Former Newsom, Becerra aide to plead guilty in corruption case
A former top aide to Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra is expected to plead guilty to federal corruption and tax charges in federal court in Sacramento on Thursday, The Sacramento Bee has learned.
Dana Williamson, who served as chief of staff for Newsom from 2022 to 2024 and an advisor to Becerra’s 2018 campaign for attorney general, was indicted last November. The 23 counts included allegations that she helped lead a scheme to siphon money from one of Becerra’s dormant campaign accounts. The case rocked California politics and may still upend the state’s crowded race for governor, in which Becerra is currently one of the top-polling Democrats.
Williamson, who is represented by former U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott, and prosecutors both said in court documents filed late last month they were in active discussions about a plea agreement in the case. If reached, an agreement would be announced in court, the two sides said.
At least one offer has been on the table for several days, two sources familiar with the case who were not authorized to speak publicly told The Bee. Late Wednesday, The Bee learned through several sources that an agreement had been reached.
The timing of the hearing — after several delays — collides with Becerra’s momentum in the governor’s race. The June 2 primary is just 19 days out from Thursday’s hearing. Federal rules bar prosecutors from investigating, bringing charges or making statements “for the purpose of affecting” or of “giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party” 60 days before an election.
Becerra’s connection to Williamson has been a source of fodder for his opponents in the race.
The federal corruption probe
The indictment alleges that Williamson conspired with former Becerra chief of staff Sean McCluskie and lobbyist Greg Campbell to funnel money to McCluskie in the form of a no-show job for his wife. The idea was to use Becerra’s account to make up for a salary cut McCluskie had agreed to take when he followed his boss to Washington, D.C., to work for the Biden administration, the indictment said.
McCluskie and Campbell both pleaded guilty last fall, but Williamson did not. Instead, she hired Scott, a top-gun attorney who once ran the office he is now defending her against, and worked to have the charges against her reduced.
Becerra was not charged in the case. He told The Bee that he first learned about it when the FBI approached him to ask what he knew. Learning about the scheme was “a gut punch,” he said.
According to the indictment, Williamson and McCluskie told Becerra that they were planning to pay Williamson $10,000 per month to manage the dormant campaign account. They also told him that McCluskie’s spouse would be working for Williamson’s company.
But they did not tell him that the money from his account would be going to McCluskie’s wife, or that she would be the nominal holder of a no-work job, the indictment said. Even if she had been doing the work, the indictment said, it would have been illegal because Becerra, in accepting the job as Biden’s Health and Human Services secretary, was barred from using his account to campaign, and the job was nominally to perform communications work with payment coming from that account.
Williamson was also accused of falsely telling the FBI that McCluskie’s wife was not being paid with the money from Becerra’s account, the indictment shows. In separate counts, she was also accused of back-dating a contract for a COVID-era loan to her business, and falsely writing off personal expenses including luxury trips on her taxes to reduce her reported income by more than $1 million.
Prosecutors have said they view Becerra as a victim in the case.
At issue in the governor’s race
But that has not stopped it from becoming an issue in the governor’s race, as the hearing is set to take place on the same day of the last candidate debate before the June 2 primary, in which the top two vote getters will advance to the general election.
Rival candidates of both parties have repeatedly brought up the scandal during debates. Tom Steyer, the billionaire progressive Democrat hoping to surpass Becerra in next month’s primary, has repeatedly raised the issue in ads and debates, saying the former attorney general has “flipped-flopped” on what he knew about the case and when he knew it.
Democratic candidate Katie Porter asserted on CNN that charges may yet be leveled against Becerra. Campbell and McCluskie are expected to undergo sentencing hearings on June 4.
“Becerra cannot promise Californians that he will not be named as a co-conspirator in this corruption charge,” Porter said. “It was his campaign account, he signed off on it, it was his 25-year chief of staff.”
Becerra previously told The Bee he was confident that he was not a target in the investigation.
Earlier this week, an anonymous complaint citing the case was made against Becerra to the Fair Political Practices Commission. It accused the Democrat of violating campaign finance laws by paying Williamson’s firm $74,228.34 from January 2021 to December 2022.
If Williamson does plead guilty to charges in the case, a sentencing hearing will be set for a future date. McCluskie and Campbell are currently scheduled to be sentenced on June 4, two days after the primary election.
This story was originally published May 13, 2026 at 1:39 PM.
