California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday accused President Trump of ordering the Justice Department to investigate him and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and said the inquiry was punishment for his interest in running for president in 2028. The accusation, delivered in a video statement and a post on X, arrived as MS NOW and Semafor reported that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento has been pursuing several investigations connected to Newsom and his inner circle since early 2025, with the principal track focused on Siebel Newsom's tax filings.
The disclosure pulls one of the country's most prominent Democratic governors into the same legal posture as a string of Trump critics now under federal scrutiny, and it puts a tax-and-nonprofits inquiry into the first partner of California at the center of the 2028 conversation more than two years before the primaries begin. Newsom leaves office in January 2027.
What Newsom said
In the video posted Monday, Newsom said Trump had directed the Justice Department to open an investigation of him after calling for his arrest last year. "After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me," Newsom said. "They have not found a crime — they are simply trying to find one." He added, "Donald Trump picked the wrong target. We have nothing to hide."
Newsom did not say what conduct he understands prosecutors to be examining, CNBC reported, or whether he has been told the substance of any inquiry. He framed the move as a continuation of a pattern, saying, "One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list," and adding, "And today, I proudly join that list." He grouped himself with former FBI Director James Comey, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff of California and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, each of whom has been the subject of federal scrutiny in Trump's second term.
The investigations
MS NOW, citing two people familiar with the matter, reported that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento has been investigating Newsom and Siebel Newsom since early 2025, with the principal track focused on the first partner's tax filings. The Justice Department's public integrity section had been examining potential tax fraud and evasion by Siebel Newsom and had partnered with the U.S. Attorney's office on that inquiry, the network reported. Siebel Newsom has been interviewed by investigators in the probe, which is focused on evidence suggesting personal use of nonprofit funds.
Semafor reported Monday that "several investigations" tied to Newsom are underway and that they originated in Sacramento rather than at Main Justice, the term used for Justice Department headquarters in Washington. The investigations involve whistleblowers and also target a former Newsom chief of staff who has pleaded guilty to a fraud scheme, a person familiar with the matter told Semafor. Federal investigators are "contacting family friends, donors, former employees, and associates, subpoenaing records, and asking questions about" the governor's and first partner's finances, organizations connected to the first partner "and even deeply personal family matters," according to talking points Newsom's office sent to Capitol Hill allies and obtained by Semafor.
The political backdrop
Newsom's team cast the federal scrutiny as the predictable cost of his presidential ambitions. The governor said in his post on X that Trump was motivated to target him and his wife because, in his words, "I am considering running for President." The talking points distributed to Hill Democrats deny any wrongdoing and argue Newsom is being singled out for political reasons, Semafor reported.
The MS NOW reporting ties the federal interest to evidence suggesting personal use of nonprofit funds, a line of inquiry that, if charged, would put a sitting governor's spouse into the same category of public-corruption case the public integrity section typically handles.
The counterpoint
Monday's reporting came entirely from center wires and a Newsom statement; the White House and the Justice Department had not publicly responded by press time, and neither the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento nor Main Justice has confirmed any investigation or described its scope. Newsom himself acknowledged he does not know what the department is examining. The MS NOW account, sourced to two people familiar with the matter, describes an inquiry that predates Monday's announcement by more than a year and that, in its tax-and-nonprofits focus, looks more like a conventional public integrity case than the kind of overt political prosecution Newsom alleges. Until the department speaks or charges are filed, the gap between Newsom's framing and the reported facts will be the contested terrain.
The U.S. Attorney's Office's interest in Siebel Newsom's tax filings, by MS NOW's account, predates Monday's announcement by more than a year, and any decision on charges would rest with prosecutors in Sacramento rather than with the announcement that drew national attention to the case.