Free Republic

It seems impossible — or just too revolting — to keep up with the financial hanky-panky of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and First Partner (gag) Jennifer Siebel Newsom. But thanks to a couple of investigative reporters with stronger stomachs than I have, let's see if I can't put everything you need to know into one easily digestible column. I love it when other people do my dirty work for me, so let's get started. "Today, my wife & I joined Donald Trump’s hit list," Newsom practically boasted on Monday. "He has directed his Department of Justice to investigate us. They...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that the Department of Justice is investigating him, claiming that President Donald Trump is targeting a “political enemy” despite no evidence the Democratic potential 2028 presidential contender has committed a crime. Newsom said in a video posted to social media that Trump’s administration is also targeting his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

Well done, California Democrats. We weren’t sure you could do it, but you came through. In just one primary election you managed to pull off a rare trifecta of political infamy for the Golden State: the embarrassment of a vote-counting system that takes so long it would have looked obsolete in colonial Virginia; the shame of an election process that invites deep suspicion about the integrity of the democratic order at a time of historically low public trust; and the misery of an outcome that just about guarantees the same misrule by the same people responsible for the dysfunction and...

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) efforts to audit the recent balloting in Los Angeles and California prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to warn "all of the actions employed in counting the ballots of the recent elections for Mayor of Los Angeles and Governor of California are authorized by law. Things that the DOJ regards as 'suspicious' like the extraordinary differences between the ratios of ballots for various candidates counted early versus those counted later is perfectly normal for California." "Further, I just signed a law--Senate Bill 73--that makes questioning the declared outcome of an election a crime punishable by...

Americans are struggling to pay for groceries and gas while Elon Musk becomes a TRILLIONAIRE. When the federal government is for sale, the rich get richer and everyone else gets shafted. The system is rigged.

Gavin Newsom is set to drop a bombshell tell-all interview with former President Biden’s son Hunter Friday morning. The California governor released a teaser clip from the sit down on X on Thursday afternoon, where he jokingly introduced his guest as: “Presidential candidate Hunter Biden.” Biden, in a clip of the podcast appearance obtained by TMZ, joked back. “Here’s the deal. I’ll run, but only as your VP,” he told Newsom. Biden said his reasoning was that the vice president’s residence “is a lot cooler” than the White House, he joked. The “promise” to run as Newsom’s VP came after...

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) could be “in a lot of trouble” for allegedly steering taxpayer money toward “fraudulent schemes,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said in the latest episode of “Pod Force One.” The Kentucky Republican lauded the Trump administration’s latest efforts “to prosecute people in Minnesota” for alleged fraud and making an example out of “that Somali crime ring up there,” before suggesting Omar could eventually be a target of the crackdown. “I do think Ilhan Omar is in a lot of trouble,” Comer told “Pod Force One” host Miranda Devine. “You got a situation there where...

The FBI executed three federal search warrants Tuesday morning at the Contra Costa County Assessor’s Office and the homes of longtime Assessor Gus Kramer and his right-hand man, Assistant Assessor Vince Robb. The FBI executed three federal search warrants on Tuesday, targeting the Contra Costa County Assessor's Office and the homes of two top county tax officials in what is shaping up to be one of the biggest public corruption investigations to hit California's East Bay in years. Federal agents descended on the Contra Costa County Assessor's Office in Martinez, along with residences connected to longtime County Assessor Gus Kramer...

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California on Tuesday raised the stakes of the midterm elections and the landscape for 2028 by issuing an implied threat of incarceration to President Donald Trump. “Trump says voter fraud should land people in prison,” Newsom wrote on the social media platform X. “Agreed,” the governor added. “And let’s start with the politicians spreading election lies with the goal of illegally interfering with counting ballots.”

California Democratic Congresswoman Judy Chu got into a vicious back-and-forth over the Iran war with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Thursday — but was caught flat-footed when asked who the president was during World War I. At a House Ways and Means Committee hearing to discuss the Trump administration’s fiscal policies, Chu tried to grill Bessent on a past remark by the Republican president, suggesting he wasn’t factoring in the financial situations of US citizens during negotiations to end the war. “Do you agree with President Trump that you also do not care about Americans’ financial situations?” Chu asked, while a...

California voters frustrated by the routine failures of state and local leadership look set to send Spencer Pratt and Steve Hilton to runoff elections for mayor and governor after the first few ballot drops. In a major rebuke of Democratic rule in both Los Angeles and the state, both Pratt and Hilton held their positions steady Wednesday night. Hilton remained in the lead for the governor’s race with 27.6% of the vote and Xavier Becerra was in second place with 25.6% with 56% of the ballots counted. Pratt remained in second place with 29.91% of the vote behind incumbent Mayor...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) Board of Directors today approved the launch of the initial phase of the nation’s largest track and systems installation efforts. An American-led consortium of Kiewit, Stacey Witbeck, and Herzog will install the track, overhead contact system, train control and communications infrastructure needed to transform the 119 miles of guideway completed in the Central Valley into an electrified high-speed rail system capable of speeds up to 220 mph.

SACRAMENTO, California — Gavin Newsom vowed Wednesday to tax any payouts that California residents receive from a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that Donald Trump secured in a settlement with his own Justice Department, as Democratic lawmakers in states across the country ramp up efforts to counter the president on the measure.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that his administration will seek to impose a 100 percent tax on any California residents who receive money from President Donald Trump’s newly created $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund. Speaking to reporters, Newsom denounced the fund as a “slush fund” and pledged to block Californians from financially benefiting from it. “Anyone from California that receives any of those funds, we want to tax 100 percent of those proceeds,” Newsom said during a press conference. “He pardoned all of those folks that were beating up cops and absolved them, providing them 1.776 billion dollars,” Newsom said....

Gavin Newsom has pleaded with Donald Trump for help in containing the Orange County chemical plant as officials warned there was still a risk of catastrophe. The California governor asked the president to issue a federal emergency declaration to bring in more support as the Garden Grove disaster continued into a fifth day. It comes as officials on Sunday revealed they had found a crack in the container that could be easing pressure in what they described as a “critically positive” moment. Meanwhile around 50,000 people have had their lives upended amid a mandatory evacuation zone in the immediate area,...

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) declared a state of emergency on Saturday evening as experts warned that the chemical tank that is overheating in Orange County could explode. 40,000 residents in Orange County, California, were evacuated on Friday amid a chemical leak at an aerospace facility. On Thursday, a valve overheated on a 34,000-gallon tank used to make plastics. Authorities said the tank, located in Garden Grove, could either explode or spill thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals. Several evacuation centers were opened; however, many residents are still refusing to leave their homes. On Friday evening, Orange County Fire Authority...

If you believe the governor of California, the state is laying track that it hasn’t bought yet. ================================================================== It was an induced hallucination, happily shared by a crowd of professional journalists, and a useful reminder of Gavin Newsom’s tendency to swagger like a winner on the lightest of pretexts. Back in February, the California governor spoke to the media in a crowded railyard, posing in front of a long line of freight cars and the piles of construction materials they had just delivered while he bragged about the extraordinary new progress the state was making toward a functioning high-speed rail...

When Xi Jinping rolled out the red carpet for Gavin Newsom inside the Great Hall of the People in October 2023, the staging told you everything you needed to know about who the meeting was actually for. The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party does not summon backbench governors for ceremonial handshakes. He receives heads of state. And the American official sitting across from him that day was not a head of state. He was the governor of one state in a federal union, traveling on what his own office called a “subnational” diplomatic mission to a hostile foreign...

The once Golden State has a jungle primary, meaning the top two vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party. As in the 2024 Senate race, Democrat party leaders are determined to repeat their primary strategy to set up a general election between a Democrat and a Republican. In the 2024 senatorial primary, then-Democratic Representatives Adam Schiff and Katie Porter held the one-two spot for a long time. But the last thing Democrats wanted was for Schiff and Porter to win the jungle primary and advance to the general election, where the two Democrats would spend months and dollars...

California’s two-term treasurer, Fiona Ma, has met with high-level Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials and intelligence personnel dozens of times in the last several decades, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation discovered. During these many meetings in the U.S. and China, the Democratic frontrunner in California’s 2026 lieutenant governor race has introduced American lawmakers to Chinese intelligence officials and also repeatedly presented awards to CCP members and influence operatives, according to DCNF translations of Chinese government and state media reports. “We really should be more integrated,” Ma said during a 2023 interview with state-run media outlet CGTN. “The more that...