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 US Attorney’s Office issued subpoenas in September requesting about six years of communications around the California State Protocol Foundation, a nonprofit that has paid for Newsom’s travel expenses with privately donated funds instead of taxpayer money, according to a report by the San Francisco Standard.
Federal investigators reportedly requested information about the Protocol Foundation’s donors and fundraisers, the governor’s international travel and events, and any money used for the governor’s living and personal expenses, according to the Standard.
The feds also targeted information from multiple aides of the governor, including Becca Prowda, Newsom’s chief protocol officer who helps oversee his international trips. Prowda is married to San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie.
Communications with members of the Protocol Foundation’s board — who double as some of Newsom’s closest advisors and confidantes — were also reportedly of interest to investigators.
Since 2019, Newsom has directed more than $7.5 million in donations from outside groups to the Protocol Foundation, according to state records reviewed by The California Post. Roughly $5.1 million of that amount came from leftover inaugural funds.
Some of the foundation’s top donors include companies and groups that have business with the state or are affected by Newsom’s decisions as governor. Donors include CVS, a foundation for Blue Shield, and Zoox, an autonomous vehicle company testing robotaxis in San Francisco and other California cities. Newsom also sought money from the lefty dark money group New Venture Fund and crypto billionaire Chris Larsen.
Other notable contributors are foundations linked to wealthy philanthropists Susie Tompkins Buell and Lisa Stone Pritzker, both of whom have helped bankroll Gov. Newsom’s political activities and propped up his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom‘s nonprofits.
Beyond the Protocol Foundation, federal investigators have also been looking into Siebel Newsom’s taxes, a source with knowledge of the matter previously told The Post.
Newsom has accused President Trump of directing the US Department of Justice to investigate him and his wife for political retaliation, given he’s been a sharp critic of the administration and is considering a White House run in 2028.
“Governor Newsom went after the king — and as he warned in June, the tyrant is now coming after everyone around him,” Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for the governor’s office, said in a statement to The Post.
“This is what Donald Trump does to his enemies: investigate first, hunt for a crime that doesn’t exist second.”
The Post obtained Newsom’s secretive schedule after a public record battle this summer and documents show he had more than 30 briefings or meetings with Prowda regarding his jetsetting schedule and meetings or events with foreign leaders.
Newsom took trips this year to the annual world economic forum in Davos, Switzerland, as well as an international security conference in Munich. He also went to London to sign an environmental pact. Other past travel includes a weeklong delegation trip to China in 2023.
Prowda has staffed the governor at events ranging from the California Hall of Fame ceremony to meetings with Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and former UK Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, according to the governor’s calendars.
Some of Newsom’s most trusted political operatives play major roles with the Protocol Foundation.
The foundation’s chair, Steve Kawa, was a former chief of staff to Newsom when he was mayor of San Francisco, and the governor recently appointed him chair of the High-Speed Rail Authority. Longtime advisor Jason Elliott was also appointed to the rail authority and serves on the Protocol Foundation’s board.
Jim DeBoo, who previously served as Newsom’s chief of staff, also serves as secretary of the Protocol Foundation, according to the latest IRS filings.
The US Attorney’s Office and Protocol Foundation did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment Saturday, but officials for Newsom’s travel-linked foundation told the Standard that it could not discuss the investigation.
A spokesperson for the foundation said it “has proudly supported both Republican and Democratic administrations in fulfilling their duties representing all of California through public events and international engagements.”
The foundation doesn’t just expense the governor’s travels.
Newsom also used protocol funds to deliver his State of the State speech in an empty Dodger Stadium during the pandemic. And the nonprofit reportedly picked up the tab for burner phones Newsom sent to top tech CEOs last year.
At the end of 2024, the Protocol Foundation was burning through money after spending almost $600,000 more than it had brought in the previous two years, leaving the organization with just $7,790 in net funds, according to IRS records.
