The “Big Three” broadcast networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC were already hard at work making sure the boards of the presidential contenders stage wouldn’t squeak when Democrats stepped up. During their Wednesday evening and Thursday morning flagship newscasts, none of those networks cared to report that the now-former chief-of-staff for California Governor Gavin Newsom was indicted on 23-counts linked to a plot to steal campaigns funds from former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. A plot that predated the top aide leaving Newsom’s office, according to the indictment.
The reason the networks didn’t want to cover the story was obvious: Newsom was likely to run for president and they needed to do their part to keep him as clean as possible.
Instead of reporting on a story that brought into question Newsom’s discernment when bringing people into his orbit as a chief executive, ABC’s World News Tonight gushed about singer Adele staring in her first movie. CBS Evening News hyped the nepo baby grandson of President John F. Kennedy running for Congress. NBC Nightly News was the closest to the story in that they were excited about a whale being spotted off the coast of California.
That was despite the Wednesday indictment coming out hours prior to those shows airing.
As for their morning shows, ABC’s Good Moring America was more interested in Taylor Swift’s new documentary, it was CBS Mornings’ turn to tout Adele’s movie, and NBC’s Today showed off Martha Stewart on a Zamboni.
It may be surprising to some, but CNN’s Elex Michaelson highlighted the story during both hours of his midnight/early morning show The Story Is, overnight. Here’s the first hour’s news brief on the story:
A former top aide to California Governor Gavin Newsom has been indicted on multiple federal fraud charges. Dana Williamson was arrested Wednesday and charged in a 23-count indictment that includes bank fraud, falsifying business contracts related to pandemic-era loans. She was allegedly involved in a scheme to steal campaign money from former federal Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra. Williamson was serving as Newsom's chief of staff at the time. If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in prison.
In the 1 a.m. hour, Michaelson spoke to Lia Russell of the Sacramento Bee, who broke the story. She gave a more detailed breakdown of the charges Williamson was facing:
Yes, today we got that indictment. And according to the 23 counts, she is accused of working with two other indicted lobbyists to funnel money from a couple of dormant -- from some dormant campaign finance funds that belong to former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and funneling them through a variety of ways to one of her conspirators, Sean McCluskie, who -- for his benefit. She also is accused of falsifying tax records and claiming up to $1 million in business deductions that were actually for her personal use that she spent on things allegedly like luxury resort stays, designer handbags and home furniture and I believe also private jet travel.
Russell also pointed out that the claims being made by Newsom’s office, particularly regarding when Williamson stopped working for the Governor and that the alleged crimes were not committed while she worked for them, were not in line with the reality spelled out in the indictment:
Newsom's office said in a statement that Williamson no longer works for them, that as soon as she was told by FBI agents that she was under investigation, they placed her on leave and she left -- they said that she left the office in November 2024, which is actually a month prior than was previously reported. She previously said that she stepped down in December 2024. They also said that none of what she's accused of happens during her time as chief of staff, which is contradicted by the indictment, which has her communication -- which alleges that she was communicating with her fellow conspirators, you know, as recently as, I believe spring or summer 2024.
Michaelson also spoke to one of Williamson’s former subordinates who didn’t hold her in high esteem. Gil Duran, journalist for The Nerd Reich, claimed that Williamson “has a reputation for being reckless, for being irresponsible and for being a bully.”
Describing her as a “mob boss,” Duran recounted how she allegedly tried to keep him from getting hired after leaving her employ:
This is very much how she was. And you know, on a personal level, you know, years ago I was up for a job, I was offered a job and Dana called my prospective employer and told them that if they hired me, they would be dead to the governor's office. I got that job anyway. But this was how she operated like a mafia boss and now she's being treated like a mafia boss.
Duran went on to warn: “You know, she was really entwined with some of the most powerful players in Sacramento, not just in government, but she's really mixed up with the entire team that will be forming Gavin Newsom's presidential consulting team.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CNN’s The Story Is
November 13, 2025
12:32:31 a.m. Eastern(…)
ELEX MICHAELSON: A former top aide to California Governor Gavin Newsom has been indicted on multiple federal fraud charges.
Dana Williamson was arrested Wednesday and charged in a 23-count indictment that includes bank fraud, falsifying business contracts related to pandemic-era loans. She was allegedly involved in a scheme to steal campaign money from former federal Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra.
Williamson was serving as Newsom's chief of staff at the time.
If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in prison.
(…)
1:10:24 a.m. Eastern
MICHAELSON: All right. Well, a former aide to California Governor Gavin Newsom has been indicted on multiple federal fraud charges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excuse us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ms. Williamson, do you have anything to say?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any comments?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Should other California officials and people involved in the government --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: That's Dana Williamson tonight who was arrested Wednesday and charged in a 23 count indictment that includes bank fraud and falsifying business contracts related to pandemic era loans. She was allegedly involved in a scheme to steal campaign money from former federal secretary of state and health -- Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra. If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in prison.
Lia Russell is a Sacramento Bee reporter who broke this story. She joins us live from Sacramento.
Lia, great work on this. Explain in a nutshell, what is she accused of?
LIA RUSSELL, REPORTER, SACRAMENTO BEE: Thank you for having me, Elex. Yes, today we got that indictment. And according to the 23 counts, she is accused of working with two other indicted lobbyists to funnel money from a couple of dormant -- from some dormant campaign finance funds that belong to former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and funneling them through a variety of ways to one of her conspirators, Sean McCluskie, who -- for his benefit. She also is accused of falsifying tax records and claiming up to $1 million in business deductions that were actually for her personal use that she spent on things allegedly like luxury resort stays, designer handbags and home furniture and I believe also private jet travel.
MICHAELSON: And McCluskie was the chief of staff for Xavier Becerra. Xavier Becerra not implicated in this himself, he says that this was a gut punch to him. And it seems like the Newsom administration is walking away from Dana Williamson as well.
RUSSELL: Yes. We know we were, obviously, McCluskie's name is on the indictment and we know from our own reporting that he has been a longtime Becerra aide dating back to 2007. You know, he followed him from his time as a, you know, as attorney general all the way up to Joe Biden's cabinet. At one point, Dana Williamson was also in charge of Becerra's 2018 campaign for attorney general.
And yes, Newsom's, you know, Newsom's office said in a statement that Williamson no longer works for them, that as soon as she was told by FBI agents that she was under investigation, they placed her on leave and she left -- they said that she left the office in November 2024, which is actually a month prior than was previously reported. She previously said that she stepped down in December 2024. They also said that none of what she's accused of happens during her time as chief of staff, which is contradicted by the indictment, which has her communication -- which alleges that she was communicating with her fellow conspirators, you know, as recently as, I believe spring or summer 2024.
MICHAELSON: Which is a key point. And another interesting point, our colleague Melanie Mason reporting that Governor Newsom basically got rid of her as chief of staff after he found out that she was under investigation. But in doing so, they put out a real nice statement about her and made it seem like she was going to spend more time with her family. And it wasn't exactly like she's under a criminal investigation, which is another interesting wrinkle to all of this.
Lia Russell, great reporting all day on this. Really appreciate you spending time with us.
RUSSELL: Thank you so much for having me.
MICHAELSON: We want to bring in Lia's colleague at the Sacramento Bee. Gil Duran is a journalist with the Nerd Reich podcast who has also worked in the world of politics. He joins us live now from Oakland.
Gil, you know Dana Williamson. You used to work with her in the Brown administration. You've, you know, interacted with her in the Newsom administration. Are you surprised by this?
GIL DURAN, JOURNALIST, "THE NERD REICH": I'm not surprised. I'm shocked by what's in the indictment, which is a devastating document, especially at a time when the focus should be on the corruption in Washington. Now we have this Sacramento corruption sideshow to distract from that. But as someone who knew Dana for many years, who worked with her, did not have a particularly good relationship with her, full disclosure, this is not surprising to me at all.
MICHAELSON: What was she like to work with?
DURAN: Well, Dana has a reputation for being reckless, for being irresponsible and for being a bully. She was somebody who loved power and loved to abuse power. Often, if you look at some of the indictment, she's talking about getting people fired, you know, laughing and calling people's names. This is very much how she was. And you know, on a personal level, you know, years ago I was up for a job, I was offered a job and Dana called my prospective employer and told them that if they hired me, they would be dead to the governor's office.
I got that job anyway. But this was how she operated like a mafia boss and now she's being treated like a mafia boss.
MICHAELSON: What does it say about Governor Newsom that he put the person you're describing in charge of his office running the state?
DURAN: Well, I would say that Governor Newsom as well as Governor Brown, for whom I worked, and Xavier Becerra should be ashamed of their terrible lapse of judgment here. The only reason Dana Williamson acted the way she did for so many years and what led to this situation was that she felt she could act with impunity. And she felt she could act with impunity because of the power she was given, despite the very obvious problems with her behavior that were apparent for years. And so I think there's going to have to be a lot of soul searching in Sacramento.
You know, this isn't just any Democratic operative. Dana Williamson had so much power in the California Democratic Party that there's a statue of her daughter on top of California Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento. So I think there's going to be have to be a lot of soul searching about exactly what went wrong and how to root out this culture of corruption that always seems to form in Sacramento, and to be frank, in city halls and in state capitals across the country. The FBI is always there. The FBI is always bringing people down.
So this is not exactly a shock that you would get caught if you tried to do something as ridiculous as this Soprano-like scheme they had going on.
MICHAELSON: Does it also raise questions about a one party state? Democrats have super majorities in Sacramento. There is not a tremendous amount of reporters in Sacramento, though. The ones that are there do a great job. I mean, I mean, is there not enough checks and balances on power in the state?
DURAN: Well, historically, Republicans can be just as corrupt as Democrats. So I'd say the bigger partisan issue is for the voters to decide. I would say that it's up to people who are in positions of power to think about the people that they're putting in those positions. Who are you entrusting? And if these are people who are known for being abrasive and bullying and menacing to other people, what else might they be up to?
You know, she was really entwined with some of the most powerful players in Sacramento, not just in government, but she's really mixed up with the entire team that will be forming Gavin Newsom's presidential consulting team. So people have to ask themselves, how did it get to this point? How were we all complicit in enabling it? And what can we do going forward to make sure that nothing like this happens again?
MICHAELSON: Gil Duran, California journalist, lots of experience in government and really appreciate your perspective tonight as somebody who knows this world firsthand. Thank you so much.
