SACRAMENTO, Calif., July 6 (Our California Times) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom accused President Donald Trump and the Justice Department of opening a politically motivated probe into him and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, calling it a “fishing expedition” and a “hit list” in a June 15 post and video.
But several reports citing people familiar with the matter said at least one federal inquiry linked to Newsom’s orbit began during the Biden administration and originated in California, not at Justice Department headquarters in Washington. Those reports said the early work involved Sacramento and, in some accounts, the FBI’s Sacramento and San Francisco offices.
A Justice Department source familiar with the matter said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California has had at least two criminal investigations involving Newsom’s orbit for about a year. One inquiry involving former Newsom chief of staff Dana Williamson was opened under President Joe Biden, the source said, and Williamson pleaded guilty in May in a separate corruption case that did not implicate the governor.
The reporting did not make clear whether Newsom is a formal target of any criminal case, and the exact scope of the inquiries remains unclear.
