Federal Investigation Of Gavin Newsom Expands

According to a new report, the Justice Department has expanded its federal criminal investigation into California Gov. Gavin Newsom to include his international travel and personal expenses related to a nonprofit that funds his trips through private donations rather than taxpayer money.

Earlier this month, the US Attorney's Office served subpoenas asking for about six years' worth of communications relating to the California State Protocol Foundation, according to the San Francisco Standard. They sought records concerning the foundation's donors and fundraising, Newsom's overseas travel and events, and any money that had been used for his personal and living expenses.

The Protocol Foundation exists, on paper, to spare California taxpayers the cost of Newsom's travel expenses, but it has instead raised other ethical and legal issues.

Since 2019, he has steered more than $7.5 million in outside donations to the nonprofit, with about $5.1 million coming from funds left over from his 2019 and 2023 gubernatorial inaugurations. However, the remaining donor roll includes corporations and foundations that have business before the California state government, creating the appearance of a pay-to-play arrangement in which companies like CVS, Zoox, and a Blue Shield-linked foundation gain access to, or favor with, a governor whose regulatory decisions directly affect their bottom lines.

Newsom also sought money from the left-leaning dark-money outfit New Venture Fund and crypto billionaire Chris Larsen. Foundations tied to philanthropists Susie Tompkins Buell and Lisa Stone Pritzker round out the list, and both have separately bankrolled Newsom's political operation and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom's nonprofits. Federal investigators are looking at her taxes too, in a separate probe.

Investigators also sought records from several Newsom aides, including Becca Prowda, his chief protocol officer and the aide who manages his overseas trips. Prowda is married to San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, a detail that adds another layer to California's small and increasingly tangled political class.

Newsom, naturally is playing the victim card, framing the subpoenas as retribution from a president he has spent years attacking. "Governor Newsom went after the king, and as he warned in June, the tyrant is now coming after everyone around him," Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for his office, said in a statement. "This is what Donald Trump does to his enemies: investigate first, hunt for a crime that doesn't exist second."

The problem is that this nonprofit, which is supposedly meant to keep Newsom's travel off the public books, runs almost entirely on Newsom's own bench of former staffers. Steve Kawa chairs the shady foundation and previously served as Newsom's chief of staff during his San Francisco mayoral years. Newsom appointed him to the High-Speed Rail Authority board in May, and Kawa subsequently became its chairman. Jason Elliott, another longtime Newsom advisor, sits on the foundation's board and also landed an appointment to the Rail Authority. Jim DeBoo, a former Newsom chief of staff, serves as the foundation's secretary according to its latest IRS filings. Board members were also subpoenaed as part of the investigation.

Meanwhile, the foundation also covered the cost of Newsom's State of the State speech during the pandemic at an empty Dodger Stadium, and reportedly paid for the burner phones the governor sent to top tech CEOs the previous year. According to IRS records, by the end of 2024 the nonprofit had spent almost $600,000 more than it had received in the two previous years and had a net balance of just $7,790.

A spokesperson for the nonprofit defended the arrangement, saying it "has proudly supported both Republican and Democratic administrations in fulfilling their duties representing all of California through public events and international engagements."