What to Know
A resurfaced clip of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, is really bothering conservatives. In the clip, Jennifer talks about visiting San Quentin state prison and sharing a story with youth offenders. Conservatives have largely framed it as a “pathetic” attempt to come across as “relatable.” Some acted totally horrified by the clip, like they couldn’t even believe that it was real.
In the video from 2016, Jennifer recalls visiting San Quentin and telling inmates about her sister’s tragic death. Her sister’s death is something that she has spoken about before, though a lot of people clearly didn’t know about the tragic accident until they saw the resurfaced clip.
Jennifer said she interviewed “young men who were juvenile offenders.”
Gavin Newsom's wife recalls telling prisoners at San Quentin about running over and killing her sister with a golf cart.
— MAZE (@mazemoore) April 7, 2026
She said that she wasn't punished because it was an accident but that the prisoners are doing life even though theirs was "probably an accident too." pic.twitter.com/24HqCHXSZh
When speaking to the men, she told a heartbreaking story from her own childhood. She imagines that they were not expecting to hear this kind of story from her, of all people. “I told them about my own loss, where I lost my older sister a few days before my 7th birthday,” she explained in the clip. “And I blame myself for her death. I share that because they, ultimately, were accused of committing these violent crimes and sentenced for life, and I think it shocked them that this blonde lady who was interviewing them had a similar story.”
In 2023, she spoke to the Los Angeles Times about how, during a family vacation in Hawaii when she was about to turn seven, she didn’t notice her 8-year-old sister behind her golf cart. The golf cart moved backwards as they were playing, killing her sister. She believes that “survivor’s guilt” subconsciously impacted her for years after that. “I felt the pressure to be perfect, to make my parents forget, by being two daughters instead of one,” she told the publication.
When speaking to the inmates, she related this story back to them.
You can’t make this shit up. https://t.co/H0qL3HZBxh
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) April 7, 2026
In the resurfaced clip, Jennifer said that the inmates “perhaps” had a similar experience that involved being “in the wrong place at the wrong time.” However, Jennifer added that she “wasn’t punished the way that they were because, clearly, it was an accident.”
She then went on to make the point that the inmates might’ve had this in common with her as well. “Theirs was probably an accident too,” she said. Though the clip is 10 years old, lots of conservatives, including Donald Trump Jr., have been sharing it recently.
On X, Don Jr. captioned the clip with, “You can’t make this s— up.” Conservative activist Riley Gaines also had something to say about it. “Newsom’s wife’s latest virtue signal is telling San Quentin lifers that she faced zero consequences when her sister was killed because it was an accident then telling them their life sentences are probably for ‘accidents’ too,” Riley wrote. “Peak elite tone-deafness.”
Megyn Kelly also shared it and simply wrote, “what??”
Other people had similar reactions.
A lot of the critics used the clip to criticize the political left as a whole. “It’s often hard to tell with leading liberals whether they are just really naive about the realities of criminal or if they just love evil,” one of them wrote.
Several critics called Jennifer’s comments “scary,” “elitist,” and “self-absorbed.” The clip was perhaps even more controversial because many predict that the California governor will run for president. “It’s obvious that Gavin Newsom and his wife are NOT President or First Lady material!” one critic wrote in response to the resurfaced video.
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