Gavin Newsom Sues Fox News for $787 Million, Alleges Network Host Falsely Claimed He Lied About Trump Call
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has sued Fox News for defamation, demanding $787 million in monetary damages. The governor alleged that a Fox News host used an edited clip of President Trump’s remarks about Newsom to falsely claim that Newsom had lied about Trump not calling him about deploying National Guard troops to quell L.A. protests.
In Newsom’s suit, filed Friday in Delaware Superior Court, the governor claims he last spoke with Trump for approximately 16 minutes by phone on June 7, two days before the president deployed 2,000 California National Guard troops to L.A. over Newsom’s objections. Trump on June 10 told reporters he had spoken with Newsom “a day ago,” suggested the two spoke on June 9, but Newsom refuted Trump’s claim in a post on X minutes later.
According to the lawsuit, Fox News host Jesse Watters on June 10 played an edited clip of Trump’s remarks on air before asking, “Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him?” Watters’ program displayed a screenshot of the president’s call history, obtained by Fox News host John Roberts, showing Trump’s last call with Newsom was on June 7, as the governor had claimed.
The amount of monetary damages Newsom is seeking in the Fox News lawsuit is almost identical to the $787.5 million the network agreed to pay in April 2023 to settle a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems, which alleged Fox News repeatedly and knowingly aired false claims about the voting company’s actions and influence on the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
“If Fox News wants to lie to the American people on Donald Trump’s behalf, it should face consequences — just like it did in the Dominion case,” Newsom said in a statement to Politico. “Until Fox is willing to be truthful, I will keep fighting against their propaganda machine.”
Reps for Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
