Schiff on DOJ reportedly investigating Newsom: ‘This is deliberate’

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said a reported Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into his state’s governor, Gavin Newsom (D) is not coincidental, calling it “deliberate.”

“You can’t tell me this is a pure coincidence that they decide to go after a Democratic candidate, likely candidate for president, and his family, that this was purely random,” Schiff said on MS Now’s “The Weeknight.”

“The president makes it clear, this is deliberate. And I think people are growing numb to this extraordinary abuse of the Justice Department,” Schiff said. “I spent almost six years with the Justice Department. All of this was unthinkable, that the president would be directing prosecutions from the White House?”

“So, I think the presumption has now completely flipped from the presumption the public used to have about when somebody was under investigation,” he added.

On Monday, Newsom said that Trump directed the DOJ to investigate him and his wife. The California governor has become one of Trump’s most prominent foes during his second term, and is seen as a possible frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in 2028.

“He isn’t coming after me because of mean tweets, but because I am considering running for President,” Newsom wrote in a post on social platform X, referencing the president.

“He hates that I consistently call him out. He is simply the most corrupt President in American history. We have nothing to hide,” he added.

Federal agents interviewed Newsom’s family, friends and former employees, also requesting records from his office and using similar tactics with his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, according to the governor.

“If they can’t intimidate me, they’ll go after the mother of our children. Donald Trump picked the wrong target. We have nothing to hide,” Newsom said in a clip attached to his post on X.

The Hill has reached out to the White House and DOJ for comment.