Steve Hilton, the Republican nominee for California governor, says he has documents and witness statements that tie Xavier Becerra to a $225,000 scheme that funneled campaign money to a consulting firm and a fake job, and Hilton is urging federal investigators to reopen the matter so voters know what they’re electing.
Hilton is publicly accusing Xavier Becerra of knowing about and benefiting from a scheme that diverted funds from a California campaign account to a consulting firm run by a former governor’s chief of staff, with some of the cash allegedly used to pay a bogus salary. He insists the documents he has include a witness statement and text messages that reference a “Public Official Number One,” which Becerra has admitted identifying himself as. Hilton says those receipts demand renewed FBI attention before Californians cast their ballots.
The allegations center on events tied to Becerra’s 2020 move to the Biden administration as HHS secretary, when he reportedly wanted his longtime chief of staff to join him in Washington but faced a pay gap. Hilton’s version is that Becerra’s team orchestrated a plan to shift $225K from a California campaign account into a consulting firm run by Dana Williamson, a former chief of staff to Governor Newsom, and that money later ended up paying a fake job to the chief of staff’s spouse. Several people connected to the scheme have pleaded guilty in federal court and are awaiting sentencing.
Hilton went public with his claims on television and in a letter demanding action from federal authorities, arguing that voters deserve to know whether Becerra was knowingly involved. He told viewers and the press he has circled the relevant language in the witness statement that ties the scheme back to Becerra, and he described a text message in which one participant urged another to “Talk to Public Official Number One.” Hilton emphasizes that Becerra has already confirmed he is that public official.
https://x.com/SteveHiltonx/status/2094109020361576483
- 🚨 BREAKING: Becerra/Newsom chiefs of staff federal criminal probe must be re-opened:
- Witness statement contradicts Becerra claim he didn’t know about the criminal scheme
- Becerra must be re-interviewed by the FBI
- Voters must know if he’s a criminal BEFORE the election
Letter to Todd Blanche from me and [California Attorney General candidate] @MichaelGatesESQ below👇
On Fox Business Hilton spelled out his case and framed the allegations as proof of a pattern of behavior that voters should evaluate. He characterized Becerra as a long-term political insider and argued that these actions, if verified, would make him unfit for statewide office. Hilton called for the FBI to reopen its inquiry and re-interview Becerra so the facts can be established publicly.
This is a new announcement right this morning…
This guy Becerra, he was, he’s a 36-year career politician. He’ll be worse even than Newsom if he’s elected. But the really terrible thing is that he’s up to his neck in a corruption scandal. It’s involving his former chief of staff, and they took money from a California campaign account and used it to top up this other guy’s salary when he was chief of staff to Becerra when he was HHS secretary.
The most consequential piece of evidence Hilton cites is a witness statement and text messages between the people who later pleaded guilty. In Hilton’s telling, one message explicitly directs someone to contact “Public Official Number One,” and Becerra’s own confirmation that he is that official ties him to the conversation. That link is what Hilton says turns an administrative or staffing issue into a federal corruption matter.
Those who pleaded guilty include the former chief of staff, a former aide who ran the consulting firm, and a Sacramento lobbyist. Prosecutors have already secured pleas for fraud and related counts against those individuals, and Hilton says the guilty pleas make the witness statements in the case more credible. The defendants are awaiting sentencing, but Hilton insists the probe cannot stop short of answering whether a sitting candidate was aware and complicit.
Now, they’ve been federally indicted; they pleaded guilty. Becerra claims he knew nothing about this illegal scheme, but we’ve got the witness statement from the case, and right there, I’ve circled it in red.
There’s a text exchange between the two people who pleaded guilty, and it says one of them says to the other, “Talk to Public Official Number One.” Becerra has confirmed that he is Public Official Number One.
In other words, he did know about this, and I think — because it’s all about him getting his cheaper staff, working with him in D.C. — he probably came up with the whole idea. He needs to be re-interviewed by the FBI to make sure that voters know whether the Democrat candidate for governor is actually a criminal.
Hilton’s demand is simple: federal agents should review the case records and re-interview Becerra so that the public record is complete before Election Day. He argues that closing the loop on who authorized and benefited from the transfers is material to voters deciding who should lead California. For Republicans and many independents, the issue reinforces broader concerns about accountability and transparency in state and federal government.
The controversy has already produced guilty pleas and a flurry of headlines, and it now sits at the center of a heated gubernatorial contest. Hilton is pressing forward with his evidence and calling on investigators to act, saying that the truth should be settled in public rather than left to campaign spin. The coming weeks will test whether federal authorities reopen the inquiry and whether those documents Hilton cites hold up under scrutiny.
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