Three people close to Xavier Becerra have already pleaded guilty to fraud. Now Steve Hilton, the Republican running against him for California governor says he has the text messages proving Becerra knew about the whole thing — and he's asking the FBI to take a second look.
The phrase in the texts, according to Steve Hilton: "Talk to Public Official Number One." Becerra has confirmed he is Public Official Number One.
Here's the scheme. When Becerra left Congress to become Joe Biden's Health and Human Services Secretary in 2020, he had a dormant California campaign account. Money from that account — $225,000 total, roughly $10,000 a month — was funneled to a Sacramento consulting firm run by Dana Williamson, who happened to be Governor Gavin Newsom's former chief of staff. That firm then paid Sean McCluskie's wife for what federal prosecutors described as a fabricated job. McCluskie was Becerra's former chief of staff, the guy Becerra brought with him to HHS.
So the money moved from Becerra's campaign fund, through a Newsom-connected consulting firm, into the household of Becerra's own chief of staff — while McCluskie was drawing a federal salary at HHS.
McCluskie, Williamson, and a Sacramento lobbyist were federally indicted in November 2025. All three pleaded guilty — McCluskie and the lobbyist in late 2025, Williamson in May 2026. They are awaiting sentencing.
Becerra's defense has been that he believed the payments were legitimate fees for managing his dormant campaign account and that he relied on McCluskie to handle the details. Which is a 36-year career politician saying he had no idea what was happening with his own money, managed by his own chief of staff, flowing through a firm run by the governor's own former chief of staff.
Hilton appeared on Fox Business to lay out the timeline. "This guy Becerra, he's a 36-year career politician," Hilton said. "He'll be worse even than Newsom if he's elected." On the question of Becerra's involvement, Hilton went further: "He did know about this, and I think he probably came up with the whole idea."
On August 30, Hilton sent a formal letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel, and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California Eric Grant, demanding that the FBI re-interview Becerra before Californians vote. Hilton's argument is straightforward — three people in Becerra's orbit have already admitted guilt, the text messages reference "Public Official Number One" by role, and voters deserve to know "whether the Democrat candidate for governor is actually a criminal."
Every piece of this scandal connects back to the same Sacramento network: Becerra's campaign money, Becerra's chief of staff, Newsom's chief of staff, a consulting firm that existed to move cash between them. Three of the four people in that chain have pleaded guilty to fraud.
The fourth one wants to be governor.
