Gavin Newsom spent $57K jetting around Europe on tab of wealthy donors, robotaxi firm

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ever-cozy relationship with wealthy donors and special interests helped fund $57,000 worth of flights, hotels and meals as he sought to raise his global profile and rub elbows with elites in Davos, Munich and London, according to records obtained by The Post.

The overseas trips — which included appearances at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland in January, followed by the Munich Security Conference in Germany and a climate summit in London in mid-February — were financed through the California State Protocol Foundation, a nonprofit that exists to cover the governor’s expenses.

Newsom spent more than $26,500 on flights to and from Davos, nearly $6,600 on hotels during his stay and another $600 on food, according to information The Post obtained through a Public Records Act request.

The trips to London and Munich remained top tier but a bit less swanky, as Newsom’s flights totaled just over $20,000 and he spent $2,809 on hotels and another $750 on food. 

The governor’s office declined to provide security costs and itemized receipts for the Eurotrips.

Newsom’s unprecedented expansion of behested payments — a controversial practice that allows elected officials to act as an intermediary for unlimited contributions from wealthy donors and special interests, including those with business before the state — drew immediate criticism from Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton.

“It’s just the latest example of the total corruption of our system of government in California,” Hilton told The Post.

“The fact that something like behested payments even exists is an insult to every California taxpayer who expects their government to be working for them — not special interests.”

One of the Newsom foundation’s biggest recent donors was Zoox, Amazon’s robotaxi company, which contributed $75,000 on Feb. 24.

The autonomous vehicle service is looking to join Waymo in winning state approvals that would allow Zoox to expand commercial robotaxi operations and eventually charge for rides in California.

Zoox has given $155,000 total to the governor’s Protocol Foundation since July 2024, according to state records.

A source with knowledge of the matter told The Post that Newsom and Zoox CEO Aicha Evans shared a meal this month at San Francisco’s Huntington Hotel. Neither the governor’s office nor Zoox answered questions from The Post about the meal and what was discussed.

Terrie Prosper, a CPUC spokesperson, confirmed that Zoox holds Drivered and Driverless Pilot authorizations, but it has not yet submitted an application for a Driverless Deployment permit.

Zoox’s donations may have been particularly timely because the Protocol Foundation has frequently run low on funds at the start of recent years.

The nonprofit is managed by Steve Kawa, a longtime Newsom advisor whom the governor just appointed to the controversial High-Speed Rail Authority board.

Protocol Foundation’s most recent IRS filing shows it ended 2024 with just $7,790 in net assets, forcing it to replenish its coffers with a fresh round of donations from wealthy benefactors, politically connected nonprofits and corporations.

Other recent donors included: philanthropist Susie Tompkins Buell, who gave $100,000; crypto billionaire Chris Larsen, who gave $10,000; and the dark money group New Venture Fund, which has contributed $150,000 since last October.

Newsom, who is now the subject of a federal investigation, used his European jaunts to bolster his profile on the international stage — he is weighing a run for president in 2028 — while repeatedly casting California as a foil to President Trump.

The governor traveled to Davos from Jan. 20 through Jan. 24 for the annual World Economic Forum, where he met with world leaders, CEOs and investors while delivering a series of speeches warning about Trump’s return to the White House.

“I should’ve brought a bunch of knee pads for all the world leaders,” Newsom quipped in Davos, referencing merch he sells to help fund his federal political action committee, Campaign for Democracy. 

“I hope people understand how pathetic they look on the world stage,” Newsom continued. “I mean, at least from an American perspective, it’s embarrassing.”

The Post recently found that Newsom’s PACs have taken money from wealthy donors just days and weeks before the governor handed out political appointments to some of the connected individuals.

Less than a month after Davos, Newsom attended the Munich Security Conference from Feb. 14 through Feb. 16 before traveling to London, where he signed a mostly symbolic climate pact with the United Kingdom. California lacks the authority to enter binding international treaties.

Officials for the campaign of Xavier Becerra, the longtime Democrat who is seeking to succeed Newsom and has the governor’s endorsement, declined comment Wednesday. Becerra’s opponent, Hilton, has argued that Newsom’s practices around behested payments have put the governor’s career interests over Californians.

“One of the reasons I’m running is to clean up the corruption in Sacramento,” Hilton told The Post. “And that includes ending behested payments so we can focus on what we should be doing: cutting costs for Californians and ending the bloat in our government.”

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