California Governor Gavin Newsom says the US Department of Justice is investigating him and his wife

California Governor Gavin Newsom said Monday that he and his wife are under Federal investigation and accused President Donald Trump of weaponising the Justice Department against his family because he is considering running for president.

In a video message, Newsom said Federal agents have been knocking on the doors of family members and former employees, demanding records and digging through years of “random documents” - “not because they found a crime. Because they’re simply trying to find one.”

Newsom, a vocal Trump foe who has not shied away from speculation about a possible 2028 presidential run, did not detail any specific allegations against him or his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, that he believes might be under investigation.

“After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me,” Newsom said in the video. “And just in the last week, I’ve learned that his campaign has reached my own home: To get me, he’s coming after my wife, Jen.”

The Justice Department has multiple open investigations around Newsom, according to two people familiar with the probe, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing law enforcement matter. They said the investigations date back at least a year.

The investigations emerged from law enforcement officials in California - and not in Washington, according to the two people familiar.

One of the investigations is examining Newsom’s wife for potential tax crimes related to a nonprofit she is linked to, the people said. Another investigation is related to a case involving Newsom’s former chief of staff, who pleaded guilty in May to public corruption charges that include conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. The White House referred requests for comment to the Justice Department.

Federal agents have contacted friends, former employees, business associates, donors and organizations connected to both of the Newsoms, including people with ties to Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s career as a documentary filmmaker, according to the governor’s office.

“Let’s be clear, earning income for writing, producing and distributing a film is not a crime. … The fact that federal investigators are now scrutinising lawful compensation for creative work tells you how far this investigation has drifted from any legitimate search for wrongdoing,” the governor’s office said in a statement. The statement did not offer further detail on what income is potentially being scrutinised.

On Monday, Newsom pointed to Trump’s call to arrest him last year and suggested that the investigations into him and his wife were a result of Trump pressuring the Justice Department to prosecute his political foes.

“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 in his video.

Newsom’s decision to get ahead of the investigation by publicly announcing it in a defiant social media video mirrored the approach used by former Federal Reserve chair Jerome H. Powell. Facing a grand jury subpoena and a threatened criminal investigation into a building renovation project, Powell revealed the existence of the probe into him and accused the Trump administration of using it to pressure him into stepping down. Prosecutors later dropped the probe.

Newsom’s comments came a month after his former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, pleaded guilty to three federal felony counts in a case involving a scheme to steal campaign money from Xavier Becerra, the former California attorney-general turned Health and Human Services Secretary under Joe Biden who is now running as a Democrat for governor of California.

Newsom was not implicated in any wrongdoing in Williamson’s case. But at the time of her arrest last year, Williamson’s attorney, McGregor Scott, said she had been approached by the FBI in 2024 - during the Biden administration - about assisting with an investigation involving Newsom. Scott said Williamson declined because she had not witnessed any misconduct by the governor.

“She told them she had no information to provide them, and then we wind up today with these charges,” Scott said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times at the time.

Newsom and Trump once maintained a friendly working relationship, despite their ideological opposition, with Newsom visiting the Oval Office early in Trump’s second term to seek Federal assistance for devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.

Their rapport has since deteriorated significantly, particularly as Newsom repositioned himself as a leading anti-Trump crusader in the Democratic Party ahead of a potential presidential run in 2028.

Trump has taken to mocking Newsom for his dyslexia and suggested last June that the governor should be arrested over protests against immigration raids in California, while Newsom has dubbed Trump the most corrupt president in American history.

“Donald Trump picked the wrong target. We have nothing to hide,” Newsom said Monday. “His political operatives can take every record and read every page, but they’ll be looking in the wrong place, because if they really want to find corruption, look no further than 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

Newsom has skewered the president - often through social media posts that parody Trump’s - on a near-daily basis. Most recently, Newsom criticised the UFC event held on the South Lawn of the White House on Sunday night as a way to enrich Trump and his family. He has also slammed Trump’s nomination of acting attorney general Todd Blanche to become the permanent Justice Department head.