Gavin Newsom's FBI problem just got a lot bigger than his former chief of staff.
Now Democrats have to decide whether to believe him.
Democrats just told Newsom exactly what they think about his witch hunt story.
The Newsom FBI Investigation That Started Before Trump Took Office
Gavin Newsom's defense is simple: Donald Trump ordered the DOJ to destroy a potential 2028 Democrat Presidential candidate.
That story has one fatal problem. Biden's FBI opened this case.
Federal whistleblower complaints submitted to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento launched the original probe – long before Trump returned to the White House and before Todd Blanche became Acting Attorney General.
The investigation is not a fishing expedition. It already has guilty pleas.
Dana Williamson – Newsom's former chief of staff, once described as the most powerful unelected person in Sacramento – pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, filing a false tax return, and lying to federal agents. She originally faced 23 federal counts and up to 30 years in federal prison.
Earlier this month, the California Globe reported that a Newsom ally wore an FBI wire during the probe, recording conversations while investigators built the case from the inside.
A separate investigation centers on Jennifer Siebel Newsom's nonprofit, The Representation Project. For five years running, the organization spent more than it took in – losing over $1 million total – while Siebel Newsom drew a six-figure salary and steered hundreds of thousands of dollars to her personal film company, Girls Club Entertainment.
Breitbart reported that Siebel Newsom paid herself and her film company more than $3.7 million from the nonprofit over a decade, roughly 28% of its total annual income.
Federal agents contacted dozens of the couple's friends, associates, and family members. Newsom's office said investigators obtained both Newsoms' bank records.
Blanche addressed Newsom's claims at a news conference.
"The only thing I'll say about what he chose to do and what he chose to say is, I'm not sure his words are in any way grounded in fact," Blanche said. "He can choose to say whatever he thinks helps him. It doesn't make it true."
New Poll Shows Democrats Back Newsom Investigation as His 2028 Bid Stalls
A new Daily Mail/JL Partners survey of 1,059 registered voters found that 27% of Democrats support the federal probe targeting Newsom and his wife.
One in four members of his own base told pollsters the investigation deserves to happen – after weeks of Newsom screaming that Trump manufactured the whole thing.
Forty-three percent of independents sided with the investigation too.
Republicans came in above 70%.
Senator Adam Schiff and former Vice President Kamala Harris both rallied behind Newsom when the probe went public. The enthusiasm stopped there.
The same poll showed Newsom stuck at 15% for the 2028 Democrat presidential nomination, trailing Harris – the woman who lost to Trump in 2024 and has spent most of 2026 staying out of the spotlight.
Harris is sitting on the couch and still beating him.
Newsom surged last summer after launching his social media war with Trump – all-caps posts, AI memes, round-the-clock mockery of the president. His numbers spiked, then leveled off.
The investigation never went away. Now Pete Buttigieg leads some national polls and the field is moving on without him.
Newsom is running out of lane.
The classic primary fizzle follows a predictable path. A candidate generates media heat, polls spike, scrutiny arrives, and the party moves on.
Newsom hit his peak, the guilty plea landed, and then a Newsom ally turned out to be wearing an FBI wire. Democrats eyeing 2028 are watching their supposed champion spend his momentum defending his wife's nonprofit to the IRS instead of building a coalition that wins nationally.
A quarter of Democrats backing a Trump led investigation into Newsom is a warning light flashing red.
Democrats need a candidate who dominates a news cycle for the right reasons – not one defending his wife's charity to federal investigators.
Newsom is not that candidate. His own party just said so.
Sources:
- Zain Khan, "Democrats turn on Gavin Newsom as stunning poll reveals numbers who back probe into him and his wife," New York Post, July 6, 2026.
- "FBI Examines Jennifer Siebel Newsom's Taxes as Her Nonprofit Hemorrhaged Over $1 Million in Five Years," Just the News, June 2026.
- "Gavin Newsom Ally Wore FBI Wire in Corruption Probe Targeting Former Chief of Staff," California Globe, July 3, 2026.
- "Former Newsom Chief of Staff Pleads Guilty in Campaign Account Embezzlement Scheme," Daily Journal, May 15, 2026.
- "Sources: DOJ Investigations into Gov. Gavin Newsom Tied to Wife's Finances, Nonprofits," Breitbart, June 2026.