'Justice for sale': California Governor accuses Trump of weaponizing DOJ against him

California Governor Gavin Newsom accused President Donald Trump of directing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate him and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom. In a statement, he said federal agents had recently knocked on the doors of family, friends, and former employees, not because investigators found a crime, but because, in his words, they were trying to find one. "They are demanding records," he said. "They are abusing the grand jury process."

Newsom is one of the staunchest Democratic voices assailing Trump daily through his accounts on X. The 58-year-old added that Trump is targeting him because he is considering a presidential run in 2028. "Donald Trump is simply the most corrupt President in American history," Newsom said. "He has turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministries to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents."

The statement also took aim at Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump's former personal attorney, who, in Newsom's view, does his bidding. He contended that the administration was going after his family to intimidate him. "Donald Trump picked the wrong target. We have nothing to hide," he averred. "His political operatives can take every record and read every page. But they'll be looking in the wrong place."

Newsom then went on to list Trump's alleged acts of corruption: "Donald Trump is selling the presidency. He's running the largest cash heist in American political history, trading foreign tariff relief for approval of his golf courses, day trading behind the resolute desk, reaping hundreds of millions of dollars in personal profit. And he's doing it openly. He's doing it through cryptocurrencies. He's doing it through a $400 million private jet from a foreign government that he plans to keep when he leaves office," he said.

The governor did not stop there. "Trump's personal fortune has skyrocketed by $4 billion since he returned to office," Newsom, who is California's 40th governor, said, calling it the behavior of a regime, not a republic. He went on to accuse the administration of turning the White House into "a marketplace" for sneakers, coins, watches, cologne, guitars, bibles, and phones, declaring that "influence is for sale, access is for sale" and that even "justice is for sale".

Newsom concluded with a plea: "You can subpoena my records. You can investigate me. You can harass me. Put my name on every and any enemy's list you have, but leave my wife and family out of your personal vendetta." There has been no official announcement on the investigation, but this would not be the first time the Trump administration has been accused of weaponizing federal agencies to target the president's political enemies.

There were reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) constituted a team of special agents tasked with pursuing the administration's political targets, informally dubbed the "payback squad." Former FBI Director James Comey previously warned that key Democratic figures should lawyer up as Trump pressed ahead with his vengeance campaign. Comey himself has been embroiled in an investigation over an Instagram post of seashells spelling out "8647" last year, which officials characterized as a threat against the President.