Free Republic

The FBI has sent ominous letters to members of California Governor Gavin Newsom's inner circle after his former chief of staff was indicted on corruption charges. Dana Williamson, who served as Newsom's top aide from early 2023 to the fall of 2024, was hit with 23 felony charges earlier this month for conspiring to divert $225,000 of campaign money to another staffer. Now, a host of political operatives with links to Williamson have been notified that they were surveilled during the course of the investigation into her actions. Letters reportedly began arriving in mailboxes immediately after she was charged informing...

Dana Williamson, who served as California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s chief of staff from January 2023 to December 2024, faces a slew of federal charges for fraud, corruption, and obstruction, but none of those charges implicate her for wrongdoing in her capacity as Newsom’s aide. Instead, the charges allege that she stole and deceived outside of her official duties.That prospect is threatening to rope Newsom’s entire administration into the scandal.However, speculation is growing that Williamson also acted improperly in office — meaning that wrongdoing was taking place in the governor’s office under Newsom’s watch. That prospect is threatening to rope Newsom’s...

The federal case against Newsom’s former chief of staff Dana Williamson and other well-connected aides reaches deep into one of the most powerful political circles in California, and the country. An attorney for Williamson said she was approached by federal authorities for help in an undisclosed probe involving Newsom, but told them she had no information to share. Newsom has not been accused of any wrongdoing, and his office said it is unaware of any investigation of the governor. As Gov. Gavin Newsom flew around the country last year campaigning for President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, his chief...

The world wants an American climate leader, and Gavin Newsom is happy to play the part — even if the country he represents isn’t quite ready to follow.BELÉM, Brazil — Gavin Newsom can’t get out of a meeting or a talk at the international climate talks here without being swarmed by reporters and diplomats eager for a quote, a handshake, a photo.On a tour Tuesday of a cultural center with Gov. Helder Barbalho, the leader of the Brazilian state hosting the talks, a passerby recognized them both. “There’s the governor,” he exclaimed. “And there’s the California governor.” Later in the...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff was arrested Wednesday and charged with plotting with accomplices to swipe $225,000 from an inactive political campaign and funnel it straight into a friend’s pocket, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday. Dana Williamson, 53, is now facing a sweeping 23-count federal indictment charging her with conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, defrauding the United States, obstructing justice, filing false tax returns, and lying to authorities, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California. “Today’s charges are the result of three years of relentless investigative work, in partnership with IRS...

The Biden-era sanctuary state policies in California foisted on the state and Americans by Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom have once again collided with federal law — this time on America's highways. The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has admitted to illegally issuing 17,000 commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) to foreign nationals who were not legally eligible to hold them, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Tuesday. "After weeks of claiming they did nothing wrong, Gavin Newsom and California have been caught red-handed," Duffy wrote in a statement. "Now that we've exposed their lies, 17,000 illegally issued trucking licenses are being revoked....

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) called Senate Democrats’ deal with Republicans to reopen the government “pathetic,” accusing them of betraying “working Americans” after failing to secure an extension of enhanced Obamacare premium subsidies. Newsom, a potential candidate for the 2028 presidential election, took to social media Sunday night after eight Democrats voted with Republicans in a procedural vote to allow a continuing resolution (CR) funding the government to advance. “Pathetic,” he wrote from his personal X account. His press office also called the Democrats’ capitulation “pathetic”: “This isn’t a deal,” his office added. “It’s a surrender. Don’t bend the knee!”...

Gov. Gavin Newsom is in Brazil for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP30, where he'll spend the week promoting California's clean air efforts and criticizing President Donald Trump. In São Paulo on Monday, while speaking at Milken Institute's Global Investors Symposium, Newsom repeatedly blasted the Trump administration for not even sending "a note-taker."

Some artificial intelligence (AI) data centers are vacant in California because the local utility cannot provide the electricity required to operate them, according to Bloomberg. Although developers in Santa Clara, California, have completed shells of data center projects, the facilities remain empty and unpowered because the city-owned utility Silicon Valley Power (SVP) cannot supply enough electricity to meet their energy demands, Bloomberg reported. California imports the second-largest amount of electricity of any state, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), and has been phasing out reliable power sources like coal as it pursues a rapid green energy transition. Big Tech...

There's probably no better indicator of Gavin Newsom running for president than his sudden interest in promoting what he calls 'God's will.'Here's his repulsive media interview with Jake Tapper:Gavin Newsom takes a moment away from doing nothing about the 187,084 human beings suffering on the sidewalks of California and sleeping with his campaign manager’s wife to lecture President Trump on “God’s will” pic.twitter.com/aODh3XDn1m — Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) November 9, 2025A multiple-married serial adulterer, a pro-abortion extremist, and an associate of every kind of anti-Catholic activist, he's been a fallen-away Catholic for years.Now he's got religion. But only as a useful...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom tells CNN’s Jake Tapper that the “crisis” among young men in the US “is an issue our party needs to address.”

Presumed 2028 presidential candidate Gavin Newsom, Democratic governor of California and a card-carrying member of the San Francisco elite, has been channeling the ghost of Horatio Alger in a much-mocked attempt to portray himself as someone who made it out of a tough childhood. But Newsom, 58, famously grew up surrounded by the most powerful families in California who not only backed his early business ventures but greased the wheels of his political ascent, sources have told the Daily Mail. Even his staunchest supporters admit that Newsom's early life was not exactly the stuff of deep struggle. But that hasn't...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) will hold a rally in Texas on Saturday opposing the state’s redistricting efforts alongside local Democratic lawmakers, days after Golden State voters backed a measure to redraw their own congressional districts. Texas was the first of several red states that followed President Trump’s directive to change their congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterms. Though some blue states considered redrawing their maps through the legislatures, Newsom elected to have voters choose if California should proceed with his plan. “California stepped up. Now, we are taking this fight across the country — helping Democrats in other...

Republicans insist Gov. Gavin Newsom of California isn’t a threat to the Trump presidency. White House allies argue privately that he’s too liberal, too manicured and just too California to win a national election. And yet: They also acknowledge this week that Newsom looks more politically formidable than at any other point in his career. One Republican strategist said Newsom’s winning redistricting campaign in California transformed him into a top rival of Donald Trump,” while another conceded it had cemented him as a “Tier 1 Democrat.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom holds an early edge over Vice President JD Vance among young male voters for the 2028 presidency, according to new polling from a Republican-affiliated firm. The latest League of American Workers/TIPP survey, conducted October 22-28, shows that among young men, 38 percent would vote for Newsom compared to 33 percent for Vance.

Nov. 5 (UPI) -- A diaper-wearing sheep's journey aboard a high-speed train in Poland is going viral after video was captured by a lawmaker who was not amused by the spectacle. Mariusz Krystian, a member of parliament for the conservative Law and Justice Party, posted video he captured aboard a PKP Intercity train on the Pendolino line between the cities of Krakow and Warsaw. The video shows a sheep, dressed in a diaper, walking through the train's aisle in between seats. "I am currently on a train to Warsaw. And I wonder, is this still a passenger train, or a...

There’s nothing California Gov. Gavin Newsom hates more than a lying politician. At least, that’s what he, very condescendingly, told an NBC News reporter during a recent interview. Oh that is really RICH! The hypocrisy is just astounding. Watch for yourself: Did you see that head tilt? It’s like he knows he’s lying as he lies about hating liars! By the way, Newsom made that comment just before defending Joe Biden’s cognitive state. Utterly shameless. These people are so brazen with their lies. Here’s a longer clip: 🚨 JUST IN: In a bizarre moment, Gavin Newsom tilts his head like...

Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) appeared desperate to evade any and all questions about his support for former President Joe Biden — support that continued even after it became painfully obvious that Biden was declining rapidly.Newsom repeatedly dodged questions on that topic during a Sunday morning appearance on “Meet the Press,” attempting to change the subject every time host Kristen Welker raised another question about the former president.WATCH:“You stood by him till the end, after that disastrous debate performance, even when top Democrats were calling for him to step down,” Welker began. “Did you ever have concerns, Governor, about his capacity...

Six years ago, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld highly partisan state election maps in North Carolina and Maryland — ruling that federal courts cannot block states from drawing up maps that favor one party over the other — one of the court’s liberal justices issued a warning.“If left unchecked, gerrymanders like the ones here may irreparably damage our system of government,” Associate Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a dissent.Kagan argued that Republicans in North Carolina and Democrats in Maryland — the two examples before the court — had rigged elections in a way that “deprived citizens of the most...

'You can't just destroy small communities along the way'An impassioned and oftentimes angry cohort from a small California city turned up ready for a fight this week in opposition to the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s proposal to bisect the town. On Monday, residents of Shafter, a rural town of 22,000 just about 20 miles northwest of Bakersfield, showed up en masse to provide almost two hours of unanimous testimony opposing the plan to their city council. Individual pleas from community members often began calmly and then crescendoed into yelling (or even escalated to holding back tears) following a presentation by...