Gavin Newsom praised ‘bully’ chief of staff at heart of FBI wiretap probe before she pleaded guilty to corruption

Gov. Gavin Newsom praised his disgraced chief of staff for her service to California during her two-year tenure in his office when she left his office in 2024 — despite knowing she was under the investigation by the FBI.

Dana Williamson, 53, had been interviewed by the FBI in November, and was quietly placed on leave, before being given a hero’s departure on the way out by Newsom just a month later.

Williamson, a Sacramento political veteran, was a key liaison between the governor and lawmakers, labor unions and business interests.

“I greatly appreciate Dana’s counsel and her service to the state and the people of California over the last two years. Her insight, tenacity, and big heart will be missed,” he had said in a statement in December 2024.

Williamson would be eventually indited by a federal grand jury in November, 2025, on 23 initial charges including bank and wire fraud, obstruction of justice, and false statements.

She was interviewed by the FBI in November 2024, placed on leave as a result, and then she officially left in December.

The Post revealed Thursday that Alexis Podesta wore a wire and for the FBI as part of the investigation.

As the Post reported, as part of the probe into Williamson, her then-ally Alexis Podesta, 45, had worn a wire as far back as June 2024 and secretly recorded conversations.

In May, Williamson pled guilty after reaching a deal with prosecutors over a scheme to bilk $225,000 from a dormant campaign account of Newsom’s likely successor Xavier Becerra to pay for personal expenses.

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Newsom’s changed his tune on Williamson, calling her confessions of lying to FBI as ”just wrong” and denying he is implicated in any way.

“It’s hard, I just think of her daughter, but I”m also mindful of accountability,” Newsom said.

Williamson was a tough and hard-headed negotiator, according to critics, who claimed she was like a “bully” or a “mafia boss.”

“Dana has a reputation for being reckless, for being irresponsible and for being a bully,” Gil Duran, a former co-worker under former Gov. Jerry Brown, told CNN.

“She was somebody who loved power and loved to abuse power.”

Williamson’s shadow is creating a new political headache for Newsom as he prepares an expected run for President in 2028.

Last month, he came out and claimed that he and his wife were under a probe by the feds as political retaliation by the Trump administration.

There has been no publicly disclosed connection between Williamson’s charges and the probe into the governor, but speculation that there is one has run rampant.

Williamson’s attorney had told The Post that his client declined to cooperate because she had no information on Newsom.

Sources familiar with the matter have 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.

Spokespeople for Newsom have dismissed the probe as political nonsense.

“The DOJ is now on this lawless fishing expedition at Trump’s directive,” Newsom’s office said.

“Empty-handed, but under orders from the White House to find something, they are now chasing ghosts and launching investigations based on conspiracy theories.”