SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Newsoms described the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s finances as an attack on a “public servant” who had “dedicated her life to supporting women and girls.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday the U.S. attorney’s office, at President Donald Trump’s direction, had begun approaching members of his and Siebel Newsom’s staff, friends and associates in the last week and obtained their bank records as part of a probe into her taxes and businesses and nonprofits connected to the couple, who have been married since 2008.

Siebel Newsom, 51, has occupied a higher profile position compared to spouses of other state leaders. The filmmaker and gender equity advocate has helped shape her husband’s policies on issues like reproductive health, the male loneliness and mental health crisis, school nutrition, and regulating children’s access to social media.

After Newsom first won election in 2019, the two announced the creation of the Office of the First Partner to focus on “inclusivity, breaking down old stereotypes, and forging a new more equitable path forward.”

In addition to serving as the head of an executive branch office, Siebel earns a salary from the nonprofit Representation Project, which she founded in 2011 to promote women’s causes and finance her documentaries. Between 2011 and 2018, she earned $2.3 million from that organization, which drew donations from dozens of organizations lobbying Newsom, the then-lieutenant governor, on state business.

The nonprofit paid her more than $161,250 last year for her work as founder and COO, according to tax filings. It separately paid Siebel Newsom’s related film production company, Girls Club Entertainment, an identical amount for contracting work.

Siebel Newsom also leads the California Partners Project, which advocates for more female representation in state government, business and politics, adding to the chorus of right-wing critics claiming she is engaging in self-dealing, which appears to be the focus of the federal investigation.

Newsom’s office said it believed investigators had begun their probe into Siebel Newsom after cooperating with an initial investigation into Dana Williamson, his former chief of staff, who pleaded guilty last month to lying to the FBI and fraud for her role in siphoning campaign funds from former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

The office said it cooperated with the initial probe, which centered around whether Williamson used her position in the administration to force a state agency to settle a sexual harassment case against Activision Blizzard, a video game company she previously advised as a consultant.

When that investigation hit a “dead end,” Sacramento federal prosecutors started honing in on Newsom and Siebel Newsom at the behest of whistleblowers, according to Newsom’s office. McGregor Scott, Williamson’s attorney, said he had not been informed of any other investigations involving his client.

The DOJ officially declined to acknowledge the existence of a probe, but a source in the agency said it was investigating Siebel Newsom’s taxes.

“There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” Siebel Newsom said in a statement on Monday. “This is not presidential behavior, and the governor and I will continue to speak truth to power because the American people deserve so much more.”

Nathan Ballard, a former Newsom aide who served on the board of the Representation Project from 2014 to 2020, said Trump was using his “favorite move” to settle scores with political opponents by attacking their wives like Heidi Cruz, the wife of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

“Jennifer has lived her life with courage, conviction, and integrity. She has nothing to fear from Trump’s fishing expedition, and nothing to apologize for,” Ballard said in an email. “The only scandal here is a corrupt president who does one thing well: make a spectacle of himself. What he can’t do is make a case where none exists.”

From aspiring actor to first partner and gender equity advocate

San Francisco socialite Kathy Wilsey, a mutual friend, set Newsom and Siebel Newsom up on a blind date in October 2006 at the Artists’ Ball at the Yerba Center for the Arts.

Like her future husband, Siebel Newsom grew up in Marin County, the daughter of an investment adviser and the co-founder of the Bay Area Discovery Museum who later attended Stanford, where she played soccer.

At the time of their first date, Siebel Newsom was a registered Republican, aspiring actor and one-time girlfriend of George Clooney who lived in Los Angeles, according to Newsom’s memoir, where she crossed paths with Harvey Weinstein.

She testified in court in 2022 that the disgraced film producer raped her in 2005 after she agreed to meet him for a business meeting at a Beverly Hills hotel.

Siebel Newsom later turned to documentary filmmaking, producing movies about women’s representation in media and politics (“Miss Representation”) and masculinity (“The Mask You Live In”). Another Weinstein accuser, actor Rose McGowan, later accused Siebel Newsom of trying to buy her silence during the failed 2021 recall campaign against Newsom.

Newsom and Siebel married 15 months after their first date in an “Out of Africa”-themed ceremony at the Siebel family ranch in Montana. The two have four children, who range in age from 10 to 16.

Siebel Newsom has said their experiences of bullying and remote schooling during the pandemic informed her views on restricting kids’ access to social media and the impacts of artificial intelligence on children’s mental health.

As her husband’s profile has grown, Siebel Newsom appears to have adopted a quasi-political adviser role as Newsom prepares a run for president in 2028 and has repeatedly antagonized Trump online.

“It feels really early, but it also feels important to stand up to what’s happening in our country. And so obviously I’m supportive of that,” Siebel Newsom told Marie Claire earlier this year.

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