Exclusive | Gavin Newsom appointee wore FBI wire in corruption probe

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.

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 revelation she was wearing a wire as far back as June 2024 explains why a swath of Sacramento political insiders and lobbyists were stunned to receive FBI letters last fall informing them that their phone calls had been intercepted during the investigation — despite many having little or no connection to Williamson.

“Alexis wore a wire, and Dana did not,” said McGregor Scott, Williamson’s lawyer and a former US attorney for the Eastern District of California, which is now investigating the Newsoms.

The disclosure comes as Newsom announced last month that he and his wife — whose nonprofit has been burning through money in recent years — as well as members of the governor’s inner circle are under federal investigation.

Within hours of that announcement, Newsom blasted out an email to raise money for political action committee.

Assemblymember Josh Hoover (R-Folsom) told The Post he was among those who received one of the letters even though he had never spoken with either Williamson or Podesta.

“A lot of people received letters essentially informing us that there were certain periods of time where the FBI was given access to follow phone calls,” Hoover said.

“I don’t know how these investigations work, but it sounds like they cast a pretty broad net across the Capitol community to see what they could find.”

A separate source with knowledge of the matter said they knew of four Sacramento insiders who also received FBI notifications confirming they had been recorded.

One recipient told the source: “Dude, I got this f—ing letter. I never even met with Dana Williamson!”

“Their curiosity was that they never even met with Dana Williamson, so they were wondering what this is all about,” the source said.

“And now you have the answer.”

The governor publicly accused President Trump of directing the Justice Department to investigate him as political retaliation ahead of a possible 2028 presidential campaign.

Trump had previously called for Newsom’s arrest.

But sources familiar with the matter told The Post that federal investigators have spent the past year digging into not only Newsom, but also his staff and his wife’s taxes, leading Siebel Newsom to accuse Trump of having “no boundaries.” 

Whistleblowers reportedly tipped off the feds to launch the probe into Newsom, and Williamson’s attorney told The Post that his client declined to cooperate because she had no information on Newsom.

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Podesta, a longtime Democratic power broker, remains on California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund board — where she receives annual compensation of nearly $61,000 — after Newsom appointed her in January 2020.

She previously served as secretary of the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency and held senior positions in Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration.

She also worked for PG&E, Disney and the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Podesta has not been charged with a crime, but her attorney, Bill Portanova, has identified her as the uncharged co-conspirator described in the Williamson indictment and confirmed she has cooperated with federal investigators.

The governor’s office declined The Post’s request for comment on the circumstances involving Podesta, saying it is a personnel matter.

Podesta and her attorney did not respond to requests for comment.

Williamson pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, filing a false tax return and making false statements to the FBI.

Federal prosecutors alleged Williamson and others orchestrated a scheme to siphon roughly $225,000 from a dormant campaign account belonging to former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who’s now the Democratic frontrunner to succeed Newsom as governor.

Williamson disguised payments as legitimate consulting fees while routing the money to benefit Becerra’s former chief of staff, Sean McCluskie.

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 show Becerra’s committee paid Podesta Company mostly $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 — who has since been identified as Podesta — regarding a corporate client that reporting has 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. Williamson and Podesta exchanged text messages on the issue, according to court records. Podesta has not publicly commented on the matter.

A spokesperson for the US attorney’s office that charged Williamson and is investigating the governor declined comment Thursday.

Hoover said the growing investigation has only deepened public skepticism around Newsom and the way the governor’s office conducts business.

“All of this stuff just raises so many questions,” he said. “What is going on in this administration? What types of conversations are being had? I think the entire case should be really concerning for the general public. It’s really raising a lot of mistrust.”

He added: “I think it underlines how problematic this current administration is. [Newsom] is someone who wants to run for president of the United States. It’s really disappointing to see that this is the level of our politics.”