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 Fox News host Jesse Watters 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 Democratic governor said he last spoke with Trump on June 7 after 1 a.m. ET for approximately 16 minutes by phone, two days before the president — over Newsom’s objections — deployed 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles. Trump on June 10 told reporters he had spoken with Newsom “a day ago,” implying the two had spoken on June 9, with the president claiming he “called [Newsom] to tell him, got to do a better job.”

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Newsom called out Trump’s claim as false in a post on X shortly afterward, writing, “There was no call. Not even a voicemail. Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying Marines onto our streets doesn’t even know who he’s talking to.”

According to the lawsuit, Fox News’ primetime show hosted by Watters on June 10 played an edited clip of Trump’s claims about his alleged call the day prior with the California governor. Watters then asked, “Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him?” The show also featured an on-screen graphic that said “Gavin Lied About Trump’s Call,” per the suit.

In addition, according to the lawsuit, 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 — intentionally — nearly 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.

Newsom’s lawsuit also seeks a court order prohibiting Fox News from airing or distributing claims that Newsom lied about his phone calls with Trump. The governor’s lawyers sent Fox News a letter demanding a retraction and an on-air apology from Watters; if the network complies, the governor would drop the suit, per the letter.

“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. “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.