The Justice Department is investigating California Governor Gavin Newsom’s international travel and personal spending.
The US Attorney’s office issued subpoenas this month requesting testimony and communications with Newsom and others.
Prosecutors requested six years of records from the California State Protocol Foundation, a nonprofit that has paid for Newsom’s international travel.
Newsom has directed millions of dollars in donations to the Protocol Foundation, according to records reviewed by the California Post.
“Since 2019, Newsom has directed more than $7.5 million in donations from outside groups to the Protocol Foundation, according to state records reviewed by The California Post. Roughly $5.1 million of that amount came from leftover inaugural funds,” the California Post reported.
The San Francisco Standard reported:
The federal government is conducting a criminal investigation related to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s international travel and its funding, according to subpoenas reviewed by The Standard.
The subpoenas — which were issued in early September and requested testimony and communications with the governor, among others — seek six years of records involving the California State Protocol Foundation, a nonprofit that has paid for Newsom’s overseas travel, as well as communications with a circle of his current and former aides, advisers, and associates. Those aides include Rebecca Prowda, who oversees Newsom’s overseas travel as his chief protocol officer and is the wife of San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie.
The documents provide the clearest picture yet of the scope of a federal investigation effort Newsom first disclosed in June(opens in new tab), which he said was focused on him and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“The records requested by this subpoena are for use in a criminal investigation pending in the Eastern District of California,” according to one of the subpoenas. It was signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Anderson.
The records obtained via subpoena will be presented to a grand jury, a group of jurors that acts like a judge, reviewing evidence and testimony to decide if there’s sufficient grounds for an indictment.
In addition to investigating the Protocol Foundation, federal prosecutors are probing the taxes of Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Seibel Newsom.
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