Reporting shows some DOJ inquiries into Newsom's circle began before Trump returned to office; DOJ has not publicly confirmed expansion under current administration

What was claimed: California Gov. Gavin Newsom has said the Justice Department under President Donald Trump directed a politically motivated probe into him and his wife. Fox News published a story (July 5, 2026) noting that multiple outlets reported the investigative activity predated Trump’s second administration. Primary reporting: CalMatters (June 15, 2026) reported — citing a person in the Department of Justice familiar with the matter — that “there have been at least two criminal investigations into Newsom ongoing for a year in the Eastern District of California.” The piece says one early inquiry involved Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and that another related to first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s taxes originated from whistleblowers and local complaints. The Guardian (June 15, 2026) similarly reported sources saying several investigations have been underway for roughly a year and were run out of the Eastern District of California rather than initiated at DOJ headquarters in Washington. What those reports establish: Both CalMatters and The Guardian — reporting from June 15, 2026 — identify an origin for at least some inquiry activity in 2025 and in the Eastern District of California. That supports the narrower factual point repeated by Fox: some investigative steps predate the start of Trump’s second administration and were not first opened in Washington by the current White House-aligned Justice Department. What remains unconfirmed: The Justice Department has not publicly confirmed the reports’ timeline or disclosed whether prosecutors in Washington or the Acting Attorney General personally directed any expansion, change, or new actions after the change in administration. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche publicly criticized Newsom’s characterization — saying he was “not sure [Newsom’s] words are in any way grounded in fact” — but Blanche did not (and has not) produced a public DOJ timeline or documentary proof that would resolve whether the current DOJ expanded earlier inquiries or initiated new ones. Why this matters: There is an important difference between who made the initial referral or opened an inquiry and which personnel or leadership later took investigative steps. Reporting that a probe’s initial opening predates a particular administration does not by itself prove there was no later expansion, shift, or involvement by officials associated with a different administration. Readers should therefore not conflate the two separate propositions: (1) whether some investigative activity began in 2025 under the prior administration, which reporting supports, and (2) whether the current administration has politicized or expanded the probe at the direction of President Trump, which is not established by the public reporting and remains contested. Bottom line: The Fox article correctly echoes reporting that at least some federal inquiries connected to Newsom’s circle began in 2025 and were handled in the Eastern District of California. But presenting that timeline as a dispositive refutation of Newsom’s broader claim that the current DOJ is weaponizing the probe is misleading because the DOJ has not publicly confirmed the full chronology or any subsequent changes in prosecutorial direction.