Newsom says he’s on Trump’s ‘hit list’ as Justice Department interviews governor’s friends

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday accused President Donald Trump of placing him and his wife on a political “hit list” and directing federal investigators to go on a “fishing expedition” for a crime it could use to indict him.

The Democratic governor declared that the president was targeting him because Newsom is considering a run for president in 2028.

“In recent days, federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” Newsom said in the video. “Not because they found a crime, but because they simply are trying to find one.”

Newsom stated that he was “proud” to join Trump’s so-called “enemies list” that has also included former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the former vice presidential candidate.

According to a person in the Department of Justice who is familiar with the investigation, there have been at least two criminal investigations into Newsom ongoing for a year in the Eastern District of California.

They originated from whistleblowers and people in Sacramento regarding Siebel Newsom's taxes and the separate investigation into Newsom's former chief of staff Dana Williamson, who pleaded guilty in May in a corruption scandal that has not implicated the governor.

The governor claimed that federal agents were demanding records and “abusing the grand jury process” by “digging through years and years of random documents.” Neither the governor nor first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom have received subpoenas yet, Newsom’s office said, but he “looks forward” to receiving them.

Newsom came to office with a successful hospitality company called PlumpJack, which he has placed in a blind trust. Siebel Newsom is a filmmaker who leads nonprofit groups called the California Partners Project and the Representation Project.

Newsom solicited at least $1.9 million in charitable payments known as ‘behested payments’ in 2024 and 2025 for Siebel Newsom’s California Partners Project, which champions gender equity, including $1 million from the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, according to disclosure reports filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission.

His office said federal agents have contacted more than a dozen friends, former employees, business associates, donors, and organizations connected to the Newsoms but did not specify further.

The accusations first came in a fiery video statement released Monday, but provided no concrete evidence that the president had orchestrated such a probe and did not identify any of the associated groups or people he said the Justice Department was looking into.

Newsom’s office suggested that the Justice Department was hunting for a new crime to pin on him after coming up empty-handed following its arrest of Williamson. However, that probe was first opened under the Biden administration’s Department of Justice.

Williamson was indicted on wire fraud charges for funneling money from a dormant campaign account belonging to Xavier Becerra, the former Biden health secretary and the frontrunner to succeed Newsom as governor.

An attorney for Williamson, Matthew Rowan, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

The White House referred questions about Newsom’s comments to the Department of Justice. A Department of Justice spokesperson did not immediately respond.

“You can subpoena my records. You can investigate me. You can harass me. Put my name on any and every enemies list that you have,” Newsom said. “But leave my wife and family out of your personal vendetta!”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.