Federal agents have spent recent days canvassing the California governor's former employees to ask if they possessed any records of him committing a felony.
Acting on direct instructions from President Donald Trump, the Department of Justice has initiated a formal opposition research investigation into California Governor Gavin Newsom to locate a federal crime he can be charged with ahead of the 2028 election cycle.
Newsom confirmed the deployment of federal law enforcement assets in a video statement on Monday, noting that agents have spent recent days canvassing his family friends and former employees. The widening criminal probe, which was launched shortly after the President publicly promised to appoint a real prosecutor to go after the "most evil" figures in the Democratic party, targets both the governor and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
According to individuals familiar with the canvassing, federal personnel have been arriving unannounced at the homes of the Newsoms' personal friends to ask standard investigatory questions, including whether the governor had ever mishandled public funds, engaged in wire fraud, or done anything else that could be utilized in future campaign attack ads.
Court filings indicate the Justice Department has issued broad subpoenas for correspondence, financial records, and scheduling documents, demanding that the governor's acquaintances turn over any materials that might retroactively justify the administration's decision to investigate them.
Our agents are conducting a thorough, impartial review of the governor's entire personal and professional life to determine exactly which federal statute the President has decided he violated.
While Newsom categorized the sweeping demands for documents as an "effort to find a crime," Justice Department officials maintained that dispatching federal agents to reverse-engineer an indictment against a political rival is well within the executive branch's established mandate.
The governor, who has publicly stated Trump is targeting him because he is "considering running for president," formally accused the administration of "abusing the grand jury process." Administration officials declined to comment on the ongoing investigation, citing longstanding Justice Department policy against discussing pending electoral strategy.