California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Sunday he believes President Trump has placed him on a political “hit list” and is directing the Department of Justice to investigate him not because of any crime, but because he is considering a run for president in 2028.
“People are being targeted on his list, and their families are being torn asunder,” Newsom said during an appearance on MeidasTouch’s “On Sunday with Jack Cocchiarella”. He named former Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz as someone who was forced to spend over a million dollars in criminal defense costs after being targeted, calling it part of a deliberate pattern of using government power to neutralize political rivals before 2028.
Newsom first went public with the investigation in mid-June, posting a video to social media in which he said federal agents had knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees. “Not because they found a crime,” he said. “Because they are simply trying to find one.”
What the Investigation Involves
According to a source familiar with the matter who spoke to Newsweek, there are several federal investigations that have been underway for roughly a year, originating from whistleblowers and local sources in California and being run through the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento. One probe involves First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s taxes. Another involves a former chief of staff and potentially current staffers.
The Associated Press reported that a source familiar with the matter denied the existence of an investigation specifically targeting the governor himself, but confirmed multiple federal probes into people around him, including the one related to his wife’s taxes. The DOJ and FBI declined to comment when contacted by multiple news organizations.
Newsom’s office filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking all DOJ communications referencing him or the First Partner, including emails, text messages, memoranda and Signal messages involving top Justice Department officials, according to his official California governor’s office statement. “Trump’s DOJ is looking in the wrong place for a crime,” the statement read. “The President is running an open-air corruption market out of the White House and openly profiting from the presidency.”
A Contested Timeline
A key point of dispute is when the investigations began. Newsom frames them as politically motivated retaliation launched by Trump’s DOJ. But multiple news organizations reported that at least some of the investigative activity predates Trump’s return to office, complicating his claims. CalMatters reported that at least two criminal investigations involving Newsom’s orbit have been underway for about a year in the Eastern District of California, and that one investigation involving a former aide was first opened during the Biden administration.
Newsom’s office insists the DOJ is hunting for a new crime to pin on the governor after coming up empty following that initial probe. The White House referred questions about Newsom’s comments to the Department of Justice, which did not respond.
The Hit List Argument
Newsom argued Sunday that he is far from alone on Trump’s list. He stated he was proud to join a group that also includes former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, former Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Sen. Adam Schiff and Gov. Tim Walz — all of whom have faced some form of federal scrutiny, legal action or public threats from Trump.
“One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list,” Newsom said in his June social media video. “And today, I proudly join that list.”
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking at a summit in Austria in June, said she was not surprised. “He told us most of what we knew would happen, including that he would go after his political enemies using the Department of Justice,” Harris said. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called the investigations “a dangerous escalation” and said Trump’s “playbook of weaponizing the Department of Justice as a personal attack dog is another level of corruption.”
The 2028 Dimension
Democratic strategists have noted that the investigation, whatever its origins, has had the political effect of elevating Newsom’s profile heading into the 2028 cycle. “By targeting Newsom, Trump just elevates his standing among Democrats, and, ironically, being singled out by the president makes Newsom appear more presidential-level himself,” Democratic consultant Garry South told The Hill. “And Newsom will play it to the hilt.”
A TIPP poll released in June showed Newsom at 14 percent support among Democratic primary voters, behind only Harris at 31 percent. Newsom has not confirmed a 2028 run but told The Wall Street Journal in June 2025 that it is “a path that I could see unfold.” He remains term-limited as governor at the end of 2026, freeing him to run.
“You can subpoena my records. You can investigate me. You can harass me,” Newsom said. “Put my name on any and every enemies list that you have. I am not going anywhere. The country is watching.”