The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
https://spectator.org/the-feds-are-closing-in-on-newsom-and-his-corporate-bankrollers/
The Justice Department has been investigating California Gov. Gavin Newsom and his wife for over a year now. Our understanding of the investigation had until recently come almost entirely from anonymous Justice Department sources, who spilled that the feds were focusing on the taxes and nonprofits of the governor’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
But we have just now obtained a clearer picture of precisely where the federal investigation stands now.
The San Francisco Standard obtained subpoenas issued in early September that focus on the funding of Newsom’s international travel via a nonprofit, the California State Protocol Foundation. In recent years, the nonprofit has been bankrolled by corporations, including companies with business interests in California, as well as by charities controlled by the wealthy and powerful. Many of these donations were officially reported as being made at Newsom’s request. One of the subpoenas states that the records are being requested “for use in a criminal investigation pending in the Eastern District of California.”
It’s unlikely these corporations — or even some of these nonprofits — were being charitable out of the goodness of their hearts. They obviously thought they would get something out of the arrangement. The question is whether there was an explicit offer on the table for what they would get in return for donating to Newsom’s international travel fund. If so, that would be an illegal quid pro quo. The feds are subpoenaing six years of records surrounding the California State Protocol Foundation to find out.
Funds distributed by the California State Protocol Foundation have paid for Newsom’s trips to Rome, Brazil, China, Germany, and Switzerland, all of which he used to prop up his image on the national stage in service of his future presidential campaign.
Many of the companies that have donated to the California State Protocol Foundation have done so at Newsom’s specific request, including Zoox (Amazon’s autonomous vehicle company), LSN Partners (a consulting firm), Blue Cross Blue Shield, Realize CPA, Centene Corporation (a major health care company), and CVS Pharmacy, according to government records.
Some of these companies have business interests in state government contracts and the state regulatory environment. Centene is a major contractor with Medi-Cal. In 2024, it obtained a 54-month dental contract with the state government. Zoox was the first company to get a California permit to transport passengers in self-driving cars; it remains at the mercy of California regulators. Blue Cross Blue Shield is likewise a major contractor with Medi-Cal.
According to the San Francisco Standard, the feds are seeking “records, correspondence, and receipts related to the California State Protocol Foundation, including information about its donors and fundraisers” as well as “records involving the governor’s international travel and participation in international events.” In addition, DOJ is seeking to obtain communications with Rebecca Prowda, who oversees the governor’s overseas travel, and four members of the California State Protocol Foundation’s board.
The San Francisco Standard also obtained subpoenas for information about the California Partners Project, Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s nonprofit that “champions gender equity,” as well as communications with Jennifer Siebel Newsom more generally, supporting the earlier reporting that the federal probe extends to her work and nonprofits.
Newsom claims it’s all a “fishing expedition” and that Trump’s DOJ is looking everywhere it can to find a crime. In response to the news of the subpoenas, Newsom’s office said: “This is a baseless MAGA conspiracy theory. There is no crime here. There is just a sick man in the White House weaponizing the federal government to settle personal scores.”
However, “[s]ources close to the investigation” disputed this to California’s KCRA last week, saying that the investigation is based on “tips received by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento.”
Criticism of the funding for Newsom’s international travel has long been far from partisan. In February, Carmen Balber, the executive director of Consumer Watchdog, told the Los Angeles Times that the “problem” with the California State Protocol Foundation and organizations like it is that donors to these foundations “receive access to the politicians whose travel they fund.”
Also, what looks particularly suspicious is the $5 million that was moved from the two nonprofits created to pay for Newsom’s inaugurations to the California State Protocol Foundation. The Los Angeles Times described the donors to these inaugural funds as “organizations with significant financial stakes in state policy decisions,” including “powerful unions, corporations, tribal casino interests, trade associations and healthcare giants.” These certainly don’t sound like disinterested parties.
The subpoena includes communications with Thomas A. Willis, whose name, the San Francisco Standard said, “threads through almost all of” the workings of the California State Protocol Foundation and the two inaugural funds. Willis is the registered agent of the California State Protocol Foundation as well as the two inaugural funds. The subpoena also includes the communications with Jim DeBoo, who served as chair of Newsom’s 2024 inaugural committee.
We still don’t know what crime prosecutors suspect has been committed here. We can only surmise from the subpoenas that perhaps it has something to do with donations that functioned more like bribes.
Jason Elliott, a member of the board of the California State Protocol Foundation, insisted earlier this year that the organization’s mission is to “lessen the burden on California taxpayers by reimbursing appropriate expenses associated with advancing the state’s economic and diplomatic interests.”
But when lessening the burden on taxpayers involves corporate interests funding political leaders, the supposed benefit to taxpayers becomes difficult to see.
“The politicians know very well who to go to,” Sean McMorris, of the organization California Common Cause, told the Center Square last month. “They’re not calling up an average person. They’re going to someone with a lot of money and someone who they know needs something from them… This whole behested payment thing doesn’t really work unless you can solicit people and entities who need things from you at the government level.”
Since Newsom took office as governor in 2019, $274 million has been donated at his direct urging, according to government records. This is 10 times the amount of money that was donated at former California Gov. Jerry Brown’s request.
