Gov. Gavin Newsom had a choice. When independent journalist Nick Shirley exposed over $170 million in suspected fraud in California’s government-funded programs, he could have promised accountability. The fraud involved daycare centers, hospices, and adult care facilities billing taxpayers while allegedly delivering nothing. Newsom could have said his administration would investigate.
Instead, his press office posted an AI-generated image implying Shirley was a child predator.
Nick Shirley, right now pic.twitter.com/vWrp34Dmfa
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) March 17, 2026
The governor’s press office didn’t refute a single allegation. They didn’t point to oversight measures. They just tried to paint a journalist investigating government fraud as a predator lurking outside a children’s facility. The post was state-run propaganda dressed up as a meme. That kinda tells you everything you need to know.
Nick Shirley built his reputation exposing what legacy media refused to touch. His Minnesota fraud investigation has racked up over 138 million views on X alone and prompted federal investigations into the fraud.
Shirley then turned his camera on California, releasing a video titled “I Exposed California’s Billion Dollar Fraud Crisis,” going face-to-face with operators of daycare centers, hospices, and adult care facilities. What he found was brazen. Fraudsters living in luxury, driving six-figure cars, and businesses billing the state millions while providing little or nothing in return. One adult daycare alone had allegedly billed California $19 million. Shirley’s team says the total suspected fraud they uncovered exceeds $170 million. The full scope of the California crisis dwarfs even what he found in Minnesota.
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“It’s sad to think about it,” Shirley said in the video. “Here in the United States, we are literally being defrauded by people who are taking advantage of old people, young people in daycares, disabled people with autism clinics, and no one is doing anything to stop it. So I think it’s time we stand up to these fraudsters.”
And now Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is calling out Newsom.
“Why can’t you celebrate any journalist or any activist doing that?” Fetterman asked during a podcast interview. “And Governor Newsom put out a disgusting video implying that he’s a pedophile or he’s that… why? That’s kind of a smear. You want to disagree, but to imply that someone in one of the most gross kinds of terms like that — it’s like, hey, shouldn’t we agree, eliminate all the waste?”
Fetterman didn’t stop there. “Fraud can happen on both sides, but when it’s identified, I don’t care if it’s in a Democratic state,” he said. “We should all just acknowledge maybe there is a problem here.”
That’s a Democrat from Pennsylvania defending a conservative independent journalist against California’s Democratic governor, and a top contender for the 2028 Democratic Party nomination. Fraud is fraud. Waste is waste. It doesn’t get a partisan exemption just because it’s happening on blue turf.
Newsom clearly sees Shirley as a threat to his 2028 presidential ambitions. The smear campaign makes that obvious. But by attacking the messenger he’s proving that he has something to hide.
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