Report: FBI Used Informant In Expanding Newsom Corruption Probe
Report: FBI Used Informant In Expanding Newsom Corruption Probe
California has been under Democratic Party rule for decades, and because of that, the state has suffered under an avalanche of bad policies and corruption.
And that hasn’t changed under current Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration, apparently.
And now, questions surrounding Newsom’s political operation continue to grow as new details emerge about a widening federal investigation that has already reached some of his closest allies.
A new report suggests investigators were gathering evidence much earlier—and much more extensively—than many in California’s political establishment realized.
According to a New York Post report, the FBI had a confidential cooperator within Newsom’s political orbit long before the federal investigation expanded to include the governor and his wife.
The report identifies longtime Democratic operative Alexis Podesta as the individual who secretly recorded conversations during the federal corruption investigation involving Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson.
Williamson pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, filing a false tax return, and making false statements to the FBI.
Her attorney, former U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott, confirmed to the New York Post that Podesta cooperated with investigators while Williamson did not.
“Alexis wore a wire, and Dana did not,” Scott told the newspaper.
According to the report, Podesta was secretly recording conversations as early as June 2024.
The revelation helps explain why numerous Sacramento political insiders and lobbyists reportedly received FBI notification letters last fall informing them that some of their phone conversations had been intercepted during the investigation.
Several recipients reportedly said they had little or no connection to Williamson and were surprised to learn they had been recorded.
Republican Assemblyman Josh Hoover told the New York Post he was among those who received such a letter despite never speaking with either Williamson or Podesta.
“A lot of people received letters essentially informing us that there were certain periods of time where the FBI was given access to follow phone calls,” Hoover said.
“I don’t know how these investigations work, but it sounds like they cast a pretty broad net across the Capitol community to see what they could find.”
Another source familiar with the matter told the newspaper that multiple Sacramento political figures received similar notifications.
One recipient reportedly said, “Dude, I got this f—ing letter. I never even met with Dana Williamson!”
Newsom announced last month that he, his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and members of his inner circle were under federal investigation.
The governor has accused President Donald Trump of directing the Justice Department to target him for political reasons ahead of a potential 2028 presidential campaign.
According to the New York Post, however, sources familiar with the investigation said federal authorities have spent the past year examining not only Newsom but also members of his staff and his wife’s finances, following whistleblower complaints.
Podesta has not been charged with any crime.
Her attorney, Bill Portanova, has identified her as the uncharged co-conspirator referenced in Williamson’s indictment and confirmed she cooperated with federal investigators.
The governor’s office declined to comment on Podesta’s role, telling the newspaper it was a personnel matter.
According to federal court records, prosecutors allege Williamson participated in a scheme that diverted approximately $225,000 from a dormant campaign account belonging to former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
Prosecutors say the money was disguised as consulting payments that ultimately benefited Becerra’s former chief of staff, Sean McCluskie.
Court filings also allege Williamson shared confidential state government information with a co-conspirator later identified as Podesta regarding state litigation involving Activision Blizzard.
Williamson’s plea agreement states that investigators captured a June 2024 conversation in which the two discussed responding to a California Public Records Act request related to that litigation.
Hoover said the expanding investigation continues to raise serious questions about Newsom’s administration.
“All of this stuff just raises so many questions,” Hoover said.
“What is going on in this administration? What types of conversations are being had?” he said, The New York Post reported.
“I think the entire case should be really concerning for the general public. It’s really raising a lot of mistrust,” he said.
White House Privately Braces for 2027
The White House is quietly preparing for a Democratic takeover of the House by hiring lawyers to fend off a wave of legal challenges that could cripple the final two years of President Donald Trump’s time in office.
The preparations illustrate how the White House is privately preparing for the possibility that Democrats will regain at least one chamber of Congress in November, even as Republicans express confidence in public, according to people close to the administration.
A Democratic House next year could be reminiscent of 2018 fights that included impeachment inquiries of the president and multiple investigations into his inner circle.
Michael Williams, who served in White House roles in President Donald Trump’s first term and was deputy general counsel for the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, said staff is already preparing for another impeachment push even as Trump sets a broader strategy for dealing with Democrats.
“They’re ready for that eventuality,” Williams told Bloomberg Government. “I don’t think they’re ready to concede that that’s the likely outcome, but they’re certainly prepared in that event.”
Emma Doyle, former chief of staff at the Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s first term who later worked in the West Wing, said the administration is already hiring experienced lawyers to help prepare officials for impeachment, as she did in the first term.
The return of advisers Jason Miller and Johnny DeStefano strengthens the White House for those fights, Doyle said, along with staff such as Mark Paoletta, the OMB general counsel who worked on impeachment defense in the first term.
Miller and DeStefano rejoined the White House last month to work on midterm strategy.
However, Democrats are facing their own problems.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) may find himself caught in the very blue wave he hopes to ride into power this November.
More and more Democratic candidates are telling Axios that they can’t promise to support his leadership.
It’s a big change from Jeffries’ once “untouchable” position in the Democratic Party just a few years ago. This could mean his path to the speakership will be harder than people thought.
Jeffries and his supporters say they aren’t worried at all about a mass defection. They point out that he hasn’t lost a Democratic vote in 20 speakers’ ballots, even though he is in the minority.
However, this group of new candidates could potentially be the first challenge to the previously unyielding support.
A group of viable candidates has made it clear that voting for Jeffries as speaker is not a given if the Democrats win the House.
Axios reported that more than 80 Democratic House candidates across the country were either not sure if they would support Jeffries’ leadership or were completely against it.
Since then, things have only gotten worse for him.
The tension was on display in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District. Democrat nominee Rebecca Bennett, who likely needs to beat Rep. Tom Kean (R-NJ) if Democrats have any shot at the majority, refused to commit to voting for Jeffries before her primary win.
Likewise, Iowa’s 1st congressional Democratic nominee Christina Bohannan is also noncommittal, merely responding “I don’t know yet. I haven’t made that decision,” when asked by Punchbowl News if she would support Jeffries.
“I want to get elected first,” she continued.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report has classified both Bohannan and Bennett’s districts as toss-ups.
Republicans currently hold both seats.
Montana’s 1st congressional Democratic nominee Sam Forstag echoed similar sentiments as Bohannan.
Forstag sits in a seat labeled “likely Republican,” but has no incumbent running.
Mai Vang, the leading progressive primary challenger to Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), previously said she would “support the person that my future colleagues elect as our leader.”
But in an unprompted statement last week, she told Axios: “The Democratic Party and its leadership—Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries—have failed to mobilize meaningful opposition to Trump’s illegal war and their silence as AIPAC and corporations flood Congressional primaries with millions of dollars is deafening.”
“I cannot support this kind of leadership,” Vang said. “If we want to defeat Trump and rebuild trust with working Americans, we need new leadership and a new direction.”
“Most Democrats agree that he’s been failing to meet the moment,” said Adam Hamawy, a candidate in New Jersey’s 12th district, saying he is “looking for someone that’s gonna stand up to the administration.”
When asked if she would support Jeffries’ leadership, Claire Valdez, a New York State Assembly member who is running to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), said in an interview with Axios that “there would need to be some conversations.”
