Gavin Newsom says Trump directed DoJ to investigate him and his wife

Gavin Newsom said on Monday that Donald Trump directed the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to investigate him and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom.The California governor said in a video statement that federal agents had knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees in recent days as part of an effort to find a crime, demanding records and “abusing the grand jury process”.“Donald Trump isn’t just coming after me because of my mean tweets, he’s coming after me because I am considering running for president. Because he hates that I have consistently called him out over and over again for his lies and deceit,” Newsom said.The Guardian has approached the justice department for comment. The FBI declined to comment on the matter.Newsom and Trump have frequently clashed. California has sued the administration more than 60 times in the president’s second term, including over the president’s move to deploy the US military to Los Angeles last summer. Trump called for Newsom’s arrest last summer for allegedly obstructing Immigration enforcement operations in the state.In his statement on Monday, Newsom pointed to the president’s many political rivals whom his administration has investigated, including James Comey, Letitia James and Tim Walz, among others.“One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list. And today, I proudly join that list,” Newsom said.But he criticized the administration for investigating his wife.“You can subpoena my records. You can investigate me. You can harass me,” Newsom said. “Put my name on every and any enemy’s list you have, but leave my wife and family out of your personal vendetta.”The New York Times reported, citing an unnamed source, the administration has multiple federal investigations into the governor, and one examining Siebel Newsom’s finances.That source said that federal law enforcement officials in California launched the investigations, rather than administration officials in Washington, the Times reported.Siebel Newsom has become a frequent target of the right in recent months as her husband has emerged as an early frontrunner among Democrats for the presidential nomination.Prominent conservatives have railed against her efforts to champion equal pay and gender equity while columnists have said she was “single-handedly wrecking” Newsom’s presidential ambitions.Steve Hilton, the Republican candidate for California governor, described the Newsoms as a “grifter family”.