In the world of Gavin Newsom, fraud investigations are something to fight, not assist.

Hence we have the spectacle of Newsom lavishing another $1 million in taxpayer money on “defending” against federal probes of fraud in California.

Good grief. So taxpayers will shell out another mil –– to help block federal investigators from protecting taxpayers.

That’s several layers of wrong.

Here’s what Newsom should do instead: (genuinely) help clean up the fraud that’s run wild in California during his two terms as governor.

Newsom has no defense for the stratospheric levels of fraud on his watch, so he’s attacked investigators, cried partisanship, pretended his state has sufficiently addressed fraud and then changed the subject.

Just this week, the gov’s office told the California Post that fraud investigators have targeted anti-Trump states for political reasons.

Sigh. The tired excuses date to early this year, when the federal government announced a sweeping fraud crackdown led by JD Vance.

And for good reason: In one category of fraud alone, the California Post found hospices –– which bill federal taxpayers for end-of-life care –– tied to empty storefronts, nonexistent facilities and addresses purported to house a dozen hospices in a single location.

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Newsom, dubbed “the fraud king” in April by LA’s top prosecutor, has no good defense –– so he slams the president and squanders taxpayers’ cash on fighting the feds.

Of course with Newsom –– who famously shirked his own COVID rules to dine, sans mask, at the posh French Laundry –– it’s not about doing the right thing.

It’s about doing the political thing.

It’s about avoiding further embarrassment on the eve of his likely run for president.

Enough already.

Newsom should take accountability for the fraud on his watch, instead of torching $1 million in taxpayer cash to thwart probes of fraud against taxpayers.