Gavin Newsom spent years lecturing Donald Trump about tax return transparency. He called it a “moral duty.”
Now federal investigators are circling his family, his former chief of staff has pleaded guilty to fraud, and reporters want to know where his own returns are.
And when they asked him about it recently, Newsom got rattled — and the performance told you everything you need to know.
The Governor Who Demanded Transparency Has None to Offer
Newsom previously pledged to release annual tax returns during his 2018 campaign for governor, calling it a “moral duty” in what was viewed as a shot at President Donald Trump, who broke tradition by declining to voluntarily release his returns.
Newsom has released full returns only for 2017 through 2020, and only because state law required them before he could appear on the 2022 primary ballot. He filed an extension on his 2021 taxes just to limit himself to four years of disclosure.
California journalists have asked for more ever since and gotten nothing but the state-required Form 700, which has drawn him multiple fines over omissions.
When a reporter pressed him at a recent press conference, Newsom deflected straight to Trump. He said, “I already have. I’ve given 20 years of my taxes, yes. I know you love taxes. Donald Trump… when’s he releasing his taxes?”
That is the entirety of his defense. Point at Trump. Repeat.
Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust, called it out directly: “Gavin Newsom’s lack of transparency is unsurprising and deeply hypocritical. After making a big deal of promising to release his tax returns, he has failed to turn over any returns for years.”
Sutherland added, “This raises significant questions about just what the Newsoms are hiding, especially as they are under federal investigation.”
Federal Probes, a Guilty Plea, and an FBI Wire Inside His Own Circle
Last month, it became known that Newsom, his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and his chief of staff are the target of investigations by the Justice Department. The DOJ requested “unspecified records” as part of that investigation.
What Newsom does not want people to know is that the investigations originated in Sacramento and began during the Biden administration, with at least one thread reaching into Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s taxes and the nonprofits she runs. Investigators are reportedly digging into the finances and fundraising of those nonprofits and their ties to companies with business pending before the California government.
Alexis Podesta, a power broker who served in senior roles under both Newsom and former California Governor Jerry Brown, wore a wire to record conversations beginning as early as June 2024 while cooperating with federal investigators probing Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, according to Williamson’s lawyer.
“Alexis wore a wire, and Dana did not,” said McGregor Scott, Williamson’s lawyer and a former US attorney for the Eastern District of California.
Williamson pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, filing a false tax return, and lying to the FBI.
Federal prosecutors alleged Williamson and others hatched a plan to funnel some $225,000 from a dormant campaign account belonging to former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to Becerra’s chief of staff Sean McCluskie for personal use.
Prosecutors also alleged Williamson claimed more than $1.7 million in fraudulent business expenses on her taxes. The alleged personal spending included luxury items, private travel, and a costly birthday trip.
The revelation that Podesta was wearing a wire as far back as June 2024 explains why a swath of Sacramento political insiders and lobbyists were stunned to receive FBI letters last fall informing them that their phone calls had been intercepted during the investigation — despite many having little or no connection to Williamson.
The Newsoms’ family fortune — which includes a $9 million estate in posh Marin County, another $3.7 million home in Fair Oaks, and a sprawling wine empire — has been the subject of scrutiny since sources revealed that Siebel Newsom’s taxes are one focus of multiple federal probes surrounding the governor.
A review of reporting combined with an examination of Newsom’s tax returns reveals an average total income of approximately $1.4 million a year for tax years 2010 through 2020. The big question is how the Newsoms are affording this lifestyle based on what is known about their income and assets.
And Newsom’s response to all of it? Blame Trump. Call it political. Shout into a camera.
He said, “Going after my wife, doesn’t have the guts — he’s tried. … Couldn’t figure out how to get me. Now he’s trying to find anyone around us, that’s America, that’s abusive, it’s wrong.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, when asked about the investigations and Newsom’s claim of political targeting, told Townhall: “I’m not sure his words are in any way grounded in fact.”
The Trump Blame Game Has One Big Problem
Newsom keeps insisting Trump weaponized the Justice Department against him. There is one glaring problem with that story.
A source familiar with the matter confirmed that the multiple investigations were not initiated by the Department of Justice, but instead stemmed from whistleblowers from the state of California.
Podesta allegedly taped conversations for the FBI as early as June 2024, while former President Joe Biden was still in office. Biden’s own DOJ approved the tools. The wire was running before Trump ever returned to the White House.
But Newsom’s political future depends on that story holding together. He has spent the last year positioning himself as Trump’s chief antagonist, the California governor who stands in the breach while the republic burns. A federal fraud case rooted in Sacramento whistleblowers and a Biden-era wire operation does not fit that narrative at all.
His legal affairs secretary filed a sweeping Freedom of Information Act request against the DOJ, on the taxpayer’s dime, and Newsom told a press conference that he and his wife hired private counsel. He would not name the attorney.
He told reporters that “federal agents have knocked on the doors of family, friends, and former employees, not because they found a crime, because they’re simply trying to find one.”
That line would land better if his own former chief of staff had not already pleaded guilty to federal fraud and tax charges. The wire produced results. The probe is real. And Williamson’s sentencing is reportedly approaching.
Xavier Becerra, whose dormant campaign account was allegedly exploited in the Williamson scheme, is now the Democrat frontrunner to succeed Newsom as governor. The cast of characters tangled in all of this reads like a who’s who of California’s Democrat establishment.
The more Newsom postures for cameras instead of releasing his taxes, the more it looks like a man trying to get ahead of bad news, not one with nothing to hide.
He promised those returns for six years. He built his brand on demanding accountability from others. And when reporters finally pushed him on it recently, he snapped, deflected, and stormed off.
That is not the behavior of a man with nothing to hide. That is the behavior of a man who knows exactly what is in those returns and is praying the rest of the country does not find out before 2028.
Sources: New York Post, Townhall, RedState, California Globe, Breitbart, PJ Media, Americans for Public Trust