, Newsom alleged that Trump instigated the probes because Newsom is considering running for president in 2028, and because Trump “hates that I’ve consistently called him out — over and over again — for his lies and deceit.”
“He has turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministries to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents,” Newsom said.
Newsom cited Justice Department investigations of several other of the president’s political opponents, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, former FBI director James Comey, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and former vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list,” he said. “And today, I proudly join that list.”
Federal authorities arrested Williamson last year following a three-year-long investigation that began during the Biden administration.
Williamson pleaded guilty to three counts, including lying to authorities, last month. She admitted she lied to FBI agents who interviewed her about her role in the state’s handling of alleged sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard Inc., which she had represented as a consultant before joining Newsom’s office as chief of staff.
Williamson’s attorney, McGregor Scott, a former U.S. attorney in Sacramento, told The Times that federal authorities had approached
Williamson before her arrest seeking help with an investigation of the governor himself. Scott said it was his belief that investigators were looking into the governor and Activision.
Williamson’s plea agreement stated that she lied to the FBI when she was interviewed about her role in “passing information to former clients and business partners to give them an advantage in litigation against the state.”
The state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing in 2021 sued Activision Blizzard, which distributes video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” alleging that company officials discriminated against women, paid them less than men and ignored reports of egregious sexual harassment. Activision officials denied the allegations.
The case again drew national attention the next year when the lawyer overseeing the case for the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Janet Wipper, was fired by the Newsom administration, and her chief deputy resigned and alleged that she was doing so to protest alleged interference of Newsom’s office in the investigation. Newsom’s office denied any interference.
As Newsom noted, the federal investigations into Newsom and his wife mark the latest targeting prominent Democrats since Trump returned to office. Several of the others originated in U.S. attorneys offices controlled by Trump loyalists — and they have had little success in courts.
The Justice Department has lost cases brought against James, Comey and Powell. No charges have been filed against Schiff, despite the president accusing him of committing a crime.
Schiff has denounced Trump for turning the Justice Department into a vehicle for pursuing his personal political vendettas, and on Monday denounced the investigations of Newsom and his wife as more of the same.
“The President’s abuse of the Justice Department continues, with new targets every day,” Schiff posted to X, atop the governor’s video address. “The Governor won’t be silenced. Nor will my Senate colleagues. Nor will I. In the face of vindictive and baseless investigations, we are defiant and unbowed.”
Grant, the federal prosecutor in Sacramento, was first appointed as an interim leader of the office in August by then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, after the acting U.S. attorney there, Michele Beckwith, said she was fired for telling the Border Patrol chief in charge of immigration raids in California that his agents were not allowed to arrest people without probable cause in the Central Valley.
When Grant’s interim term expired, the district’s judges voted to re-appoint him, a stark difference from how judges have approached other controversial Trump appointees.
Unlike the highly inexperienced federal prosecutors involved in some of the other cases against prominent Democrats, Grant has a decades long career in the department.
In the early 1990s, he worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel and then, from 2017 to 2021, as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he supervised more than a hundred department litigators. He previously served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during the Supreme Court’s October 1994 term, according to the Justice Department.
In a March interview, Grant — who grew up in Modesto and raised his family in Sacramento County — said it is “a very important principle of all federal prosecutors, and certainly of mine and my office, to prosecute and investigate without fear or favor, and that means without regard to partisan affiliation, without regard to whether the target is rich and powerful, or friend, or a foe of any particular person.”
“So, whatever you read about the rest of the country,” he said, “in the Eastern District of California, that is an important principle to which we adhere, and to which we shall adhere, as long as I hold this office.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday accused the Justice Department of launching — at President Trump’s request — a baseless and politically-motivated investigation into him and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me,” Newsom said. “And just in the last week, I’ve learned his campaign has reached my own home: to get me, he’s coming after my wife, Jen.”
Newsom adamantly denied any wrongdoing by him or his wife.
The White House declined to respond to Newsom’s allegations that Trump was involved in instigating the probes, referring all questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.
A source familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times that there are two federal probes underway, one related to Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and one related to Siebel Newsom’s taxes.
The source said both investigations have been ongoing for about a year; were launched by federal prosecutors in Sacramento based on information provided by whistleblowers and other local sources in California; and were not the result of directives out of Washington or the White House.
Lauren Horwood, a spokesperson for the office of U.S. Atty. Eric Grant, a Trump appointee who oversees federal prosecutors in Sacramento, said the office “does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”
Siebel Newsom, in her own statement, also accused Trump of initiating the investigations.
“There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” she said. “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.”
Newsom said that in recent days, “federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” and have been “demanding records,” “digging through years and years of random documents” and “abusing the grand jury process” in a quest to find any kind of wrongdoing by him or his wife.
“Not because they found a crime. Because they are simply trying to find one,” he said.
Newsom did not describe the specific nature of the alleged probe, the line of questioning faced by friends and employees or the types of records taken or reviewed by federal investigators.
Newsom’s office said previous allegations of wrongdoing by Newsom in his handling of Activision Blizzard Inc., a video game company where Williamson once worked, were baseless and went no where, and did not appear to be a focus of the current investigations.
Newsom’s office said the current probes appeared to in part involve Siebel Newsom’s professional and personal affairs, and that donors, business associates and organizations connected to both Newsom and his wife have also been contacted.
It said neither Newsom nor his wife have been subpoenaed, but that they expect to be. It said that they both release annual reports on their income, assets and any gifts they receive.
A longtime documentary film maker, Siebel Newsom in 2011 founded the Representation Project, a nonprofit focused on challenging gender stereotypes. She earned a salary of about $161,000 from the non-profit, according to federal forms filed in 2024.
The non-profit has faced criticism for accepting donations from companies, including Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and AT&T, that are active in state politics and lobby the governor.
The Representation Project paid $161,250 to Girls Club Entertainment LLC in 2024, according to federal forms, which is Siebel Newsom’s film company.
Siebel Newsom is also behind the California Partners Project which champions gender equity, but does not receive a salary for that work, according to federal forms.
Newsom’s office said the governor chose to make a public statement about the investigations Monday because he thought it was important to inform the public directly about what he sees as a Trump-directed attack on him and his wife.
In his video address, Newsom alleged that Trump instigated the probes because Newsom is considering running for president in 2028, and because Trump “hates that I’ve consistently called him out — over and over again — for his lies and deceit.”
“He has turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministries to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents,” Newsom said.
Newsom cited Justice Department investigations of several other of the president’s political opponents, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, former FBI director James Comey, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and former vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list,” he said. “And today, I proudly join that list.”
Federal authorities arrested Williamson last year following a three-year-long investigation that began during the Biden administration.
Williamson pleaded guilty to three counts, including lying to authorities, last month. She admitted she lied to FBI agents who interviewed her about her role in the state’s handling of alleged sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard Inc., which she had represented as a consultant before joining Newsom’s office as chief of staff.
Williamson’s attorney, McGregor Scott, a former U.S. attorney in Sacramento, told The Times that federal authorities had approached
Williamson before her arrest seeking help with an investigation of the governor himself. Scott said it was his belief that investigators were looking into the governor and Activision.
Williamson’s plea agreement stated that she lied to the FBI when she was interviewed about her role in “passing information to former clients and business partners to give them an advantage in litigation against the state.”
The state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing in 2021 sued Activision Blizzard, which distributes video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” alleging that company officials discriminated against women, paid them less than men and ignored reports of egregious sexual harassment. Activision officials denied the allegations.
The case again drew national attention the next year when the lawyer overseeing the case for the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Janet Wipper, was fired by the Newsom administration, and her chief deputy resigned and alleged that she was doing so to protest alleged interference of Newsom’s office in the investigation. Newsom’s office denied any interference.
As Newsom noted, the federal investigations into Newsom and his wife mark the latest targeting prominent Democrats since Trump returned to office. Several of the others originated in U.S. attorneys offices controlled by Trump loyalists — and they have had little success in courts.
The Justice Department has lost cases brought against James, Comey and Powell. No charges have been filed against Schiff, despite the president accusing him of committing a crime.
Schiff has denounced Trump for turning the Justice Department into a vehicle for pursuing his personal political vendettas, and on Monday denounced the investigations of Newsom and his wife as more of the same.
“The President’s abuse of the Justice Department continues, with new targets every day,” Schiff posted to X, atop the governor’s video address. “The Governor won’t be silenced. Nor will my Senate colleagues. Nor will I. In the face of vindictive and baseless investigations, we are defiant and unbowed.”
Grant, the federal prosecutor in Sacramento, was first appointed as an interim leader of the office in August by then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, after the acting U.S. attorney there, Michele Beckwith, said she was fired for telling the Border Patrol chief in charge of immigration raids in California that his agents were not allowed to arrest people without probable cause in the Central Valley.
When Grant’s interim term expired, the district’s judges voted to re-appoint him, a stark difference from how judges have approached other controversial Trump appointees.
Unlike the highly inexperienced federal prosecutors involved in some of the other cases against prominent Democrats, Grant has a decades long career in the department.
In the early 1990s, he worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel and then, from 2017 to 2021, as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he supervised more than a hundred department litigators. He previously served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during the Supreme Court’s October 1994 term, according to the Justice Department.
In a March interview, Grant — who grew up in Modesto and raised his family in Sacramento County — said it is “a very important principle of all federal prosecutors, and certainly of mine and my office, to prosecute and investigate without fear or favor, and that means without regard to partisan affiliation, without regard to whether the target is rich and powerful, or friend, or a foe of any particular person.”
“So, whatever you read about the rest of the country,” he said, “in the Eastern District of California, that is an important principle to which we adhere, and to which we shall adhere, as long as I hold this office.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday accused the Justice Department of launching — at President Trump’s request — a baseless and politically-motivated investigation into him and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me,” Newsom said. “And just in the last week, I’ve learned his campaign has reached my own home: to get me, he’s coming after my wife, Jen.”
Newsom adamantly denied any wrongdoing by him or his wife.
The White House declined to respond to Newsom’s allegations that Trump was involved in instigating the probes, referring all questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.
A source familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times that there are two federal probes underway, one related to Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and one related to Siebel Newsom’s taxes.
The source said both investigations have been ongoing for about a year; were launched by federal prosecutors in Sacramento based on information provided by whistleblowers and other local sources in California; and were not the result of directives out of Washington or the White House.
Lauren Horwood, a spokesperson for the office of U.S. Atty. Eric Grant, a Trump appointee who oversees federal prosecutors in Sacramento, said the office “does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”
Siebel Newsom, in her own statement, also accused Trump of initiating the investigations.
“There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” she said. “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.”
Newsom said that in recent days, “federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” and have been “demanding records,” “digging through years and years of random documents” and “abusing the grand jury process” in a quest to find any kind of wrongdoing by him or his wife.
“Not because they found a crime. Because they are simply trying to find one,” he said.
Newsom did not describe the specific nature of the alleged probe, the line of questioning faced by friends and employees or the types of records taken or reviewed by federal investigators.
Newsom’s office said previous allegations of wrongdoing by Newsom in his handling of Activision Blizzard Inc., a video game company where Williamson once worked, were baseless and went no where, and did not appear to be a focus of the current investigations.
Newsom’s office said the current probes appeared to in part involve Siebel Newsom’s professional and personal affairs, and that donors, business associates and organizations connected to both Newsom and his wife have also been contacted.
It said neither Newsom nor his wife have been subpoenaed, but that they expect to be. It said that they both release annual reports on their income, assets and any gifts they receive.
A longtime documentary film maker, Siebel Newsom in 2011 founded the Representation Project, a nonprofit focused on challenging gender stereotypes. She earned a salary of about $161,000 from the non-profit, according to federal forms filed in 2024.
The non-profit has faced criticism for accepting donations from companies, including Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and AT&T, that are active in state politics and lobby the governor.
The Representation Project paid $161,250 to Girls Club Entertainment LLC in 2024, according to federal forms, which is Siebel Newsom’s film company.
Siebel Newsom is also behind the California Partners Project which champions gender equity, but does not receive a salary for that work, according to federal forms.
Newsom’s office said the governor chose to make a public statement about the investigations Monday because he thought it was important to inform the public directly about what he sees as a Trump-directed attack on him and his wife.
In his video address, Newsom alleged that Trump instigated the probes because Newsom is considering running for president in 2028, and because Trump “hates that I’ve consistently called him out — over and over again — for his lies and deceit.”
“He has turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministries to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents,” Newsom said.
Newsom cited Justice Department investigations of several other of the president’s political opponents, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, former FBI director James Comey, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and former vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list,” he said. “And today, I proudly join that list.”
Federal authorities arrested Williamson last year following a three-year-long investigation that began during the Biden administration.
Williamson pleaded guilty to three counts, including lying to authorities, last month. She admitted she lied to FBI agents who interviewed her about her role in the state’s handling of alleged sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard Inc., which she had represented as a consultant before joining Newsom’s office as chief of staff.
Williamson’s attorney, McGregor Scott, a former U.S. attorney in Sacramento, told The Times that federal authorities had approached
Williamson before her arrest seeking help with an investigation of the governor himself. Scott said it was his belief that investigators were looking into the governor and Activision.
Williamson’s plea agreement stated that she lied to the FBI when she was interviewed about her role in “passing information to former clients and business partners to give them an advantage in litigation against the state.”
The state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing in 2021 sued Activision Blizzard, which distributes video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” alleging that company officials discriminated against women, paid them less than men and ignored reports of egregious sexual harassment. Activision officials denied the allegations.
The case again drew national attention the next year when the lawyer overseeing the case for the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Janet Wipper, was fired by the Newsom administration, and her chief deputy resigned and alleged that she was doing so to protest alleged interference of Newsom’s office in the investigation. Newsom’s office denied any interference.
As Newsom noted, the federal investigations into Newsom and his wife mark the latest targeting prominent Democrats since Trump returned to office. Several of the others originated in U.S. attorneys offices controlled by Trump loyalists — and they have had little success in courts.
The Justice Department has lost cases brought against James, Comey and Powell. No charges have been filed against Schiff, despite the president accusing him of committing a crime.
Schiff has denounced Trump for turning the Justice Department into a vehicle for pursuing his personal political vendettas, and on Monday denounced the investigations of Newsom and his wife as more of the same.
“The President’s abuse of the Justice Department continues, with new targets every day,” Schiff posted to X, atop the governor’s video address. “The Governor won’t be silenced. Nor will my Senate colleagues. Nor will I. In the face of vindictive and baseless investigations, we are defiant and unbowed.”
Grant, the federal prosecutor in Sacramento, was first appointed as an interim leader of the office in August by then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, after the acting U.S. attorney there, Michele Beckwith, said she was fired for telling the Border Patrol chief in charge of immigration raids in California that his agents were not allowed to arrest people without probable cause in the Central Valley.
When Grant’s interim term expired, the district’s judges voted to re-appoint him, a stark difference from how judges have approached other controversial Trump appointees.
Unlike the highly inexperienced federal prosecutors involved in some of the other cases against prominent Democrats, Grant has a decades long career in the department.
In the early 1990s, he worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel and then, from 2017 to 2021, as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he supervised more than a hundred department litigators. He previously served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during the Supreme Court’s October 1994 term, according to the Justice Department.
In a March interview, Grant — who grew up in Modesto and raised his family in Sacramento County — said it is “a very important principle of all federal prosecutors, and certainly of mine and my office, to prosecute and investigate without fear or favor, and that means without regard to partisan affiliation, without regard to whether the target is rich and powerful, or friend, or a foe of any particular person.”
“So, whatever you read about the rest of the country,” he said, “in the Eastern District of California, that is an important principle to which we adhere, and to which we shall adhere, as long as I hold this office.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday accused the Justice Department of launching — at President Trump’s request — a baseless and politically-motivated investigation into him and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me,” Newsom said. “And just in the last week, I’ve learned his campaign has reached my own home: to get me, he’s coming after my wife, Jen.”
Newsom adamantly denied any wrongdoing by him or his wife.
The White House declined to respond to Newsom’s allegations that Trump was involved in instigating the probes, referring all questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.
A source familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times that there are two federal probes underway, one related to Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and one related to Siebel Newsom’s taxes.
The source said both investigations have been ongoing for about a year; were launched by federal prosecutors in Sacramento based on information provided by whistleblowers and other local sources in California; and were not the result of directives out of Washington or the White House.
Lauren Horwood, a spokesperson for the office of U.S. Atty. Eric Grant, a Trump appointee who oversees federal prosecutors in Sacramento, said the office “does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”
Siebel Newsom, in her own statement, also accused Trump of initiating the investigations.
“There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” she said. “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.”
Newsom said that in recent days, “federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” and have been “demanding records,” “digging through years and years of random documents” and “abusing the grand jury process” in a quest to find any kind of wrongdoing by him or his wife.
“Not because they found a crime. Because they are simply trying to find one,” he said.
Newsom did not describe the specific nature of the alleged probe, the line of questioning faced by friends and employees or the types of records taken or reviewed by federal investigators.
Newsom’s office said previous allegations of wrongdoing by Newsom in his handling of Activision Blizzard Inc., a video game company where Williamson once worked, were baseless and went no where, and did not appear to be a focus of the current investigations.
Newsom’s office said the current probes appeared to in part involve Siebel Newsom’s professional and personal affairs, and that donors, business associates and organizations connected to both Newsom and his wife have also been contacted.
It said neither Newsom nor his wife have been subpoenaed, but that they expect to be. It said that they both release annual reports on their income, assets and any gifts they receive.
A longtime documentary film maker, Siebel Newsom in 2011 founded the Representation Project, a nonprofit focused on challenging gender stereotypes. She earned a salary of about $161,000 from the non-profit, according to federal forms filed in 2024.
The non-profit has faced criticism for accepting donations from companies, including Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and AT&T, that are active in state politics and lobby the governor.
The Representation Project paid $161,250 to Girls Club Entertainment LLC in 2024, according to federal forms, which is Siebel Newsom’s film company.
Siebel Newsom is also behind the California Partners Project which champions gender equity, but does not receive a salary for that work, according to federal forms.
Newsom’s office said the governor chose to make a public statement about the investigations Monday because he thought it was important to inform the public directly about what he sees as a Trump-directed attack on him and his wife.
In his video address, Newsom alleged that Trump instigated the probes because Newsom is considering running for president in 2028, and because Trump “hates that I’ve consistently called him out — over and over again — for his lies and deceit.”
“He has turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministries to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents,” Newsom said.
Newsom cited Justice Department investigations of several other of the president’s political opponents, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, former FBI director James Comey, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and former vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list,” he said. “And today, I proudly join that list.”
Federal authorities arrested Williamson last year following a three-year-long investigation that began during the Biden administration.
Williamson pleaded guilty to three counts, including lying to authorities, last month. She admitted she lied to FBI agents who interviewed her about her role in the state’s handling of alleged sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard Inc., which she had represented as a consultant before joining Newsom’s office as chief of staff.
Williamson’s attorney, McGregor Scott, a former U.S. attorney in Sacramento, told The Times that federal authorities had approached
Williamson before her arrest seeking help with an investigation of the governor himself. Scott said it was his belief that investigators were looking into the governor and Activision.
Williamson’s plea agreement stated that she lied to the FBI when she was interviewed about her role in “passing information to former clients and business partners to give them an advantage in litigation against the state.”
The state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing in 2021 sued Activision Blizzard, which distributes video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” alleging that company officials discriminated against women, paid them less than men and ignored reports of egregious sexual harassment. Activision officials denied the allegations.
The case again drew national attention the next year when the lawyer overseeing the case for the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Janet Wipper, was fired by the Newsom administration, and her chief deputy resigned and alleged that she was doing so to protest alleged interference of Newsom’s office in the investigation. Newsom’s office denied any interference.
As Newsom noted, the federal investigations into Newsom and his wife mark the latest targeting prominent Democrats since Trump returned to office. Several of the others originated in U.S. attorneys offices controlled by Trump loyalists — and they have had little success in courts.
The Justice Department has lost cases brought against James, Comey and Powell. No charges have been filed against Schiff, despite the president accusing him of committing a crime.
Schiff has denounced Trump for turning the Justice Department into a vehicle for pursuing his personal political vendettas, and on Monday denounced the investigations of Newsom and his wife as more of the same.
“The President’s abuse of the Justice Department continues, with new targets every day,” Schiff posted to X, atop the governor’s video address. “The Governor won’t be silenced. Nor will my Senate colleagues. Nor will I. In the face of vindictive and baseless investigations, we are defiant and unbowed.”
Grant, the federal prosecutor in Sacramento, was first appointed as an interim leader of the office in August by then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, after the acting U.S. attorney there, Michele Beckwith, said she was fired for telling the Border Patrol chief in charge of immigration raids in California that his agents were not allowed to arrest people without probable cause in the Central Valley.
When Grant’s interim term expired, the district’s judges voted to re-appoint him, a stark difference from how judges have approached other controversial Trump appointees.
Unlike the highly inexperienced federal prosecutors involved in some of the other cases against prominent Democrats, Grant has a decades long career in the department.
In the early 1990s, he worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel and then, from 2017 to 2021, as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he supervised more than a hundred department litigators. He previously served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during the Supreme Court’s October 1994 term, according to the Justice Department.
In a March interview, Grant — who grew up in Modesto and raised his family in Sacramento County — said it is “a very important principle of all federal prosecutors, and certainly of mine and my office, to prosecute and investigate without fear or favor, and that means without regard to partisan affiliation, without regard to whether the target is rich and powerful, or friend, or a foe of any particular person.”
“So, whatever you read about the rest of the country,” he said, “in the Eastern District of California, that is an important principle to which we adhere, and to which we shall adhere, as long as I hold this office.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday accused the Justice Department of launching — at President Trump’s request — a baseless and politically-motivated investigation into him and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me,” Newsom said. “And just in the last week, I’ve learned his campaign has reached my own home: to get me, he’s coming after my wife, Jen.”
Newsom adamantly denied any wrongdoing by him or his wife.
The White House declined to respond to Newsom’s allegations that Trump was involved in instigating the probes, referring all questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.
A source familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times that there are two federal probes underway, one related to Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and one related to Siebel Newsom’s taxes.
The source said both investigations have been ongoing for about a year; were launched by federal prosecutors in Sacramento based on information provided by whistleblowers and other local sources in California; and were not the result of directives out of Washington or the White House.
Lauren Horwood, a spokesperson for the office of U.S. Atty. Eric Grant, a Trump appointee who oversees federal prosecutors in Sacramento, said the office “does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”
Siebel Newsom, in her own statement, also accused Trump of initiating the investigations.
“There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” she said. “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.”
Newsom said that in recent days, “federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” and have been “demanding records,” “digging through years and years of random documents” and “abusing the grand jury process” in a quest to find any kind of wrongdoing by him or his wife.
“Not because they found a crime. Because they are simply trying to find one,” he said.
Newsom did not describe the specific nature of the alleged probe, the line of questioning faced by friends and employees or the types of records taken or reviewed by federal investigators.
Newsom’s office said previous allegations of wrongdoing by Newsom in his handling of Activision Blizzard Inc., a video game company where Williamson once worked, were baseless and went no where, and did not appear to be a focus of the current investigations.
Newsom’s office said the current probes appeared to in part involve Siebel Newsom’s professional and personal affairs, and that donors, business associates and organizations connected to both Newsom and his wife have also been contacted.
It said neither Newsom nor his wife have been subpoenaed, but that they expect to be. It said that they both release annual reports on their income, assets and any gifts they receive.
A longtime documentary film maker, Siebel Newsom in 2011 founded the Representation Project, a nonprofit focused on challenging gender stereotypes. She earned a salary of about $161,000 from the non-profit, according to federal forms filed in 2024.
The non-profit has faced criticism for accepting donations from companies, including Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and AT&T, that are active in state politics and lobby the governor.
The Representation Project paid $161,250 to Girls Club Entertainment LLC in 2024, according to federal forms, which is Siebel Newsom’s film company.
Siebel Newsom is also behind the California Partners Project which champions gender equity, but does not receive a salary for that work, according to federal forms.
Newsom’s office said the governor chose to make a public statement about the investigations Monday because he thought it was important to inform the public directly about what he sees as a Trump-directed attack on him and his wife.
In his video address, Newsom alleged that Trump instigated the probes because Newsom is considering running for president in 2028, and because Trump “hates that I’ve consistently called him out — over and over again — for his lies and deceit.”
“He has turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministries to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents,” Newsom said.
Newsom cited Justice Department investigations of several other of the president’s political opponents, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, former FBI director James Comey, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and former vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list,” he said. “And today, I proudly join that list.”
Federal authorities arrested Williamson last year following a three-year-long investigation that began during the Biden administration.
Williamson pleaded guilty to three counts, including lying to authorities, last month. She admitted she lied to FBI agents who interviewed her about her role in the state’s handling of alleged sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard Inc., which she had represented as a consultant before joining Newsom’s office as chief of staff.
Williamson’s attorney, McGregor Scott, a former U.S. attorney in Sacramento, told The Times that federal authorities had approached
Williamson before her arrest seeking help with an investigation of the governor himself. Scott said it was his belief that investigators were looking into the governor and Activision.
Williamson’s plea agreement stated that she lied to the FBI when she was interviewed about her role in “passing information to former clients and business partners to give them an advantage in litigation against the state.”
The state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing in 2021 sued Activision Blizzard, which distributes video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” alleging that company officials discriminated against women, paid them less than men and ignored reports of egregious sexual harassment. Activision officials denied the allegations.
The case again drew national attention the next year when the lawyer overseeing the case for the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Janet Wipper, was fired by the Newsom administration, and her chief deputy resigned and alleged that she was doing so to protest alleged interference of Newsom’s office in the investigation. Newsom’s office denied any interference.
As Newsom noted, the federal investigations into Newsom and his wife mark the latest targeting prominent Democrats since Trump returned to office. Several of the others originated in U.S. attorneys offices controlled by Trump loyalists — and they have had little success in courts.
The Justice Department has lost cases brought against James, Comey and Powell. No charges have been filed against Schiff, despite the president accusing him of committing a crime.
Schiff has denounced Trump for turning the Justice Department into a vehicle for pursuing his personal political vendettas, and on Monday denounced the investigations of Newsom and his wife as more of the same.
“The President’s abuse of the Justice Department continues, with new targets every day,” Schiff posted to X, atop the governor’s video address. “The Governor won’t be silenced. Nor will my Senate colleagues. Nor will I. In the face of vindictive and baseless investigations, we are defiant and unbowed.”
Grant, the federal prosecutor in Sacramento, was first appointed as an interim leader of the office in August by then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, after the acting U.S. attorney there, Michele Beckwith, said she was fired for telling the Border Patrol chief in charge of immigration raids in California that his agents were not allowed to arrest people without probable cause in the Central Valley.
When Grant’s interim term expired, the district’s judges voted to re-appoint him, a stark difference from how judges have approached other controversial Trump appointees.
Unlike the highly inexperienced federal prosecutors involved in some of the other cases against prominent Democrats, Grant has a decades long career in the department.
In the early 1990s, he worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel and then, from 2017 to 2021, as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he supervised more than a hundred department litigators. He previously served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during the Supreme Court’s October 1994 term, according to the Justice Department.
In a March interview, Grant — who grew up in Modesto and raised his family in Sacramento County — said it is “a very important principle of all federal prosecutors, and certainly of mine and my office, to prosecute and investigate without fear or favor, and that means without regard to partisan affiliation, without regard to whether the target is rich and powerful, or friend, or a foe of any particular person.”
“So, whatever you read about the rest of the country,” he said, “in the Eastern District of California, that is an important principle to which we adhere, and to which we shall adhere, as long as I hold this office.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday accused the Justice Department of launching — at President Trump’s request — a baseless and politically-motivated investigation into him and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me,” Newsom said. “And just in the last week, I’ve learned his campaign has reached my own home: to get me, he’s coming after my wife, Jen.”
Newsom adamantly denied any wrongdoing by him or his wife.
The White House declined to respond to Newsom’s allegations that Trump was involved in instigating the probes, referring all questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.
A source familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times that there are two federal probes underway, one related to Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and one related to Siebel Newsom’s taxes.
The source said both investigations have been ongoing for about a year; were launched by federal prosecutors in Sacramento based on information provided by whistleblowers and other local sources in California; and were not the result of directives out of Washington or the White House.
Lauren Horwood, a spokesperson for the office of U.S. Atty. Eric Grant, a Trump appointee who oversees federal prosecutors in Sacramento, said the office “does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”
Siebel Newsom, in her own statement, also accused Trump of initiating the investigations.
“There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” she said. “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.”
Newsom said that in recent days, “federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” and have been “demanding records,” “digging through years and years of random documents” and “abusing the grand jury process” in a quest to find any kind of wrongdoing by him or his wife.
“Not because they found a crime. Because they are simply trying to find one,” he said.
Newsom did not describe the specific nature of the alleged probe, the line of questioning faced by friends and employees or the types of records taken or reviewed by federal investigators.
Newsom’s office said previous allegations of wrongdoing by Newsom in his handling of Activision Blizzard Inc., a video game company where Williamson once worked, were baseless and went no where, and did not appear to be a focus of the current investigations.
Newsom’s office said the current probes appeared to in part involve Siebel Newsom’s professional and personal affairs, and that donors, business associates and organizations connected to both Newsom and his wife have also been contacted.
It said neither Newsom nor his wife have been subpoenaed, but that they expect to be. It said that they both release annual reports on their income, assets and any gifts they receive.
A longtime documentary film maker, Siebel Newsom in 2011 founded the Representation Project, a nonprofit focused on challenging gender stereotypes. She earned a salary of about $161,000 from the non-profit, according to federal forms filed in 2024.
The non-profit has faced criticism for accepting donations from companies, including Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and AT&T, that are active in state politics and lobby the governor.
The Representation Project paid $161,250 to Girls Club Entertainment LLC in 2024, according to federal forms, which is Siebel Newsom’s film company.
Siebel Newsom is also behind the California Partners Project which champions gender equity, but does not receive a salary for that work, according to federal forms.
Newsom’s office said the governor chose to make a public statement about the investigations Monday because he thought it was important to inform the public directly about what he sees as a Trump-directed attack on him and his wife.
In his video address, Newsom alleged that Trump instigated the probes because Newsom is considering running for president in 2028, and because Trump “hates that I’ve consistently called him out — over and over again — for his lies and deceit.”
“He has turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministries to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents,” Newsom said.
Newsom cited Justice Department investigations of several other of the president’s political opponents, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, former FBI director James Comey, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and former vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list,” he said. “And today, I proudly join that list.”
Federal authorities arrested Williamson last year following a three-year-long investigation that began during the Biden administration.
Williamson pleaded guilty to three counts, including lying to authorities, last month. She admitted she lied to FBI agents who interviewed her about her role in the state’s handling of alleged sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard Inc., which she had represented as a consultant before joining Newsom’s office as chief of staff.
Williamson’s attorney, McGregor Scott, a former U.S. attorney in Sacramento, told The Times that federal authorities had approached
Williamson before her arrest seeking help with an investigation of the governor himself. Scott said it was his belief that investigators were looking into the governor and Activision.
Williamson’s plea agreement stated that she lied to the FBI when she was interviewed about her role in “passing information to former clients and business partners to give them an advantage in litigation against the state.”
The state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing in 2021 sued Activision Blizzard, which distributes video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” alleging that company officials discriminated against women, paid them less than men and ignored reports of egregious sexual harassment. Activision officials denied the allegations.
The case again drew national attention the next year when the lawyer overseeing the case for the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Janet Wipper, was fired by the Newsom administration, and her chief deputy resigned and alleged that she was doing so to protest alleged interference of Newsom’s office in the investigation. Newsom’s office denied any interference.
As Newsom noted, the federal investigations into Newsom and his wife mark the latest targeting prominent Democrats since Trump returned to office. Several of the others originated in U.S. attorneys offices controlled by Trump loyalists — and they have had little success in courts.
The Justice Department has lost cases brought against James, Comey and Powell. No charges have been filed against Schiff, despite the president accusing him of committing a crime.
Schiff has denounced Trump for turning the Justice Department into a vehicle for pursuing his personal political vendettas, and on Monday denounced the investigations of Newsom and his wife as more of the same.
“The President’s abuse of the Justice Department continues, with new targets every day,” Schiff posted to X, atop the governor’s video address. “The Governor won’t be silenced. Nor will my Senate colleagues. Nor will I. In the face of vindictive and baseless investigations, we are defiant and unbowed.”
Grant, the federal prosecutor in Sacramento, was first appointed as an interim leader of the office in August by then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, after the acting U.S. attorney there, Michele Beckwith, said she was fired for telling the Border Patrol chief in charge of immigration raids in California that his agents were not allowed to arrest people without probable cause in the Central Valley.
When Grant’s interim term expired, the district’s judges voted to re-appoint him, a stark difference from how judges have approached other controversial Trump appointees.
Unlike the highly inexperienced federal prosecutors involved in some of the other cases against prominent Democrats, Grant has a decades long career in the department.
In the early 1990s, he worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel and then, from 2017 to 2021, as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he supervised more than a hundred department litigators. He previously served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during the Supreme Court’s October 1994 term, according to the Justice Department.
In a March interview, Grant — who grew up in Modesto and raised his family in Sacramento County — said it is “a very important principle of all federal prosecutors, and certainly of mine and my office, to prosecute and investigate without fear or favor, and that means without regard to partisan affiliation, without regard to whether the target is rich and powerful, or friend, or a foe of any particular person.”
“So, whatever you read about the rest of the country,” he said, “in the Eastern District of California, that is an important principle to which we adhere, and to which we shall adhere, as long as I hold this office.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday accused the Justice Department of launching — at President Trump’s request — a baseless and politically-motivated investigation into him and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me,” Newsom said. “And just in the last week, I’ve learned his campaign has reached my own home: to get me, he’s coming after my wife, Jen.”
Newsom adamantly denied any wrongdoing by him or his wife.
The White House declined to respond to Newsom’s allegations that Trump was involved in instigating the probes, referring all questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.
A source familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times that there are two federal probes underway, one related to Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and one related to Siebel Newsom’s taxes.
The source said both investigations have been ongoing for about a year; were launched by federal prosecutors in Sacramento based on information provided by whistleblowers and other local sources in California; and were not the result of directives out of Washington or the White House.
Lauren Horwood, a spokesperson for the office of U.S. Atty. Eric Grant, a Trump appointee who oversees federal prosecutors in Sacramento, said the office “does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”
Siebel Newsom, in her own statement, also accused Trump of initiating the investigations.
“There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” she said. “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.”
Newsom said that in recent days, “federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” and have been “demanding records,” “digging through years and years of random documents” and “abusing the grand jury process” in a quest to find any kind of wrongdoing by him or his wife.
“Not because they found a crime. Because they are simply trying to find one,” he said.
Newsom did not describe the specific nature of the alleged probe, the line of questioning faced by friends and employees or the types of records taken or reviewed by federal investigators.
Newsom’s office said previous allegations of wrongdoing by Newsom in his handling of Activision Blizzard Inc., a video game company where Williamson once worked, were baseless and went no where, and did not appear to be a focus of the current investigations.
Newsom’s office said the current probes appeared to in part involve Siebel Newsom’s professional and personal affairs, and that donors, business associates and organizations connected to both Newsom and his wife have also been contacted.
It said neither Newsom nor his wife have been subpoenaed, but that they expect to be. It said that they both release annual reports on their income, assets and any gifts they receive.
A longtime documentary film maker, Siebel Newsom in 2011 founded the Representation Project, a nonprofit focused on challenging gender stereotypes. She earned a salary of about $161,000 from the non-profit, according to federal forms filed in 2024.
The non-profit has faced criticism for accepting donations from companies, including Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and AT&T, that are active in state politics and lobby the governor.
The Representation Project paid $161,250 to Girls Club Entertainment LLC in 2024, according to federal forms, which is Siebel Newsom’s film company.
Siebel Newsom is also behind the California Partners Project which champions gender equity, but does not receive a salary for that work, according to federal forms.
Newsom’s office said the governor chose to make a public statement about the investigations Monday because he thought it was important to inform the public directly about what he sees as a Trump-directed attack on him and his wife.
In his video address, Newsom alleged that Trump instigated the probes because Newsom is considering running for president in 2028, and because Trump “hates that I’ve consistently called him out — over and over again — for his lies and deceit.”
“He has turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministries to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents,” Newsom said.
Newsom cited Justice Department investigations of several other of the president’s political opponents, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, former FBI director James Comey, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and former vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list,” he said. “And today, I proudly join that list.”
Federal authorities arrested Williamson last year following a three-year-long investigation that began during the Biden administration.
Williamson pleaded guilty to three counts, including lying to authorities, last month. She admitted she lied to FBI agents who interviewed her about her role in the state’s handling of alleged sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard Inc., which she had represented as a consultant before joining Newsom’s office as chief of staff.
Williamson’s attorney, McGregor Scott, a former U.S. attorney in Sacramento, told The Times that federal authorities had approached
Williamson before her arrest seeking help with an investigation of the governor himself. Scott said it was his belief that investigators were looking into the governor and Activision.
Williamson’s plea agreement stated that she lied to the FBI when she was interviewed about her role in “passing information to former clients and business partners to give them an advantage in litigation against the state.”
The state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing in 2021 sued Activision Blizzard, which distributes video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” alleging that company officials discriminated against women, paid them less than men and ignored reports of egregious sexual harassment. Activision officials denied the allegations.
The case again drew national attention the next year when the lawyer overseeing the case for the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Janet Wipper, was fired by the Newsom administration, and her chief deputy resigned and alleged that she was doing so to protest alleged interference of Newsom’s office in the investigation. Newsom’s office denied any interference.
As Newsom noted, the federal investigations into Newsom and his wife mark the latest targeting prominent Democrats since Trump returned to office. Several of the others originated in U.S. attorneys offices controlled by Trump loyalists — and they have had little success in courts.
The Justice Department has lost cases brought against James, Comey and Powell. No charges have been filed against Schiff, despite the president accusing him of committing a crime.
Schiff has denounced Trump for turning the Justice Department into a vehicle for pursuing his personal political vendettas, and on Monday denounced the investigations of Newsom and his wife as more of the same.
“The President’s abuse of the Justice Department continues, with new targets every day,” Schiff posted to X, atop the governor’s video address. “The Governor won’t be silenced. Nor will my Senate colleagues. Nor will I. In the face of vindictive and baseless investigations, we are defiant and unbowed.”
Grant, the federal prosecutor in Sacramento, was first appointed as an interim leader of the office in August by then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, after the acting U.S. attorney there, Michele Beckwith, said she was fired for telling the Border Patrol chief in charge of immigration raids in California that his agents were not allowed to arrest people without probable cause in the Central Valley.
When Grant’s interim term expired, the district’s judges voted to re-appoint him, a stark difference from how judges have approached other controversial Trump appointees.
Unlike the highly inexperienced federal prosecutors involved in some of the other cases against prominent Democrats, Grant has a decades long career in the department.
In the early 1990s, he worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel and then, from 2017 to 2021, as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he supervised more than a hundred department litigators. He previously served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during the Supreme Court’s October 1994 term, according to the Justice Department.
In a March interview, Grant — who grew up in Modesto and raised his family in Sacramento County — said it is “a very important principle of all federal prosecutors, and certainly of mine and my office, to prosecute and investigate without fear or favor, and that means without regard to partisan affiliation, without regard to whether the target is rich and powerful, or friend, or a foe of any particular person.”
“So, whatever you read about the rest of the country,” he said, “in the Eastern District of California, that is an important principle to which we adhere, and to which we shall adhere, as long as I hold this office.”
