California governor accuses Trump of ordering politically motivated investigation of him, his wife

California Governor Gavin Newsom said Monday that he and his wife are the victims of a politically motivated investigation launched by the Donald Trump administration.

The nature of the alleged investigation was not immediately clear. Newsom said in a video posted on X that federal agents in recent days have knocked on the doors of his friends and former employees and have asked for records, “not because they found a crime, but because they’re simply trying to find one”.

“Donald Trump isn’t just coming after me because of my mean tweets,” Newsom said, referencing his use of social media to mock Trump.

“He’s coming after me because I’m considering running for president, because he hates that I’ve consistently called him out over and over again for his lies and deceit.”

Newsom's office said the inquiry appears to have recently expanded into “increasingly personal matters involving the Governor's family and professional network”.

“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 the video.

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Newsom called the president “corrupt” and said the alleged investigation is another example of the president abusing the justice system to prosecute his political opponents, referencing an indictment filed against former FBI director James Comey that was later dismissed.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the governor’s wife, said the investigation showed that Trump is unfit for office. “There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” she said in a statement.

A person familiar with the matter confirmed that there are multiple federal investigations into people around Newsom, including one related to his wife’s taxes. The probes began last year after whistleblower complaints inside the California government, and the political leadership in Washington was not involved in the decision to open them, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to publicly discuss ongoing investigations.

The president has repeatedly gone after the Democrat-dominated state during his second term including by curbing a signature plan to reduce planet-warning emissions from cars, withholding aid for wildfire recovery and suing over state policies supporting transgender student-athletes.

The state has pushed back by suing the federal government dozens of times.

It is the latest known Justice Department investigations related to one of Trump’s foes, a trend that has sparked criticism that the administration is using the law enforcement agency as a political weapon.

The Justice Department has also opened investigations into or brought prosecutions against former FBI director James Comey, New York attorney general Letitia James, former CIA director John Brennan, former Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell and E. Jean Carroll, the columnist who won a 2023 civil sexual assault suit against the president, among other perceived political enemies of the president.

(FRANCE 24 with AP, Reuters)