California Governor Gavin Newsom denied a bombshell claim that he secretly personally funded his own bronze bust to display at City Hall to commemorate his time as mayor of San Francisco. 

The shock report published by authors Jedd McFatter and Susan Crabtree in the book Fool’s Gold: The Radicals, Con Artists, and Traitors Who Killed the California Dream and Now Threaten Us All claim Newsom used something called ‘behested payments’ to fund the monument. 

Newsom’s payments show three private organizations donated to the nonprofit earmarked for ‘Mayoral Bust at San Francisco City Hall.’

Two of the companies are companies owned by Newsom. Balboa Cafe Partners and PlumpJack Management Group are the Newsom-owned organizations, donated combined $10,000 to the $97,000 bust fund, the book reports.

But the governor’s office disputed the claim. 

 ‘To imply the Governor personally funded or proposed this effort is categorically false,’ Brandon Richards, Newsom’s Deputy Director for Rapid Response told DailyMail.com. 

The sculpture currently sits near other two-term mayors such as Willie Brown, Dianne Feinstein, and George Moscone. 

Companies owned by the Newsom family helped pay for his own monument at San Francisco City Hall commemorating his time as mayor

A new book threatens to undo Newsom’s image rehabilitation by claiming he paid to honor himself at San Francisco City Hall

Richards conceded that businesses tied to the Newsom family contributed a ‘modest contribution’ to the privately funded effort, but said it was not ‘secret,’ as reports claimed. 

The governor’s office said the governor’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom helped raise the money for the bronze bust of the former mayor, which was reported in the San Francisco Chronicle in 2018. 

But that report did not reveal the specific donations for the monument made by his family businesses. 

One of the book’s co-authors, Susan Crabtree, responded to Newsom’s claims in a statement to DailyMail.com.

‘Team Newsom is afraid of the shocking revelations in FOOL’S GOLD—which is backed by more than forty-five pages of endnotes containing more than 1,000 open-source reputable and verifiable citations with zero anonymous sources—and that is why they are trying to smear this book,’ Crabtree replied. 

The book threatens to disrupted Newsom’s careful effort to rehab his image as he eyes a run for president in 2028 after his time as a surrogate for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. 

The California governor recently launched a podcast, where he is hosting interviews with conservative activists like Charlie Kirk, populist nationalist Stephen K. Bannon and conservative radio host Michael Savage. 

Newsom served as mayor of California’s second largest city from 2004 to 2011, elected while he was still married to Donald Trump’s current Ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle. 

The book chronicles Newsom’s use of ‘behested payments’ to fund projects adding to his legacy. 

‘The simple fact is that no one knew that Gavin Newsom used a called ‘behested payments’ to solicit funds from his own companies to erect a monument to himself inside San Francisco City Hall until we followed the money and unearthed the obscure documents,’ Crabtree stated. ‘Furthermore, Newsom’s team has thus far whether his companies got a tax break for funding this ‘charitable’ statue; just like Newsom’s and his statute is a scandal, and we stand by our reporting.’

When the bust was being constructed, Newsom admitted that he found the whole thing odd but chose to play naïve about who paid for it. 

‘I don’t want to call it embarrassing, but it’s a strange thing,’ he told SFGATE at the time. ‘I’m just awkward about it. But now the word is out.’ 

Jedd McFatter and Susan Crabtree’s Fool’s Gold: The Radicals, Con Artists, and Traitors Who Killed the California Dream and Now Threaten Us All claim Newsom used something called ‘behested payments’ to pull it off

At the time, the newspaper reported that ‘Newsom supporters’ had paid for the bust with ‘private funds.’

Newsom has faced scrutiny for the move, with one calling him ‘ridiculous.’   

‘Now I know what a narcissist is,’ wrote another.

‘This is peak leftist arrogance—worshiping their own failures while everyday Californians suffer under their disastrous policies,’ added another. 

‘If only he cared half as much about fixing his state as he does about immortalizing his own ego.’ 

Newsom has been facing criticism over his his podcast and his handling of the devastating Los Angeles wildfires.

While the Golden State is in the midst of recovering from the horrific wildfire disaster, which left at least 29 people dead and more than 18,000 structures destroyed, the Democratic governor was accused of having his focus on other issues, as he launched his new podcast venture.