California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that President Donald Trump has ordered the Justice Department to investigate him.
The Democratic governor posted a video on X saying that Trump was targeting Newsom and his family because he is considering a presidential bid. In recent polling, Newsom placed second among Democrats behind former Vice President Kamala Harris, the party’s presidential nominee in 2024. Harris said earlier this month that she is “thinking about” running again.
Newsom said he had done nothing wrong except oppose Trump.
“Donald Trump isn’t just coming after me because of my mean tweets, he’s coming after me because I’m considering running for president because he hates that I’ve consistently called him out over and over again for his lies and deceit,” Newsom said in the video. “He’s turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministries to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents.”
Newsom compared himself to others targeted by the Justice Department during Trump’s second term. Among them were former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz.
Newsom presented no evidence that Trump had ordered an investigation into his activities.
CNN reported that a source familiar with the case said there is no direct investigation into Newsom. But they said that the Eastern District of California is leading investigations into people connected to him, including his wife, over tax-related crimes. The source said that the Justice Department’s political leadership wasn’t involved in the decision. Instead, a whistleblower report from last year prompted the probes, according to PBS.
How has the DOJ investigated Newsom?
Newsom said federal agents have “knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees.” He also highlighted that the DOJ is investigating his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who is a documentary filmmaker, according to CNBC.
“I’ve learned that his campaign has reached my own home to get me,” Newsom said. “He’s coming after my wife … If they can’t intimidate me, they’ll go after the mother of our children.”
He also said that the Justice Department has demanded records, while “abusing the grand jury process, digging through years and years of random documents.”
“Donald Trump hit the wrong target,” Newsom said in the video. “His political operatives can take every record and read every page, but they’ll be looking in the wrong place, because if they really want to find corruption, look no further than 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”
Has the president done this before?
Many of the president’s critics have faced legal pressure and criminal investigations during the second Trump administration.
John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, has reportedly reached an agreement with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to mishandling classified materials. He is not expected to serve prison time.
Comey, whom Trump fired as FBI director during his first term, has been indicted twice since last year. A judge dismissed the first case, which involved his allegedly lying to Congress. His second indictment related to a social media post he made.
A judge also threw out a mortgage fraud case against James.
Powell, the former Fed chair, said in January he was the target of an investigation over renovations at the central bank’s headquarters. Trump had repeatedly pressured the Fed to lower interest rates, despite persistent increases in the inflation rate, and demanded that Powell resign. The Justice Department said in April it was no longer investigating Powell.
Comey, who served as FBI director during Trump’s first term, received his second indictment, which related to a social media post he made. Both his indictment and the case against New York Attorney General Letitia James collapsed when a judge determined that the woman who indicted them had been unlawfully appointed by Trump.
The DOJ has also launched an investigation into Powell, who was listed in Newsom’s video. Powell confirmed the existence of the investigation in a January video posted on the Federal Reserve’s website. The investigation followed months of Trump publicly pressuring the Fed to lower interest rates and demanding that Powell resign. The DOJ said in April that it had concluded its investigation, which centered around renovations to the Federal Reserve’s building.
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