He said the FBI asked Dana Williamson last year to assist with an investigation into Newsom, but that she “had not seen any misconduct by the governor of any kind.”
The attorney for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s embattled former chief ripped her arrest on Wednesday as “grandstanding” by the Department of Justice under President Donald Trump.
McGregor Scott, who has represented Dana Williamson for two years, told POLITICO that the longtime Sacramento power player was asked by the FBI last year, during the Biden administration, to assist with an investigation into Newsom. She declined because “she had no information to give them or offer them because she had not seen any misconduct by the governor of any kind,” Scott said.
Newsom was not implicated in the charges against Williamson. Nathan Barankin, his chief of staff, said the governor was not aware of any past or ongoing investigation by the feds.
“There is no basis for any federal investigation into the governor,” Barankin said.
Scott, a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, the same office that is prosecuting Williamson, issued a scathing rebuke of the federal government’s conduct in the case.
“I am as angry today as I have been in a very long time,” he said. He said the government knew the substance of the allegations in the indictment against Williamson for several months, if not a year. The office did not honor his multiple requests to meet prior to any charging decisions, he said.
Scott said he informed the U.S. attorney’s office last week that Williamson had been placed on a liver transplant list. Despite knowledge of her medical condition, he said, the government obtained an arrest warrant — a step that Scott said was normally reserved for violent criminals or people who are considered flight risks. She was not given the chance to surrender herself, he said.
“Instead, they chose the grandstanding route. This is simply inexplicable to me, and the only conclusion I can draw is this is just the latest misstep down the wrong road taken by the Trump Justice Department,” he said.
A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California said that “as a matter of course, both for the safety of officers and for the preservation of evidence, this Office does not inform defense counsel prior to the execution of a search warrant.” Williamson was arrested at her home at about 10 a.m. on Wednesday and federal agents executed a search warrant.
Williamson, who left Newsom’s office late last year, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. She is accused, along with two other California consultants, of fraudulently transferring money from a dormant campaign account belonging to Xavier Becerra, now a gubernatorial candidate.
The indictment alleges Williamson and a former Becerra aide led Becerra to believe the money was being used for campaign consulting expenses. In a statement, Becerra called the formal charges a “gut punch” and said he had voluntarily cooperated with the investigation.
The two other consultants, Greg Campbell and Sean McCluskie, entered plea deals last week in which they agreed to pay $225,000 in restitution.