SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that the Republican President of the United States had ordered the Justice Department to investigate him and his wife, putting them on what he described as “Trump’s hit list.”
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Trump’s ‘hit list’
What they’re saying:
“Today, my wife & I joined Donald Trump’s hit list,” Newsom wrote on X. “He has directed the Department of Justice to investigate us. They have not found a crime – they are simply trying to find one.”
Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, issued her own statement: “There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way. This is not presidential behavior, and the Governor and I will continue to speak truth to power because the American people deserve so much more.”
Newsom declared that President Trump is coming for him because he is considering his own run for president.
Public rivals
The backstory:
The two men have been public rivals for a while.
Newsom has ramped up his social media in recent months to mock Trump, and Trump has long referred to Newsom as “Newscum,” and other derogatory names.
What we don’t know:
The nature of the alleged investigation was not immediately clear but Newsom said in a video that federal agents in recent days have knocked on the doors of his friends and former employees, and have asked for records.
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The Department of Justice did not immediately respond for comment.
Dig deeper:
Newsom said that Trump hates him because he has “consistently called him out over and over again for his lies and deceit.”
Meanwhile, 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 indictments against former FBI Director James Comey.
A person familiar with the matter confirmed to the Associated Press 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 in California government, and 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 authorized to publicly discuss ongoing investigations.
Other Trump investigations
Aside from Newsom, the US 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 and former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, among other perceived political enemies of the president.
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