California Gov. Gavin Newsom has spent years positioning himself as the face of Democrat resistance to President Trump.
Now federal investigators are pulling records from the people who run his world.
And what those subpoenas are asking for goes a lot deeper than a few plane tickets.
What the Subpoenas Actually Demand
The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento is conducting a criminal investigation into Newsom’s international travel and how it gets paid for, according to subpoenas reviewed by The San Francisco Standard.
The subpoenas, issued in early September, seek six years of records tied to the California State Protocol Foundation, a nonprofit that has bankrolled Newsom’s overseas travel, along with communications involving a wide circle of his current and former aides, advisers, and associates.
Among those named: Rebecca Prowda, Newsom’s chief protocol officer, who manages his overseas travel and happens to be the wife of San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie. Prowda declined to comment when reached by The Standard.
Also named are Steve Kawa, who chaired the Protocol Foundation board as recently as last year and previously served as Newsom’s chief of staff during his time as San Francisco mayor; Jim DeBoo, Newsom’s former executive secretary and CEO of the 2023 inaugural fund; Matina Kolokotronis, the longtime chief operating officer of the Sacramento Kings and the foundation’s treasurer; and Jason Elliott, Newsom’s former deputy chief of staff.
Federal authorities also requested communications with Tom Willis, Newsom’s campaign counsel, who sits on the board of California Partners Project, the nonprofit co-founded by Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
The subpoenas don’t cite any specific alleged crime. But their contents potentially point toward an inquiry into improper gifts or influence peddling, according to The Standard’s reporting. The scope of the investigation and its actual targets could be broader than what appears in the subpoenas reviewed.
The Money Behind the Nonprofit
The California State Protocol Foundation is a 25-year-old entity set up to cover expenses the state would otherwise pay itself. It has drawn scrutiny under governors of both parties for years.
Since 2019, Newsom has directed more than $7.5 million in donations from outside groups to the foundation, according to a review of state records by The Standard. About $5.1 million of that came from two nonprofit foundations that covered his inauguration ceremony costs in 2019 and 2023.
Two people named in the subpoenas were directly involved with those inauguration funds. Kolokotronis sat on the board of the nonprofit that covered Newsom’s 2019 inauguration expenses. DeBoo was CEO of the nonprofit that covered his 2023 inauguration expenses.
Prosecutors are not limiting their inquiry to travel costs. According to The Standard, they are also seeking records tied to Newsom’s housing, living, and personal expenses, which signals a broader look at how the foundation’s money has moved.
The foundation’s own spokesperson told The Standard it “could not discuss or verify an investigation,” but defended the organization’s record, saying it “has proudly supported both Republican and Democratic administrations in fulfilling their duties representing all of California through public events and international engagements.”
Newsom has directed about $349 million in total behested payments to various organizations since taking office, according to state records reviewed by The Standard. Behested payments are donations an elected official solicits for third parties rather than for personal campaigns. Under California law they are legal, though payments of $5,000 or more from a single source in a calendar year generally require disclosure.
Newsom was fined $31,500 by California’s Fair Political Practices Commission earlier this year for failing to timely file 18 behested payment reports.
Newsom Calls It a Witch Hunt, but the Paper Trail Keeps Growing
Newsom’s office wasted no time going on offense. In a statement responding to The Standard’s reporting, the governor’s office said, “Governor Newsom went after the king — and as he warned in June, the tyrant is now coming after everyone around him. This is what Donald Trump does to his enemies: investigate first, hunt for a crime that doesn’t exist second.”
Newsom first disclosed that a federal investigation was targeting him and his wife in June, framing it then as political retaliation for his public opposition to Trump and his stated consideration of a 2028 presidential run.
“Donald Trump isn’t just coming after me because of my mean tweets,” Newsom said in a video in June. “He’s coming after me because I am considering running for president.”
But the investigation did not begin with Trump’s Justice Department. The initial probe was opened during the Biden administration, stemming from a case involving Dana Williamson, Newsom’s former chief of staff, who was indicted on wire fraud charges for allegedly funneling money from a dormant campaign account belonging to Xavier Becerra, the former Biden Health and Human Services secretary. Williamson’s attorney previously said that federal authorities had approached her more than a year before the indictment seeking help with some kind of probe of the governor himself.
Newsom’s office has characterized the current investigation as an attempt to find a new crime after coming up empty on Williamson. Federal scrutiny of Newsom and people in his orbit, in other words, is not new — and it did not start as a partisan exercise.
That is an inconvenient fact for a governor who wants to run as the man Trump is afraid of.
The Federal Election Commission separately sent a letter to Newsom’s Campaign for Democracy PAC demanding additional information about tens of thousands of dollars in travel reimbursements. The FEC warned the committee could face an audit or enforcement action if it fails to adequately explain the expenditures. The PAC reported about $3.38 million in total disbursements from January 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, according to commission records.
Sacramento-based Democrat strategist Steven Maviglio told The Standard that Newsom might actually benefit politically from the probe. “Oddly, it might help him,” Maviglio said. “I think Newsom is going to wear this as a badge of honor.”
That is a remarkable calculation — the idea that a sitting governor under federal criminal investigation can turn subpoenas into a presidential campaign asset. But it tells you everything about where the Democrat Party is right now.
The problem with the “badge of honor” framing is that it requires voters to believe none of the underlying questions matter. Six years of financial records. A nonprofit that has taken in millions from outside contributors. A travel operation run by the mayor of San Francisco’s wife. A campaign counsel sitting on the board of the governor’s wife’s nonprofit, which is also being examined by federal investigators. A former chief of staff indicted for wire fraud who federal authorities tried to use as a cooperating witness against the governor himself.
That is a lot of smoke for a fire that supposedly doesn’t exist.
Newsom has built his national profile on the argument that California represents a better way — a progressive model worth exporting to the rest of the country. But the network of nonprofits, inaugural funds, behested payments, and travel arrangements now under federal scrutiny looks less like a model and more like the kind of insider infrastructure that keeps Sacramento insiders comfortable and well-traveled at someone else’s expense.
The subpoenas have already shown that many people close to Gavin Newsom have a lot of explaining to do.
Sources: The San Francisco Standard, “New subpoenas show federal criminal probe focus on Newsom’s travel and expenses,” September 12, 2026; The San Francisco Standard, “What we know about the nonprofit at the center of Newsom’s federal probe,” September 12, 2026; The San Francisco Standard, “‘Badge of honor’: How a DoJ probe could help Newsom’s 2028 prospects,” September 12, 2026; CalMatters, “Newsom accuses Trump of putting him on a ‘hit list’ and launching federal investigations,” June 15, 2026; Fox Business, “Behested payments linger as Newsom claims Trump DOJ probe is political.”