Newsom hit with lawsuit threat as whistleblower begs Trump for help with ‘monumental’ fraud scandal

California’s "monumental problem" with rampant fraud is about to get significantly worse, according to Republican state Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, after Gov.

Gavin Newsom signed a bill that he warns will crack down on people investigating scammers.

Officially titled "Privacy for immigration support services providers," the new law creates privacy protections for immigration support service providers, employees and volunteers, including shielding their addresses and imposing penalties on those who publish their images on social media.

DeMaio told Fox News Digital the bill amounts to criminalizing investigative journalism and works to "silence citizen journalists and shield taxpayer-funded organizations from public scrutiny." "What does the Stop Nick Shirley Act do? It basically makes it illegal for a citizen journalist to document fraud of taxpayer money and post that on the internet in the form of an internet video," he said.

Newsom signed the bill into law last week, and it is set to take effect Oct.

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DeMaio told Fox News Digital that he and a "coalition of civil liberty protectors" are prepared to file a lawsuit challenging the law.

DEMS RIPPED FOR 'STOP NICK SHIRLEY ACT' THAT COULD 'SHIELD' FRAUD AND ABUSE IN CALIFORNIA "We have a plaintiff and are putting together the legal briefs," he said, adding, "It is a matter of time before we're going to get before a judge to stop this act." "It is our hope," he continued, "that the U.S.

Department of Justice will file to intervene in that case, because this is an open-and-shut infringement on our First Amendment rights." DeMaio said California ’s fraud scandal makes the Minnesota fraud look like "garden variety government mismanagement." "If you were worried about Somali daycare centers in Minnesota not having children in the daycare, take a look at California government NGOs receiving taxpayer funds and not having any sort of public services that they're delivering," he said.

"They say they provide public services to immigrants when, in fact, they organize rallies, they harvest ballots, they endorse candidates and ballot measures during campaigns, and they are an extension of the Democrat Party." DeMaio said the planned lawsuit follows discussions with the Justice Department’s Office for Civil Rights.

NICK SHIRLEY WARNS CALIFORNIA BILL COULD PUNISH PEOPLE TRYING TO EXPOSE GOVERNMENT FRAUD "I have asked the U.S.

Department of Justice Office of Civil Rights to look at the Stop Nick Shirley Act … to see if they can do anything to intervene to prevent the implementation of this law.

We have been dialoguing with the Department of Justice, and now we have a game plan as to how we will proceed forward in the courts to overturn this unconstitutional law," he said.