California’s ‘first partner’ targeted by Trump, Newsom says. Here is what we know about her career, finances
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- Gov. Gavin Newsom says the Trump administration is targeting California’s “first partner,” Jennifer Siebel Newsom, probing her charity and business finances in what he calls a politically motivated abuse of power.
- At the center are nonprofits and a production company she founded, which have funneled millions in donations, contracts and behested payments from corporations and powerful interests into her work as a filmmaker and gender equity advocate.
- The case spotlights California’s loose behested-payment rules, potential conflicts of interest and questions over whether private benefit from Siebel Newsom’s advocacy eclipses the public good she champions.
WASHINGTON — Jennifer Siebel Newsom has spent more than a decade cultivating an identity distinct from her husband, Gov. Gavin Newsom, as an active documentary filmmaker and gender equity activist with her own organizations, staff and salary.
The 51-year-old calls herself California’s “first partner,” a title she coined herself to signal an equal footing with the governor and gender inclusivity.
Now, the governor says the Trump administration is targeting his wife, investigating her charity and business finances in what he calls a politically motivated abuse of power. At the center of that probe are the nonprofits and a production company she founded, which have received millions in donations over the years from corporations and political interests in the state.
Among the entities she has founded or led are the Representation Project, a nonprofit that advocates for gender equity through film and education programs, and Girls Club Entertainment, a for-profit production company she owns that holds the copyrights to her documentaries. She also founded the California Partners Project, a second nonprofit that works closely with her government office and receives donations solicited by the governor, though she does not draw a salary from the organization.
Since its creation in 2020, the California Partners Project has received nearly $5.1 million from so-called “behested payments,” a practice in which private donations are made to organizations at the urging of government officials. The system has raised alarms over the years about the influence large companies have amassed in Sacramento.
California law allows officials to solicit donations to specific charitable or governmental causes when the payments are reported within 30 days. The public donation system, however, came under scrutiny in 2020 when payments made at Newsom’s behest — to a variety of organizations, not just the California Partners Project — ballooned to an unprecedented $226 million to help fund the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While not illegal, behested payments often push “the bounds of campaign finance law,“ said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University. As political back-and-forth between Newsom and President Trump escalates, he said, payments to the first partner’s nonprofits could be “a rich target for scrutiny.”
The governor has accused the Trump administration — specifically, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service — of questioning their friends and former employees about him and his wife. The governor said the probes are politically motivated, a personal vendetta because he’s considering a run for president in 2028. His office alleged that federal authorities began contacting associates of the governor and his wife around the time Trump announced he planned to nominate Todd Blanche, his former personal attorney, as attorney general.
Since Trump returned to the White House, he has promised to seek retribution against those he considers his political rivals. His Justice Department has pursued charges against many of them, including former FBI Director James B. Comey and New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James.
The Justice Department and FBI have not commented on the Siebel Newsom investigation. A source who was not authorized to speak publicly told The Times that two separate probes originated last year in the U.S. attorney’s office in Sacramento as a result of whistleblower reports regarding Siebel Newsom’s taxes and Dana Williamson, Newsom’s former chief of staff. Last month Williamson pleaded guilty to fraud charges in an investigation that began in 2022 under the Biden administration.
Newsom said he and his wife have nothing to hide, and promised to release all of his recent tax returns — though he has not announced when.
In turn, the governor has demanded that the Department of Justice release all records pertaining to the probe.
“The American people deserve to know who ordered this abuse of power and how far it goes,” the governor wrote on social media last week.
“These are dark days in our nation’s history when the leader of the free world spews animus openly and without shame — aiming to silence and destroy not only his political opponents, but their friends, colleagues, and families,” Siebel Newsom said in a statement to The Times. ”My husband and I will continue to push back on this vindictive attack — and I certainly will not let this distract me from the important work ahead to protect the health, wealth, and safety of women and children and give California kids the best start in life. Together, we can set an example of strong leadership that protects people rather than preys on them.”
To better understand the finances, here is a breakdown of how Siebel Newsom’s company and nonprofits are working.
The Representation Project
Alongside the release of her first documentary, “Miss Representation,” in 2011, Siebel Newsom created her nonprofit, which originally shared the same name as her film. The organization licenses her films and reimburses costs to her production company.
The nonprofit earns some revenue from licensing the first partner’s documentaries for use in classrooms, college campuses and workplaces. Licensing for film screenings at schools starts at $49, while corporate licensing for her films starts at $995; purchase of screening rights also comes with curricula to facilitate discussions.
The Representation Project has earned more than $5.2 million in revenue from film screenings, licensing and speaking fees since 2011, according to a review of its tax filings.
The Representation Project is not required to disclose its donors but has received at least $2.6 million since 2014 from various charitable foundations that disclosed the gifts in their own tax filings. Several corporations that have had business before the state have donated to Siebel Newsom’s nonprofit, including Pacific Gas & Electric Co., AT&T and Kaiser Permanente.
Its past donors also include entrepreneur and progressive donor Susie Thompkins Buell, who is credited as a producer on several of Siebel Newsom’s documentaries, as well as the Marin Community Foundation and Onward Together, the political action organization founded by Hillary Clinton.
Four months after Newsom took office in 2019, the state Department of Education recommended that high schools screen two of his wife’s films, “Miss Representation” and “The Mask You Live In,” a move that has garnered criticism from conservative media outlets. The state said the films “can help facilitate a discussion about the impact of mass media and gender socialization on self-image and relationships with others.”
Though it does not specify where its films have been licensed, the nonprofit boasts in annual impact reports that its films and curricula have “reached over 2 million students” and “are being used in over 5,000 schools in fifty U.S. states.”
Since founding the Representation Project in 2011, Siebel Newsom has received more than $1.9 million in compensation from the nonprofit organization, according to a review of federal tax records. Her separately owned film production company, Girls Club Entertainment, has collected about $2.2 million in independent contracts from the nonprofit over that same period, records show.
Her current annual salary is $161,250 for a 40-hour workweek, records show. Siebel Newsom earns income from both her production company and her nonprofit, according to state financial disclosures.
Jeff Tenenbaum, a nonprofit attorney with 30 years of experience advising nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations, declined to comment on Siebel Newsom’s specific case. He said though, speaking generally, that there is a “private benefit doctrine” provision in the law that governs whether a federally tax exempt organization’s activities unduly benefit any single individual, including through indirect payments to entities they own.
The doctrine does not prohibit all private benefit, he said, only what the federal tax code calls “impermissible” private benefit, and that determination would be made only after a full review of the organization’s finances and contracts.
Girls Club Entertainment
An actor and documentary filmmaker, Siebel Newsom founded her production company to develop independent films with a focus on combating gender stereotypes and empowering girls and women. She serves as the company’s chief creative officer.
She has written, produced and directed five films exploring themes of inequality and traditional gender roles. Siebel Newsom is best known for her 2011 documentary “Miss Representation,” which focused on the few and narrow representations of girls and women in American media.
Tax records show that the production company owns the rights to “Miss Representation” and has licensed the film to the Representation Project for a minimum of seven years for the purpose of distributing and screening the film in public. Costs associated with film production — including the writer, director and producer fees — have been reimbursed by the Representation Project, tax filings show.
Her latest documentary, “Miss Representation: Rise Up,” examines “the rising backlash against women’s progress and the hostile landscape of technology designed to harass and, ultimately, silence women.” The film premiered this month at the Tribeca Film Festival.
California Partners Project
In 2020, Siebel Newsom founded the California Partners Project, a nonprofit focused on improving gender equity in the workplace and the safety and well-being of children in online spaces. She does not collect compensation from the nonprofit or serve on its board.
It hosts an annual “gender equity summit” and provides resources for parents on issues such as social media safety and child mental health.
The California Partners Project also does not publicly disclose its donors in its tax filings, but much of the nonprofit’s funding appears to come from behested payments. Siebel Newsom does not receive a salary from the organization.
Since its founding, the Newsoms have steered more than $5 million to the nonprofit via behested payments, according to a review of the disclosures. While many donations to the California Partners Project come from charitable foundations, it also received hundreds of thousands from companies including Silicon Valley Bank, Pinterest and the charitable arm of Blue Shield of California.
Its biggest funder is the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, a Sonoma County tribe that operates a casino in Rohnert Park and spends heavily in state and federal elections. The tribe has given $2.3 million to the nonprofit since 2022. In June 2023, Newsom appointed tribal Chairman Greg Sarris to the University of California Board of Regents. Newsom has also supported efforts by the tribe to block a smaller tribe from building a casino in nearby Vallejo.
Blue Shield, a giant nonprofit health insurer that has reported giving $100,000 to Siebel Newsom’s nonprofit, was an early donor to Newsom’s 2018 campaign for governor and later received a $15-million no-bid contract to distribute COVID vaccines. State regulators in 2024 also signed off on the nonprofit’s request to restructure and establish a new parent corporation out of state, a move that raised alarm among healthcare advocates.
The California Partners Project did not respond to questions about its donors and spending.
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