It took only 25 seconds for California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), in a video Monday announcing that he and his wife are under federal investigation, to bring up his presidential ambitions.
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“Donald Trump isn’t just coming after me because of my mean tweets,” Newsom said. “He’s coming after me because I’m considering running for president.”
Newsom is widely seen as a likely front-runner in the Democratic primary if he runs, having built a brand as an aggressive fighter against Trump.
When Newsom preemptively disclosed the federal probe, the most immediate question for many political observers was not whether he did something wrong, but what it would mean for his 2028 bid.
While the specter of criminal investigation often dooms campaigns, Newsom is instead framing the probe as evidence that he’s a major threat to Trump, his MAGA movement and the Republican Party.
Clear evidence of wrongdoing by Newsom or his family could harm a presidential bid. Absent that, Democratic strategist Brad Bannon predicted that the probe would elevate Newsom’s standing with primary voters.
“Most Democrats feel that if you get indicted by Donald Trump or his Department of Justice, you must be a real threat,” he said.
When Newsom argued he was targeted, he emphasized White House aspirations instead of his frequent ideological clashes with Trump or dozens of lawsuits against the federal government.
Hours after his video announcement, Newsom sent a fundraising email asking for contributions to his Campaign for Democracy political action committee to help him fight back with “a legal strategy and a political strategy.” The subject line was “Because I am thinking of running for president.”
A spokesperson for the governor declined to discuss the strategy behind his response. His press office spent Tuesday reposting comments on X from politicians who defended Newsom and thanking them. The office also shared videos from liberal influencers and news shows criticizing the investigation as a weaponization of the Justice Department.
“The maximally cynical view is that Trump is doing this because he thinks Gavin’s talented and a possible competitor to the Republican Party and wants to take him out of the race preemptively by going after his family,” Tommy Vietor, a host of the liberal Pod Save America podcast, said in one of the clips.
The Justice Department and White House have not publicly confirmed probes into the Newsoms and declined to comment on the governor’s video statement.
Democrats, including others considering White House runs, quickly rallied to Newsom’s defense and seized the opportunity to blast Trump rather than undercut a potential rival who is among the highest polling prospective Democratic presidential candidates.
During a public appearance Tuesday, former vice president and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris said she was not surprised that Trump “may be using the Department of Justice to go after a political enemy in the current governor of California.” Harris, who is considering another presidential run, would likely be a top competitor to Newsom should they both run.
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Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D), who has also fashioned himself a Trump fighter, called the investigation “a dangerous escalation by Trump.” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), who faced a federal probe into allegations he impeded law enforcement, welcomed Newsom to the “BS investigations club.” Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who is also weighing a 2028 presidential campaign, posted on social media Monday in support of the governor’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“His family should be off-limits,” Khanna said in an interview. “If I were to run, I would be running on single-payer health care and ending foreign wars, not attacking the families of my political opponents.”
Joe Caiazzo, a Democratic strategist and former campaign staffer to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), said framing the probe as “politically motivated” was the most appropriate response from Newsom. He did not expect the investigation to turn any Democratic voters against him.
“Donald Trump is doing everything he can to pull whatever lever is possible to target Democrats who are strongly positioned to win and dismantle the chaotic and corrupt policies that he’s put in place,” said Caiazzo, who is not affiliated with Newsom.
Whether that narrative sticks may depend on what, if any, charges the Justice Department brings against the Newsoms.
People familiar with the probe told The Washington Post that federal investigators are following multiple lines of inquiry, including potential tax crimes related to a nonprofit Newsom’s wife is linked to.
That could give Newsom more ammunition to dismiss the entire investigation as a political attack by Trump, who has pressured the Justice Department to go after his enemies and who suggested last year, amid a showdown over immigration enforcement raids in California, that Newsom should be arrested.
California Sen. Adam Schiff (D), who has been subject to a mortgage fraud investigation by the Trump administration after playing a central role in Trump’s first impeachment trial, wrote on social media that “in the face of vindictive and baseless investigations, we are defiant and unbowed.”
Another investigation, related to a recent public corruption case against Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, could more directly ensnare the governor.
Williamson pleaded guilty last month to three felony charges, including for lying to the FBI to cover up that she passed confidential information to a former consulting client that was in litigation with the state. The client was not named in court documents, but the description appears to match Activision Blizzard, which was sued by California regulators in 2021 for sex discrimination. The following year, Newsom fired the state lawyer overseeing the case, prompting complaints of interference, which he has denied.
After Williamson was arrested in November, her lawyer told reporters that federal investigators initially sought her help with a probe into Newsom and she declined to participate because she had not witnessed wrongdoing.
Newsom’s office said Monday that the federal government already examined the Activision Blizzard situation and did not find anything, “so instead of closing the book, investigators appear to have moved on to the next conspiracy theory in search of something they can use.”
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