Revealed: FBI Had Mole in Newsom Camp, Recording and Gathering Info on Corruption, Dirty Dealings

California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently claimed that President Donald Trump had placed him and his wife on a political “hit list” by directing the Department of Justice to investigate them.

But new reporting suggests the story may be much more complicated than Newsom’s anti-Trump narrative.

Last month, Newsom wrote on X that he and his wife had become targets of the Trump administration.

“Today, my wife & I joined Donald Trump’s hit list. He has directed his Department of Justice to investigate us. They have not found a crime — they are simply trying to find one,” Newsom wrote.

“He isn’t coming after me because of mean tweets, but because I am considering running for President,” Newsom added, calling Trump “simply the most corrupt President in American history.”

But according to a Thursday report from the New York Post, federal investigators had already placed a mole inside Newsom’s political orbit during the Biden administration.

The report said Democrat insider Alexis Podesta, 45, secretly recorded conversations as part of a criminal probe into Newsom’s then-chief of staff, Dana Williamson, 53.

Williamson pleaded guilty in May to federal fraud and tax charges.

The Post reported that Podesta was wearing a wire as early as June 2024, months before Trump returned to the White House.

That timeline raises obvious questions about Newsom’s claim that the investigation is simply a Trump-driven political revenge operation.

“The FBI had a mole inside Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political orbit before the agency’s corruption probe expanded into the governor and his wife, The Post has learned,” the outlet reported.

“Democrat insider Alexis Podesta, 45, secretly recorded conversations during the criminal probe into Newsom’s then-chief of staff, Dana Williamson, 53, who pleaded guilty to federal fraud and tax charges in May, according to Williamson’s attorney.”

The report said the revelation helps explain why several Sacramento political insiders and lobbyists were stunned last fall when they received FBI letters informing them that their phone calls had been intercepted during the investigation, even though many had little or no connection to Williamson.

The timing is critical.

Those FBI letters were sent while Joe Biden was still president.

The Sacramento Bee previously speculated that the notices appeared connected to a state sexual harassment case against gaming company Activision Blizzard, which began with a state investigation in 2019 and later became a lawsuit in 2021.

But the New York Post’s latest reporting suggests the matter may reach deeper into Sacramento’s political machine.

The probe has already resulted in Williamson, Newsom’s former chief of staff, accepting a plea deal in May involving allegations that she helped funnel money from a dormant campaign finance account belonging to former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

Becerra later became Health and Human Services secretary under Biden.

According to a DOJ media release from May, Williamson conspired with others between February 2022 and September 2024 to steal approximately $225,000 from a dormant political campaign and route the money to Sean McCluskie for personal use.

“According to court documents, between February 2022 and September 2024, Williamson conspired with Greg Campbell, 52, of Davis, Sean McCluskie, 57, of Davis, and others to steal approximately $225,000 in funds from a dormant political campaign and funnel it to McCluskie for his personal use. Collectively, they funneled the money through various business entities and disguised it as pay to McCluskie’s spouse for what was, in reality, a no-show job,” the DOJ said.

The DOJ also said Williamson claimed more than $1.7 million in improper business deductions for personal expenses.

“From 2021 to 2023, Williamson claimed a total of approximately $1,718,277 million in business deductions for what were actually personal and nondeductible expenditures, such as food delivery services, luxury vacations to Mexico (twice) and Santa Barbara, private jet travel, purported wages for family members, home goods, veterinary services, landscaping services, and other nondeductible personal expenses. Williamson’s false deductions resulted in a tax loss of approximately $504,523, which she agreed in her plea agreement to pay back to the IRS in full as restitution.”

The so-called “Conduit Scheme” did not directly implicate Becerra, who was reportedly unaware of the theft.

It also did not directly touch Newsom.

But questions have emerged about fundraising practices and nonprofit connections tied to Newsom’s broader political circle.

One area drawing scrutiny involves a nonprofit connected to Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, which reportedly received a large amount of California taxpayer money for diapers that could be purchased on the open market for roughly $0.12 to $0.15 each, while allegedly costing California taxpayers as much as $0.50 each.

The New York Post report does not prove wrongdoing by Newsom or his wife.

But it does suggest the investigation is moving closer to the governor’s political orbit than his public comments implied.

Podesta’s attorney has said she inherited responsibility for overseeing Becerra’s dormant campaign account after Williamson left private consulting to become Newsom’s chief of staff in late 2022 and did not know the payments were improper.

Campaign finance records reportedly show Becerra’s committee paid Podesta Company mostly in $10,000 monthly installments during 2023 and 2024.

According to court filings, Williamson, while serving as Newsom’s chief of staff, shared confidential state government information with a co-conspirator later identified as Podesta regarding a corporate client reportedly identified as Activision Blizzard.

Williamson’s plea agreement states that she was captured in a June 2024 wiretap strategizing with the co-conspirator about how to respond to a Public Records Act request involving the state’s litigation against the company.

Court records also indicate Williamson and Podesta exchanged text messages on the issue.

Podesta has not publicly commented.

Podesta also sits on the State Compensation Insurance Fund board, a position Newsom appointed her to in 2020.

She has additional ties to the Newsoms through roles in former California Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration, where Newsom served as lieutenant governor.

So what is really happening?

Is Newsom being unfairly targeted?

Is the investigation limited to Williamson and others around him?

Or is the governor trying to get ahead of a scandal that could damage a future presidential campaign?

At this stage, those questions remain unanswered.

But one fact cuts directly against Newsom’s public framing: the investigation appears to have begun under Biden’s DOJ, not Trump’s.

That matters.

Newsom is trying to sell the public a story about Trump weaponizing the Justice Department against him because he might run for president.

But if a Biden-era FBI mole was already recording conversations inside Newsom’s political orbit in June 2024, the “Trump hit list” narrative starts to look a lot less convincing.

For conservatives, the lesson is familiar.

Democrats are quick to scream “political persecution” when scrutiny lands on their side, even after spending years defending investigations, indictments, raids, and lawsuits against Trump and his allies.

Now Newsom’s inner circle is facing serious questions, one former top aide has already pleaded guilty, and the governor is loudly claiming victimhood before the public even knows how deep the probe goes.

Maybe Newsom is completely untouched.

Maybe the investigation stops with Williamson.

Or maybe Sacramento’s political machine has more secrets waiting to come out.

Either way, the governor’s attempt to blame Trump for a probe that reportedly began under Biden does not add up.