The actions of Gov. Gavin Newsom and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom may indeed be worthy of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation. However, given President Donald Trump’s habit of threatening probes of his rivals, it is hard to separate raw partisanship from potential improprieties. The governor reacted predictably, by portraying this as a witch hunt. The result is expected: Republicans and Democrats taking sides before any details are known.
It’s not clear what’s going on, as Newsom is the one who announced the investigations. But as The Washington Post reported, “The Justice Department has multiple open investigations around Newsom, according to two people familiar with the probe.” Reportedly, they include tax issues related to “First Partner” Siebel Newsom’s nonprofit — and one potentially related to Newsom’s former chief of staff, who pleaded guilty to corruption charges.
According to a Department of Justice statement, long-time Sacramento Democratic power broker Dana Williamson, Newsom’s former chief of staff, “stole from a campaign account, fabricated contracts, filed false tax returns, and lied to federal agents.” She also was an adviser to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra, who was not implicated in any wrongdoing. As of this writing, Newsom has also not been implicated in wrongdoing in this case.
The strongest evidence this might be legitimate is the DOJ probe reportedly originated from a whistleblower who contacted the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Sacramento — rather than from Washington officials. A report from the Register’s Teri Sforza suggests there might be real substance: “California’s powers-that-be have steered more than a half-billion dollars of other people’s money to their favorite charities and causes since 2011, and way more than half of that haul came at the behest of Gov. Gavin Newsom.” Millions of dollars went to “nonprofits tied to Newsom’s wife, which may have something to do with the federal investigation.”
It’s a cliché, but no one — not governors, nor presidents — should be above the law. Our system is based on a wide range of checks and balances, state and federal. But the president’s loose lips undermine the public’s faith in the proceedings. The Republican administration certainly isn’t the first to weaponize federal law enforcement, but it has taken “lawfare” to a disturbing level. Yes, some of the cases against Trump also fit that description.
During Newsom’s and Trump’s public battles over ICE last year, the president posted on social media that it would be a “great thing” if the Department of Homeland Security arrested “Newscum.” Americans have become so accustomed to the president’s unhinged posts that this could be dismissed as theatrics, but he does control federal law enforcement.
A New York magazine article this week detailed serious concerns regarding the nonprofit, but echoed our overarching fear: “This Justice Department has aggressively forfeited the ordinary presumption that it operates fairly and nonpolitically. At Trump’s explicit urging, the DOJ … has pursued a string of overtly political payback criminal investigations and prosecutions aimed at the president’s opponents.”
Our justice system cannot survive when law-enforcement agencies are viewed as the cat’s paw for political agendas. We have no idea how to return to one that emphasizes fair-minded justice rather than payback, but a good starting point is for presidents to stop threatening to jail opponents. In a free society, democratic norms matter.