When a politician under federal criminal investigation hires a private defense attorney and simultaneously can’t produce five years of tax returns he promised to release, there’s a word for that. It’s not “transparency.” It’s not “nothing to hide.” It’s called a tell.
Nearly a month has passed since Gavin Newsom announced — unprompted, out of nowhere — that he and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom are under federal criminal investigation by the DOJ. His initial framing was vintage Newsom: this is a politically motivated witch hunt, the agents are “abusing the grand jury process,” innocent people are getting door knocks at dawn, and he has absolutely nothing to hide.
He has now hired a private criminal defense attorney. He won’t say who.
The tax return situation is even more revealing. On June 19th, Newsom’s spokeswoman promised the returns were being “prepared for transparency” — adding, with characteristic smugness, that “unlike Donald Trump, the Governor has nothing to hide.” Three weeks later, a reporter at a press conference had the audacity to ask where they were.
Newsom’s response was to lash out, claim he’s released “20 years” of taxes, pivot to Trump, and then — in a slip that should be clipped and replayed on a loop — refer to the outstanding documents as “new” tax returns. The years in question are 2021 through 2025. These are not new. These are years that have already passed. An accountant produces them by pulling existing records. The only reason a politician calls completed tax years “new” is if he’s still deciding what version of reality those documents are going to reflect.
The actual history here is damning. Despite promising full transparency every year as governor, Newsom only produced complete returns for 2017 through 2020 — and only then because state law required it for his re-election ballot appearance. He found a loophole to avoid producing 2021 by filing for an extension. He’s been stonewalling California journalists on the remaining years ever since. Now he’s under federal investigation, and the returns are still not forthcoming.
Meanwhile, the investigation’s tentacles reach into every corner of the Newsom family empire: Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s nonprofits and tax filings; the Plumpjack wine and hospitality business run by his sister and first cousin; the blind trust managed by his best friend’s wife; the $9.1 million Marin County mansion purchased through a family LLC; and the expanding web of nonprofit board members who are also personal friends, business associates, and campaign allies.
Federal investigators have been knocking on doors across this network for months. Newsom calls the people they’re visiting “poor and innocent.” His own words: they are not poor. They are the interconnected financial and political infrastructure of a man who has spent twenty years blurring the line between personal enrichment and public office.
Subpoenas are reportedly expected. Indictments are being whispered about in Sacramento.
The private attorney is ready. The tax returns still aren’t.
Draw your own conclusions.
