PREDICTABLE: Nets Dutifully Enable Newsom’s ‘Weaponization’ Narrative

Jorge Bonilla
June 16th, 2026 1:39 AM

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Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) released an X video denouncing the Trump Department’s alleged nit job against him and his family and alleging weaponization of government. Newsom offered no factual basis for a weaponization in progress. Nonetheless, the Elitist Media evening News ran with varying degrees of this narrative.

The worst of these is, no surprise, ABC’s World News Tonight. Watch as Mary Bruce reports only half the allegations against Newsom in order to maximize the sweet dopamine hits of a weaponization narrative:

DAVID MUIR: Back in the U.S. tonight, California governor Gavin Newsom's explosive new claim this evening accusing President Trump of ordering the Justice Department to investigate Newsom and his wife. Here's Mary Bruce.

MARY BRUCE: Tonight, California governor Gavin Newsom coming before cameras to accuse President Trump of using the power of the Justice Department to launch a political hit job against him.

GAVIN NEWSOM: In recent days, federal agents have knocked on the doors of family, friends and former employees not because they found a crime, because they're simply trying to find one.

BRUCE: Trump and Newsom have had a fraught relationship for years, sometimes talking and working together more often doing battle.

DONALD TRUMP: He's an incompetent guy with a good line of (bullshit), and he doesn't get the job done.

BRUCE: Newsom says he's a target for one reason.

NEWSOM: He's coming after me because I'm considering running for President, because he hates that I've consistently called him out over and over again for his lies and deceit.

BRUCE: Accusing Trump of going after his family.

NEWSOM: And just in the last week, I've learned that his campaign has reached my own home. To get me he's coming after my wife Jen, someone who has done nothing wrong.

BRUCE: We asked the Justice Department for more information. No response. 

But David, sources tell ABC News federal investigators in California have been examining Jennifer Siebel Newsom's taxes. In a statement tonight, she says there are, quote, “no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to challenge those who get in his way.” David.

MUIR: Mary Bruce live at The White House. Mary, thank you.

In fact, there are multiple probes in proximity to Newsom. Bruce makes no mention of the investigation into Newsom’s former Chief of Staff, which led to an indictment. Per the AP:  

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff was arrested and indicted on federal corruption charges this week, roughly a year after she disclosed the investigation to Newsom’s office and was placed on leave.

Dana Williamson is accused of helping in a scheme to steal campaign money from former federal Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, filling fraudulent tax forms for personal expenses and making false statements to law enforcement.

Neither Becerra nor Newsom are accused of any wrongdoing in the indictment.

Newsom isn’t a target in any of these cases, as has been widely reported. This shouldn’t serve as an excuse for the media to blindly parrot his claims, but here we are. Local reporting refutes the idea of an investigation pushed down from Washington. Per Capital Public Radio:

A person familiar with the matter denied the existence of an investigation specifically targeting the governor, but said there are multiple federal probes into people around him, including one related to his wife’s taxes. The probes began last year after whistleblower complaints in California government, and political leadership in Washington was not involved in the decision to open them, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss ongoing investigations. 

This is quite different from what you heard from Mary Bruce, who was perhaps auditioning to be Gavin Newsom’s chief apple polisher. This is to be expected from ABC. CBS didn’t do that much better, either.

The media hall monitor class talks a big game about CBS News becoming a MAGA talking points repository, but that’s simply not true. Consider the related entry from CBS’s Robert Costa, who very gently scratches in the direction of the real story:

TONY DOKOUPIL: Back here in the U.S., California governor Gavin Newsom said today the Justice Department is investigating him and his wife and he accused President Trump of trying to punish a political enemy.

GAVIN NEWSOM: You can investigate me. You can harass me. Put my name on every and any enemies list you have. But leave my wife and family out of your personal vendetta.

DOKOUPIL: CBS News Chief Washington Analyst Robert Costa is following this for us. Bob, good evening. Glad to have you. The governor there says this is politically motivated. What do we know?

ROBERT COSTA: Tony, so far no comment from the FBI or Justice Department but Governor Newsom has been a longtime political rival of the president and CBS News has confirmed that federal investigators are contacting family friends, associates, and records are being requested. In fact, sources say people are being asked about the finances of the governor's family with a focus on nonprofit groups linked to his wife Jennifer. She is a longtime filmmaker who works on women's empowerment among other projects. Newsom has a rising profile and last year he told me that he will consider a presidential campaign after the midterm elections. Sources close to him told me tonight that he will fight this publicly and forcefully in the coming weeks, and wants to push back hard against President Trump. He and other top Democrats believe President Trump is weaponizing the Justice Department. Other Trump critics like former FBI director Jim Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James- they have faced indictments. Tony.

DOKOUPIL: Bob, thank you very much.

Here again, the sweet crack hit of weaponization narrative appears to be far stronger than the actual truth about the investigation into Siebel’s finances that we now know wasn’t ordered from Washington. Costa dropped a hint, but the Free Beacon has been looking into this for a while.

In August 2024, Newsom's office sent a letter on his behalf to the Biden Interior Department urging it to reject a $700 million proposed casino project north of San Francisco by the Koi Nation, a tribe with fewer than 100 members. But the Biden administration approved the project anyway, so in May, Newsom sued the Trump administration in a last ditch effort to block the Koi Nation’s casino. Should Newsom get his way, it would be a major win for the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, a major California political donor which operates its own gambling compound just 15 miles away from its rival’s proposed site, which broke ground on a $1 billion expansion in 2023.

A little-known California government disclosure database may shed light on why Newsom took Graton Rancheria’s side in the high-stakes dispute. 

In April 2024, a few months before Newsom sent his letter to the Biden Interior Department, the Democratic governor requested Graton Rancheria to contribute $500,000 to his wife’s charity, the California Partners Project. And in April 2025, one month before Newsom filed his lawsuit against the Trump administration, he again asked Graton Rancheria to contribute another $500,000 to his wife’s charity. The tribe cut those checks specifically at Newsom’s request, according to California’s "behested payments" database, which discloses whenever state elected officials request others to make donations on their behalf.

There are those within the media reporting class who say that conservative sites don’t break news. And yet, here we are. The Free Beacon item was published in July of 2025. But the media went silent.                      

The only network to mention both Newsom’s wife and senior staff was NBC. Here is that report in its entirety:

TOM LLAMAS: Tonight, California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom is making new accusations, some big ones, against President Trump, claiming the Trump Justice Department is now investigating him and his wife because he might run for president. Kelly O'Donnell joins us now. Kelly, the DoJ is now responding?

KELLY O’DONNELL: That's right, Tom. And Governor Newsom made this public today in a video post himself where he described himself as part of the president's so-called hit list as a frequent Trump critic and potential Democratic presidential candidate. The Department of Justice is declining comment. 

Multiple sources familiar with the probe do tell us there are investigations under way that arose from whistleblowers and state government and did not originate here in Washington. Those sources also say the focus is on the governor's wife, Jen Newsom, and tax-related issues. A senior staff member of the governor, but not Newsom himself. However, the governor's office calls this a fishing expedition and also says it believes IRS and FBI investigators have obtained financial and banking records, including some linked to Jen Newsom’s nonprofit work. Tom.

LLAMAS: All right. Kelly O’Donnell for us. Kelly, thank you.

In due time, we will all discover what Newsom was trying to get out in front of. In the meantime, the Elitist Media continue to chase a fake weaponization narrative in service of a potential Democrat presidential candidate. It’s (D)ifferent that way.

 

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