US DOJ Criminal Investigation Into Gov Newsom’s International Travel and Personal Spending

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating California Governor Gavin Newsom’s international travel and personal spending.

The U.S. Attorney’s office issued subpoenas this month requesting testimony and communications with Newsom and others, according to reporting by the San Francisco Standard.

Prosecutors requested six years of records from the California State Protocol Foundation, a nonprofit that has paid for Newsom’s international travel. Newsom has directed millions of dollars in donations to the Protocol Foundation, according to records reviewed by the California Post. How does Gov. Newsom’s travel spending through the California State Protocol Foundation compare to previous governor’s?

The California State Protocol Foundation, a nonprofit, was created in 2001 under Gov. Gray Davis to pay for official travel, protocol events, and related costs with private donations rather than state funds under multiple governors.

Under Gov. Gray Davis, foundation spending on travel and related items peaked at $427,000 in 2000; he flew commercially most of the time. Under Gov. Jerry Brown the foundation was used far less and became delinquent during Brown’s second term before being revived for Newsom.

Newsom’s office states he flies commercially. FPPC Form 700 disclosures list roughly $72,000 in personal travel benefits from the foundation since 2019:

• $15,200 for the 2023 China trip
• more than $13,000 for the 2024 Vatican Italy trip
• $8,800 for the 2020 Super Bowl
• nearly $4,000 for a 2024 Mexico inauguration

Individual later trips include:

• $57,000 for 2026 Davos/Munich/London travel
• $21,585 for a Brazil climate conference.
• A 2019 El Salvador trip cost the foundation more than $44,000

Notably, 2024 IRS filings show nearly $250,000 spent on the Vatican and Mexico trips combined.

The Globe reported in November 2021 that Gov. Gavin Newsom was missing in action for nearly two weeks following his October 27th COVID booster shot. Then the Globe was provided photos by a source as the Newsom family were seen in Cabo San Lucas vacationing at a $29,000/night dacha of a Russian oligarch.

We sent his press office a request for his public schedule. We did not receive a reply until Thursday November 18th, 10 days later, denying our request.

We never saw that trip listed on disclosure forms. And Newsom vacationed many times as he refused to relinquish his emergency Covid powers, while the rest of the state was under his lockdown orders.

“Gavin Newsom’s international globetrotting on the dime of wealthy benefactors has come under the microscope of federal investigators looking into California’s governor, the NY Post reports. The foundation has received $7.5 million since 2019, of which about $5.1 million came from Newsom’s leftover 2019 and 2023 inaugural funds transferred to the protocol account.

As the Globe reported in January, The California State Protocol Foundation, a nonprofit tied to Newsom, which has only a 56% rating from Charity Navigator, handed out cellphones with Newsom’s personal number to CEOs in 2024, funded by private donations from businesses he regulates. Meanwhile, his wife’s nonprofit, The Representation Project, went delinquent in 2022 for flouting charitable registration rules yet kept hosting glitzy galas bankrolled by the same corporate cronies. The IRS, gutted by decades of underfunding, does nothing.

As the SF Standard reported:

Newsom has appointed a handful of people to cycle through leadership roles at the foundation and a pair of sister nonprofits founded to bankroll his inaugurations: the Governor’s Inaugural Fund 2019 and the 2023 Governor’s Inaugural Fund.

One name threads through almost all of it. Thomas A. Willis, a lawyer at the political law firm Olson Remcho, is listed as the registered agent for the Protocol Foundation and the two inaugural funds. His communications are among those the feds are looking for, according to the subpoenas that The Standard reviewed and reported on exclusively on Friday.

Willis is also treasurer of First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s nonprofit. Steve Kawa chairs the Protocol Foundation board, and is also named in one of the subpoenas. Kawa worked with Newsom during his tenure as San Francisco mayor. Another former Newsom staffer on the board is Jim DeBoo, likewise named in the subpoenas, who served as CEO of the 2023 inaugural fund before stepping down in 2024.

If DeBoo’s name is familiar, Jim DeBoo was Newsom’s executive secretary in 2020, and used to lobby for Kaiser before joining Newsom’s administration, the Globe reported. Kaiser Permanente gave nearly $100 million in charitable funding and grant money to boost Newsom’s efforts against homelessness, COVID response, and wildfire relief since 2019, Modern Healthcare reported in 2022. The plan was to cut out the competition and make everyone in California under Kaiser, a doctor familiar with the deal told the Globe.

Donor sources for the California State Protocol Foundation include: leftover inaugural money, corporations and industries regulated by the state, tribes with gaming compacts, large foundations, and some pass-through vehicles that hide original donors.

The $5.1 million from the 2019 and 2023 Governor’s Inaugural Funds were raised from tribes, health-care companies, tech firms, and labor groups. At least seven tribes with state gaming compacts accounted for roughly $1.5 million of the inaugural money that later moved into the protocol account.

The tribal compacts ratified together in 2024 under SB 931, are:

1. Campo Band of Diegueño Mission Indians of the Campo Indian Reservation (new compact, executed April 23, 2024)
2. La Posta Band of Diegueño Mission Indians of the La Posta Indian Reservation (new compact, executed February 27, 2024)
3. Timbisha Shoshone Tribe (new compact, executed August 7, 2024)
4. Elem Indian Colony of Pomo Indians of the Sulphur Bank Rancheria (new compact, executed August 7, 2024)
5. Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians (third amendment, executed August 7, 2024)
6. Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians (third amendment, executed August 13, 2024)
7. Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria (third amendment, executed August 13, 2024)

Other inaugural contributors included Uber, Amazon, Kaiser Permanente, and Centene. Direct corporate and industry donors:

• Zoox (Amazon robotaxi subsidiary seeking California operating approvals): $30,000 + $50,000 + $75,000 since 2024. 
• CVS Pharmacy: $25,000 (2024), around the time it was lobbying on pharmacy-benefit-manager legislation. 
• Centene (major Medi-Cal contractor). 
• LSN Partners (Miami lobbying firm): $75,000 across two gifts. 
• Resources Legacy Fund: $100,000. 
• U.S. Energy Foundation: $150,000 (earmarked for COP30 Brazil). 
• Hewlett Foundation: $300,000 (2023 China climate delegation). 
• UC Berkeley: $220,000 (2024 Vatican climate trip). 
• Sierra Health Foundation, Ford Foundation, Blue Shield-linked foundation. 
• New Venture Fund ($150,000) and National Philanthropic Trust ($16,000) — donor-advised or pass-through vehicles that obscure original sources. 
• Crypto investor Chris Larsen and foundations tied to Susie Tompkins Buell and Lisa Stone Pritzker have also appeared. 

Most of these gifts are disclosed as “behested payments,” donations solicited by the governor for a charitable or governmental purpose. There is no dollar cap; amounts of $5,000 or more must be reported. Newsom has directed more than $7.5 million specifically to this foundation and roughly $349 million in behested payments overall since 2019.

The behest arrangement is legal under California’s behested-payment rules, which politicians claim save taxpayers money. Critics have long argued it creates an appearance of access for regulated industries.

And now, federal investigators have requested donor and fundraising records as part of the current probe. The clearest lobbying connections sit where a donor had live business before the state at or near the time money went to the Protocol Foundation (or to the inaugural funds that later fed it). These are associations and timing, not proof of a quid pro quo.

Zoox and Amazon robotaxis

Zoox has given $155,000 since mid-2024. It is testing driverless vehicles in San Francisco and Los Angeles and still needs California DMV and CPUC driverless-deployment permits to charge for rides. CEO Aicha Evans met Newsom in San Francisco around the same period.

Amazon’s broader AV lobbying has opposed driver-safety-operator mandates; Newsom vetoed a 2023 Teamsters-backed bill that would have required safety operators on autonomous trucks. Zoox remains in the permit queue while Waymo already operates commercially in parts of the state.

CVS and pharmacy benefit managers

CVS gave $25,000 in 2024 as it was lobbying against SB 966 by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), which would have licensed pharmacy benefit managers, banned spread pricing, and required rebate pass-throughs. Newsom vetoed the bill on Sept. 28, 2024, days after the donation window reported by watchdogs. CVS Caremark praised his “thoughtful approach.” California later adopted a different pharmacy benefit manager licensing package in 2025.

CVS has ongoing state-level pharmacy and Medi-Cal interests.

Tribes and gaming compacts

Seven tribes with compact business before the state (Pechanga, Agua Caliente, San Manuel, Graton Rancheria and others) put about $1.5 million into the two inaugural funds that later transferred more than $5 million into the Protocol Foundation. The governor’s office negotiates and the legislature ratifies Class III gaming compacts. Newsom has signed multiple new or amended compacts for: Timbisha Shoshone, Elem, Augustine, Fort Mojave, San Manuel/Yuhaaviatam, Tejon, Santa Rosa, etc.

Some newer deals reduce or drop older revenue-sharing with the state. Graton and San Manuel have also given large behested sums to other Newsom-linked nonprofits around appointment and compact periods.

Hewlett Foundation / China climate trip

Hewlett Foundation gave a $300,000 behested payment in 2023 earmarked for the Newsom’s California delegation China climate trip. Hewlett is a major funder of Energy Foundation China and other climate groups that participated in or sat near the same meetings (Great Wall Climate Dialogue, Peking University). The trip produced a subnational climate declaration and follow-on work with CARB and Chinese counterparts. Hewlett also funds UC Berkeley, which separately gave $220,000 for the 2024 Vatican climate trip. Health-care contractors

Kaiser Permanente and large Medi-Cal managed-care contractor Centene, appear among inaugural-fund and foundation donors. Both have large, recurring state contracts and regulatory exposure.

Other notable contributors

• Resources Legacy Fund: $100,000 after hiring Newsom’s former SF chief of staff Phil Ginsburg. 
• U.S. Energy Foundation: $150,000 for the COP30 Brazil delegation. 
• LSN Partners (lobbying firm): $75,000. 
• New Venture Fund / National Philanthropic Trust: pass-through gifts that conceal original donors. 

The recurring overlap is that many donors are simultaneously regulated, seeking permits, negotiating compacts, or fighting bills the governor can sign or veto. Timing is tightest on Zoox, with permits still pending, CVS, and the veto shortly after the reported gift, Hewlett paid for the China trip, and tribes, as the governor negotiates the compacts.

The Federal subpoenas now specifically ask for donor and fundraising records.