Information about the nature of the inquiries is sparse and at times contradictory. A person familiar with the investigations said one was into Williamson and possible current staff members, but another person said the matter regarding Williamson was closed after she pleaded guilty last month. Her attorney told POLITICO there was no indication at all that Williamson was under additional scrutiny.

“Investigations into your boss and their family just make it really hard for staff to do their job; the people who often work the hardest all have to get lawyers, which require money, energy and bandwidth,” said a person active in Democratic and California political circles. “It is scary and can feel chilling for many. It is uncharted waters. It feels suppressive and it is a feeling that you never can totally shake.”

Newsom has kept up his planned public appearances, including attending the opening of Barack Obama’s presidential library Thursday. Siebel Newsom has also been on the road in recent days for screenings of her newest documentary and was away from her family on Monday when her husband revealed she was a target of the federal agent’s inquiries. Amy Ziering, a fellow documentary filmmaker who has been in touch with her since the news broke, said her friend seemed positive and not outwardly ruffled by the developments.

“She’s handling it with the grace with which I’ve seen her handle everything,” Ziering said, who pointed to other challenging chapters in Siebel Newsom’s life, including losing her sister as a child — the result of a fatal golf cart accident — and choosing to testify in the rape trial of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

“This is not someone who has not seen storms,” Ziering said.

In recent months, Siebel Newsom has emerged as a recurring target in the conservative social media ecosystem, with clips portraying her as a “woke” elitist often going viral.

The DOJ activity opens up a new line of possible attack. Her involvement with a pair of nonprofits, the California Partners Project and The Representation Project, while serving as first partner has long been portrayed by critics as rife with potential conflicts of interest.

There has not been any public evidence of improper influence or corruption connected with those entities. Still, the news of federal investigators approaching some Newsom associates connected to the nonprofits with ties to the governor and his spouse — including a third organization called the California Protocol Foundation — has revived public scrutiny on Siebel Newsom’s non-governmental work.

Since 2020, Newsom has directed philanthropies and organizations with arms that lobby California, including an influential Native American tribe, to channel more than $4.2 million to the California Partners Project, which his wife co-founded. He did so under California’s policy on behested payments, in which public officials can ask donors to give to third parties — typically charities or government entities. While such donations are legal and publicly reported, they have long fueled negative perceptions that they allow private entities to gain outsize access by writing large checks to curry favor with elected officials. The state’s campaign finance and ethics agency recently fined Newsom $31,500 for failing to disclose 36 behested payments within the 30 day deadline. Trump also promoted coverage of Newsom’s behested payments by a conservative website on Thursday.

The California Partners Project focuses in part on gender equity — a longstanding interest for Siebel Newsom, whose other nonprofit, The Representation Project, has put out multiple films exploring themes of gender and power in society, pairing them with model curricula for students. The governor has repeatedly lauded his spouse’s work in public appearances, often referencing the films by name.