Steve Hilton Says His New Receipts Prove What Becerra Knew All Along

Steve Hilton told Xavier Becerra on a debate stage to start preparing his criminal defense.

Now Hilton says he has the receipts to prove Becerra knew exactly what his own staff was doing.

Those receipts point straight at a text message that could blow up Becerra's entire campaign for governor.

Guilty Pleas Show How $225,000 Vanished From Becerra's Own Campaign Account

Sean McCluskie was Xavier Becerra's chief of staff, and prosecutors say his federal salary at Health and Human Services wasn't enough for him.

So the scheme kicked in.

Investigators say Becerra's dormant California campaign account got billed $7,500 a month for consulting work that was never performed.

That money ran through a firm operated by Dana Williamson, Gavin Newsom's former chief of staff.

From there Williamson cut $10,000 monthly checks that landed as a paycheck for a job McCluskie's wife never actually worked.

Williamson, McCluskie, and a Sacramento lobbyist have all pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges tied to the scheme.

The Justice Department says Williamson admitted to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, filing a false tax return, and lying to a federal agent.

Buried in the case file is a text message telling one conspirator to "talk to Public Official Number One."

Becerra – who also served as Biden’s HHS Secretary – has confirmed he is Public Official Number One.

Williamson's own sentencing has already been pushed back once, from July to September 17.

She walked away from her state job with a $50,000 payout for unused vacation time while under investigation.

Nobody in Sacramento asked how that looked.

Hilton Wants the FBI Back in the Room With Becerra Before Voters Decide

Hilton didn't wait for a press release to go after Becerra.

He did it standing next to him.

"You shouldn't be on the debate stage," Hilton told him in May, according to the Washington Examiner. "You shouldn't be in this race. You should be preparing your criminal defense."

Becerra insisted he had nothing to do with it.

Hilton isn't buying a word of it.

"Becerra's saying he didn't know anything about it," Hilton told LifeZette. "It's incomprehensible to me that he didn't know about it. I think he's lying. I think it's obvious that he knew."

Hilton isn't stopping at a debate zinger anymore.

He and California attorney general candidate Michael Gates sent a letter to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche demanding agents reopen the file and re-interview Becerra.

They want him back under oath before a single ballot gets counted in November.

California Democrats Have Been Running This Playbook for Years

This isn't the first time a California Democrat's campaign account got treated like a family piggy bank.

Back in 2011, treasurer Kinde Durkee bled more than $7 million out of Democratic campaigns, including $4.7 million straight from Dianne Feinstein's own account.

Feinstein never noticed the money disappearing, and she got reelected anyway.

That's the pattern Becerra is counting on.

Becerra hasn't been charged, and no gubernatorial candidate is currently charged in the case.

But "Public Official Number One" isn't a title you earn by standing on the sidelines, and if the FBI finds he lied to agents about what he knew, he's looking at the same false statements charge that already netted Williamson a felony plea.

That's five years of exposure right there, before anyone even reaches the fraud conspiracy count.

Follow the money and it runs straight through Newsom's old chief of staff laundering campaign cash into a consulting firm, which is exactly the pattern conservative reporters have documented across Newsom's California for years – unemployment fraud, Medi-Cal fraud, homelessness fraud, and now a governor candidate's own campaign account.

Becerra wants to run that state next.

If he wins in November before the FBI ever re-interviews him, California will have sworn in a governor his own former chief of staff's spouse got paid off to keep quiet about.

Voters deserve to know what he knew before they hand him the keys.

Sources:

• Bob Hoge, "Hilton Says He Has Receipts Showing Becerra Knew About $225K Corruption Scheme, Wants FBI Help," RedState, August 30, 2026.
• LifeZette News Staff, "Steve Hilton Blows Lid Off Becerra-Newsom Cash Scam: The Swamp Runs Straight Through California," LifeZette, August 13, 2026.
• Brady Knox, "Steve Hilton Tells Becerra to Prepare 'Criminal Defense' Over Ex-Aide's Corruption Case," Washington Examiner, May 14, 2026.
• U.S. Department of Justice, "California Political Consultant and Former Public Official Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Fraud, Filing a False Tax Return, and Making False Statements," U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of California, May 14, 2026.
• Christopher F. Rufo, Ryan Thorpe, Kenneth Schrupp, and Haley Strack, "Gavin Newsom's Empire of Fraud," City Journal, April 1, 2026.
• Fox News, "Prosecutors: Democratic Campaign Treasurer Embezzled at Least $7 Million From Multiple Clients," Fox News, March 28, 2012.