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California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s claim on Monday that President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice is probing him and his wife has rocked the state’s political circles, including former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Harris broke her silence on the scandal Tuesday, telling a CNN reporter at an event that she’s “not surprised” about the accusation.
The Trump administration is “the most callous, corrupt, and incompetent presidential administration America has ever experienced,” she elaborated. “I predicted just about everything that has happened with this administration.”
Harris told the audience that the Republican president had said he would go after his political enemies and that the latest news fell in line with that.
Newsom, a Democrat, has portrayed the probes as an act of political retaliation as he considers a run for president in 2028. He had pointed to other federal investigations into other Democrats.
“Donald Trump isn’t just coming after me because of my mean tweets, 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,” the governor said.
It seems other Democrats have fallen in line with Newsom’s arguments including Harris, despite her being another potential 2028 presidential contender.
“The President’s abuse of the Justice Department continues, with new targets every day,” said U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). “The Governor won’t be silenced. Nor will my Senate colleagues. Nor will I. In the face of vindictive and baseless investigations, we are defiant and unbowed.”
Some have questioned, however, whether the ongoing investigations could have actually stemmed from when the DOJ was under former Democratic President Joe Biden. That was the case for one investigation that resulted in Newsom’s former chief of staff pleading guilty earlier this year.
The DOJ has declined comment.
A source familiar with the matter had told The Post that the Newsom administration is facing multiple investigations, touching on accusations of public corruption and tax issues that stretch back at least a year into himself, wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom, as well as former and even current staff.
Siebel Newsom’s nonprofit work appears to be a key part of the probe. The Post previously revealed the governor helped funnel more than $4.4 million from special interests and wealthy individuals to California Partners Project, one of the Siebel Newsom’s pet projects.
Another source told The Post that Newsom’s announcement ahead of any publicly announced probe could have been motivated by concerns over who investigators have already contacted.
“What he’s trying to do is poison the well and delegitimize the whole process,” the source said.
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