Jennifer Siebel Newsom — the outspoken “first partner” of California Gov. Gavin Newsom — is now at the center of a political and legal fight involving her husband and President Trump’s Justice Department.
Newsom announced on Monday that federal agents have contacted friends, former employees and associates of the governor to target him and his wife in what the governor’s office called a politically motivated investigation as the governor weighs run for president in 2028.
“You can subpoena my records, 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,” Newsom said in a social media video.
Siebel Newsom, 51, is a documentary filmmaker and nonprofit founder who has built her public profile around gender equity, women in leadership, child care and the impact of media and technology on kids.
She grew up in Ross — an ultra-exclusive town in Marin County — and was a registered Republican until 2008, the same year she married Newsom. Much of her family are ardent Republicans.
Before her husband was elected governor in 2018, Siebel Newsom founded the Representation Project, a nonprofit that promotes gender equity through her documentaries. In more recent years, the nonprofit has received support from the California Partners Project, a nonprofit Siebel Newsom seemingly designed in 2020 to lift her public profile and pay for her expenses.
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An analysis by The Post earlier this year found that Newsom helped solicit more than $4.4 million in behested payments to prop up the California Partners Project with money from special interest groups and wealthy donors like native tribes, the Pritzker family, Silicon Valley Bank and Blue Shield of California Foundation.
Several have had business before the state or benefited from actions during Newsom’s time in office.
Newsom’s office has denied any connection between the donations and state decisions, and a spokesperson said the governor’s “decisions are based solely on serving the best interests of all Californians.”
Siebel Newsom does not take a salary from the California Partners Project, but IRS filings show she earned salaries around or above $150,000 from the Representation Project as its founder and chief creative officer. The nonprofit made annual payments to Girls Club Entertainment, her film production company.
Despite her prominent, if not adjacent, role in politics, Siebel Newsom has repeatedly failed to comply with state business filing requirements.
Girls Club Entertainment has been suspended or flagged as delinquent multiple times over the past 17 years for compliance failures, most recently in 2020. A California Secretary of State official told The Post that a suspended company “loses its rights, powers, and privileges to do business in California.”
In recent years, Siebel Newsom has served as an honorary chair of the California Volunteers Commission and co-chair of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Physical Fitness and Mental Well-Being.
On Monday, Siebel Newsom lashed out at Trump over the expansive federal probe.
“There are clearly no boundaries to what Donald Trump will do to get his way or to challenge those who get in his way,” she said. “This is not presidential behavior, and the governor and I will continue to speak truth to power because the American people deserve so much more.”
