Source: New York Post · 2026-09-13 · Original article ↗

Feds probe Gov. Gavin Newsom’s travel, personal spending as new details of DOJ probe revealed

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

$7.5 million in directed gifts. $7,790 left. Davos still got the ticket.

Summary

  • The New York Post reports the U.S. Attorney's Office issued September subpoenas covering about six years of communications around the California State Protocol Foundation, a nonprofit that paid Gov. Gavin Newsom's travel with private donations rather than a public line item, citing the San Francisco Standard.
  • Investigators asked about donors, fundraisers, international trips, living and personal expenses, and messages with chief protocol officer Becca Prowda and foundation board members who also serve as Newsom advisors.
  • State records reviewed by The California Post show Newsom has directed more than $7.5 million in outside donations to the foundation since 2019, including about $5.1 million in leftover inaugural funds. Donors include CVS, a Blue Shield foundation, robotaxi firm Zoox, New Venture Fund, and crypto billionaire Chris Larsen.
  • Calendars won after a records fight show more than 30 briefings with Prowda and 2026 trips to Davos and Munich plus London. At the end of 2024 the foundation had spent almost $600,000 more than it took in over two years and held $7,790. A Newsom spokesperson called the probe Trump retaliation. The foundation said it could not discuss the investigation.

Commentary

A Central Valley dad still wipes dust off a lunch-box lid and knows a governor's ticket is supposed to sit on a public ledger, not a donor's second set of books. He did not pay the gas tax so Davos could ride a leftover inaugural pile.

$7.5 million directed. $5.1 million inaugural leftovers. $7,790 on the books. The honest household already bought the coach seat. The protocol shop bought the suite.

Look every working father who still files a mileage sheet in the eye and answer this: if the travel fund can take a vendor's check, who still owns the next flight that governor takes?

Comments

If leftover inaugural cash paid the tickets, why is the ledger still a secret?
u/border_dad · 5h

$7.5 million. Six-year subpoenas. $7,790 left. Keep that order.

u/midwest_vet · 4h

I stood a line so a public trip sat on a public page. A donor foundation is not a state budget.

u/rule_first · 4h

Protocol Foundation. Prowda. Zoox and CVS. Print the three.

u/tokyo_ally · 3h

Allied capitals still post a minister's ticket. A leftover inaugural pile is not a diplomatic fund.

u/docket_rat · 3h

Davos. Munich. London. China 2023. File the four.

u/night_shift · 2h

I still clock a dock at 2 a.m. I want the next junket on a public line, not a nonprofit.

u/texas_mom · 90m

A vendor writing the travel check is not a courtesy. It is a warning the street already paid.

u/gulf_watch · 55m

A private protocol pot is a second budget around a governor. The first ledger should have been enough.

u/press_clip · 30m

The Post printed $7.5 million, $7,790, and the September subpoenas. Argue those nouns.

u/soc_lead · 15m

Keep the subpoenas. Keep the calendars. A donor jet is not a state plane.

Paraphrased comments. Not attributed.

More from this rōnin

Stories → Discoveries → Books → Buy me a coffee →
A Samurai Loose in Modern America Volume Two cover
New release: Volume Two — 100 stories
A Samurai Loose in Modern America — Volume Two. One hundred later field reports.
See on Amazon → NEW
NOBUNAGA samurai icon
🍶 Freshly printed and standing at attention.
Paperback and Kindle, both out now. All my books in one honorable place.
To the bookstore, swiftly →
NOBUNAGA icon
One hand draws, one hand writes, and the tea has gone cold.
If you smiled even once, a coffee helps the next story get made.
☕ Treat the samurai to a coffee