A discussion between David Desrosiers and investigative journalist Susan Crabtree centered on how California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s background has been characterized in recent accounts.

Desrosiers asked whether a description of Newsom as a technocratic, detail-oriented figure aligned with Crabtree’s understanding of him.

“Does this accounting of Governor Newsom as this technocratic details German guy fit with your own understanding of the man?” Desrosiers asked.

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Crabtree rejected that portrayal and pointed to what she described as a more complicated personal history.

“Absolutely not. I don’t think you’ll be surprised by my my commentary, the line that I we the line that I was focused in on was that this author says he was raised by a single mom who’d hold down two or three jobs, and he had to be the man of the house, in a way, and people assume Newsom comes from money he doesn’t access. Yes privilege, yes, money, no. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Crabtree said her conclusions were based on research conducted for a book project.

“From my the year I spent researching this book with Peter Schweitzer’s top research director as well.”

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She acknowledged that Newsom was raised by a single mother but said additional context is often overlooked.

“There’s this story about that he was raised by a single mom. Now that is true, that part of the sentence is true, but he his dad was fired from a tech company, but he was put on that tech company by the Gettys. And the Gettys, of course, J Paul Getty was one of the richest men in the world in his time, and we’re talking big oil money.”

Crabtree argued that Newsom’s early connections and business background complicate the narrative about his upbringing.

“So it’s very ironic too, because you know, all of this cap and trade, all of these limits on emissions in California fly in the face of where Gavin Newsom got his start and all of his money in his wine business.”

She also referenced Newsom’s father’s career and political ties.

“So his dad was appointed by a judge to a judgeship by by Jerry Brown senior, the governor. There’s two, of course, Jerry Brown’s the senior and the junior. He was appointed by the senior, who was friends with his father.”

Crabtree questioned aspects of the financial narrative surrounding Newsom’s childhood.

“And so was he not making child support payments, or did his mother have to choose to live in a very expensive house in San Francisco that she couldn’t afford with the child care payments, and that’s why they had to take in the foster kids.”

She said additional reporting raised further questions about Newsom’s background and access to resources.

“But I have a recent story out that shows that he had both, he had a Rolodex, and he was running around in a Porsche at Santa Clara on in a very interesting way that he got into that school on a so called baseball scholarship.”

Crabtree encouraged readers to consult her book for further details.

“It’s all in my book. So I would, you know, I would love for you to check it out Fool’s Gold, but yeah, this story has so many holes in it, and they just bought it hook, line and sinker.”

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