Gavin Newsom, the man who spent months telling anyone with a microphone that he has "nothing to hide," finally let people peek at his tax returns on Thursday. And by "let people peek," I mean he created conditions that would make a CIA black site feel welcoming.
As USA Journal reported, the governor invited a carefully selected group of reporters into his office, handed them blank paper and pens, and gave them five hours to sift through nearly 800 pages of financial documents. No cameras. No phones. No photocopies. No smart glasses. Basically, if the technology was invented after 1850, it was banned from the room. I'm honestly surprised quill pens weren't mandatory.
Newsom's spokesperson proudly declared him "the first Governor in California history to publicly release tax returns covering every year of his tenure in office." That is a very generous interpretation of the phrase "publicly release." Most people would call it a supervised viewing experience, like going to see the Mona Lisa except you can only describe it from memory afterward.
Now, about those actual numbers. The Newsom family reported taxable income ranging from $1.4 million to $3.5 million between 2021 and 2024. That big $3.5 million year? Mostly from selling a house in Marin County, not from some booming business empire. Strip that out, and their average taxable income for 2022 through 2024 was $1.4 million annually, which is exactly what it was when he served as lieutenant governor a decade ago. Growth is apparently not part of the portfolio.
Here's where things get spicy. Jennifer Siebel Newsom runs a for profit company called Girls Club Entertainment that lost money in all four years covered by those returns. She took zero salary from it in 2023 and 2024. Meanwhile, the couple was spending roughly $190,000 per year on household staff and carrying a $13,000 monthly mortgage on their Fair Oaks estate. And then in November 2024, Siebel Newsom bought a $9.1 million mansion in Marin County through an LLC, which then secured a $6.5 million mortgage that she, her parents, and other LLC members personally guaranteed. So a woman whose company is hemorrhaging cash and paying her nothing put her name on a $6.5 million loan. The returns apparently offer no explanation for how that works.
The reporters sitting in that room couldn't exactly take the documents home to chase follow up questions. They walked out with handwritten notes and a lot of unanswered curiosities. Compare that to Donald Trump, who was famously criticized for hiding his returns. When his eventually came out through legal proceedings, anyone on the planet could read them. Newsom gave the press a supervised field trip.
A DOJ investigation is still ongoing. The financial questions remain wide open. And Gavin Newsom spent his Thursday patting himself on the back for what amounts to a theatrical performance of openness that collapses under the slightest examination. Nothing to hide, folks. Just don't bring a camera.
Read more conservative news commentary at: USA Journal News
