Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff was arrested Wednesday on federal charges that allege she siphoned $225,000 out of a dormant state campaign account and wrote off $1 million luxury handbags and private jet travel as business expenses on her tax returns.
According to the 23-count indictment, unsealed Wednesday morning, political consultant Dana Williamson conspired with Sean McCluskie — an ex-chief of staff for gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra, the former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services — and lobbyist Greg Campbell to bill the dormant campaign account for bogus consulting services. They allegedly used shell companies they controlled starting in the spring of 2022, when Becerra was serving under President Biden.
Many of those payments went to McCluskie’s wife, federal authorities allege.
Williamson, 53, could not immediately be reached for comment. She is scheduled to make an initial court appearance Wednesday afternoon in Sacramento.
The indictment does not name the California politician whose campaign fund the trio allegedly bilked. However, it identifies McCluskie as the politician’s longtime chief of staff, a role he held for Becerra prior to Becerra’s ascent to federal office.
“The news today of formal accusations of impropriety by a long-serving trusted advisor are a gut punch,” Becerra said in a statement. “I have voluntarily cooperated with the US Department of Justice in their investigation, and will continue to do so. As California’s former Attorney General, I fully comprehend the importance of allowing this investigation and legal process to run its course through our justice system.”
Williamson is known as a seasoned political operator in Sacramento and blunt-talking enforcer for Newsom. She joined the governor’s office in early 2023 and departed late last year.
A former cabinet secretary to former Gov. Jerry Brown who also once worked for former Gov. Gray Davis, she served Newsom through a difficult period for California and the governor’s office, when a budget surplus shifted to a deficit and policy priorities became harder to push through.
“I’ve had the honor of serving under three governors and when asked what I will miss the most, my answer is always the same — the privilege of working with some of the smartest and most committed people I’ve ever known,” she said at the time.
She left her job at the statehouse last December.
“Ms. Williamson no longer serves in this administration,” a spokesperson for the governor said. “While we are still learning details of the allegations, the Governor expects all public servants to uphold the highest standards of integrity. At a time when the President is openly calling for his Attorney General to investigate his political enemies, it is especially important to honor the American principle of being innocent until proven guilty in a court of law by a jury of one’s peers.”
Newsom has been in Brazil since Sunday, beginning with a global climate investors symposium in São Paulo before flying roughly 1,800 miles north to Belém for the United Nations climate summit known as COP30.
On Wednesday morning, before news of the charges against Williamson, he left the conference for a planned trip deep into the Amazon rainforest, where he and a small delegation will board another flight and then travel by boat to visit reforestation and climate-mitigation projects.
Newsom said he was eager to witness “what I’ve only seen on TV or what I’ve seen disappear in my lifetime,” describing both the anxiety he felt during years of fires and deforestation under former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and the optimism he hopes to find in the restoration work now underway.
Federal authorities said the indictment was the result of a three-year-long investigation, meaning it began during the Biden administration.
“Today’s charges are the result of three years of relentless investigative work, in partnership with IRS Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” said FBI Sacramento Special Agent in Charge Sid Patel. “The FBI will remain vigilant in its efforts to uncover fraud and corruption, ensuring our government systems are held to the highest standards.”
