Washington: California Governor Gavin Newsom, a presumed Democratic candidate for the US presidency in 2028, says he and his wife are the victims of a politically motivated investigation by US President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice.
Newsom said in a video statement that federal agents had knocked on the doors of his family members, friends and former employees in recent days. He did not provide details about these encounters, but said that agents were “demanding records” and “trying to find” a crime.
“Donald Trump isn’t just coming after me because of my mean tweets, he’s coming after me because I am considering running for president,” Newsom said, calling Trump “the most corrupt president in American history”.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House declined to comment and referred questions to the Justice Department.
Newsom, whose term as governor ends early next year, has long been considered a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination and has relentlessly targeted Trump online using rhetoric and invective similar to that deployed by the president and White House social media accounts.
In his video message on Monday (US time), Newsom provided few details about what federal agents may have been investigating, nor how his wife, Jennifer, was being targeted. He said they both had nothing to hide, and called on Trump to leave his family out of the “personal vendetta”.
Newsom pointed out that the Justice Department had attempted to investigate and indict several of the president’s enemies, including former FBI director James Comey, former Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell and the woman who successfully sued Trump for rape, writer E. Jean Carroll.
“One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit-list, and today I proudly join that list,” Newsom said.
He noted that the Justice Department was now being administered by Trump’s former personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, who is the acting attorney-general after Pam Bondi was sacked this year.
Bondi’s failure to secure charges against Trump’s political enemies was a factor in her dismissal, with Trump publicly chiding her for not moving faster.
The Associated Press and The New York Times reported multiple federal investigations were under way relating to Newsom, including one examining his wife’s finances, citing a person familiar with the matter.
But the person reportedly said the investigations were not politically motivated and were initiated by officials in California, not Washington, following whistleblower complaints.
Newsom used the video to make pointed critiques of Trump, accusing him of “selling the presidency” through merchandise sales, cryptocurrency plays, deals with foreign governments and his son’s business ventures.
“This is the behaviour of a regime, not a republic,” he said.
Jennifer Newsom, the governor’s wife, said the investigation showed that Trump was unfit for office. “There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” she said in a statement.
with AP
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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