The best of Gov. Newsom’s chief-of-staff appears to have also uncovered an FBI investigation into him.
(Funny how the media isn’t covering a corruption scandal involving the Dem 2028 front runner.)
And that investigation is freaking out California Dems.
Letters from the F.B.I. landed this month in the mailboxes of California’s political class, notifying recipients that their phone calls and text messages were captured on a wiretap last year. The unwelcome correspondence began to arrive almost immediately after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff was indicted on 23 felony charges.
The corruption case — and the F.B.I. letters that followed — has sent shivers through Sacramento’s close-knit community of lobbyists, government aides and elected officials.
Many have worked together for decades in a several-block radius around the majestic State Capitol building, drinking at the same watering holes, dining on clients’ tabs and trading political war stories. Depending on the year, they can be fierce enemies or close allies. They have gone in and out of public service, shaping policy in the nation’s most populous state.
Now, just before the holidays, they wonder how far the federal indictment may ripple.
A handful of Mr. Newsom’s current and former aides received the letters, the governor’s office confirmed. Numerous lobbyists also were on the F.B.I.’s mailing list.
The F.B.I. is required by law to inform individuals after they have been surveilled, and letter recipients are not necessarily targets of the investigation. Still, the correspondence has sent political operatives scrolling through old text messages to remind themselves of their chatter between May 2024 and July 2024, the period that communications were intercepted, according to the letters.
Wonder what they’re so worried about and what they’re looking for. Do you want to take a guess?
