California Gov. Newsom sues Fox News in $787M defamation suit over Trump call

· UPI

June 27 (UPI) -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday filed a $787 million defamation lawsuit against Fox News, alleging misleading comments about his phone call with President Donald Trump.

The suit was filed in Superior Court in Delaware, where the news network is incorporated.

"No more lies," Newsom posted on X. "I'm suing Fox News for $787 million." The two-sentence message included a report on the lawsuit by Politico. CNBC and The New York Times also obtained the lawsuit.

The amount is nearly identical to the $787.5 million Fox News paid Dominion Voting Systems in April 2023 to settle another defamation case over 2020 election falsehoods.

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The suit alleges Fox News was motivated to "lie and distort on behalf of the President."

Earlier this month, prime-time host Jesse Watters claimed Newsom lied about his phone calls with Trump, who ordered National Guard troops to Los Angeles to quell protests in response to the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Trump invoked a rarely used federal statute, and the federal courts have backed his authority in lawsuits by Newsom.

Newsom's lawyers argue a video segment was misleading from Trump about the call.

"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 told Politico in a statement. "I believe the American people should be able to trust the information they receive from a major news outlet. Until Fox is willing to be truthful, I will keep fighting against their propaganda machine."

Fox News said in a statement: "Gov. Newsom's transparent publicity stunt is frivolous and designed to chill free speech critical of him. We will defend this case vigorously and look forward to it being dismissed."

Newsom's lawyers said they will drop the lawsuit if Fox retracts its claims and Watters apologizes to him on air.

The lawsuit claims Newsom last spoke with Trump for approximately 16 minutes by phone late June 6 or early June 7, depending on the three-hour time difference. This is one day before the president deployed 2,000 California National Guard troops over Newsom's objections to counter protests in Los Angeles.

"The contents of that conversation are not germane to this matter, but at no point did President Trump raise the demonstrations in Los Angeles which had begun that day, nor discuss the National Guard," the suit said. "And when Governor Newsom attempted to discuss the situation in Los Angeles, President Trump steered the topic away."

On June 8, Newsom spoke about the phone call on MSNBC.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on June 10 that he spoke with Newsom "a day ago," implying a conversation took place the same day the National Guard and Marines were deployed to Los Angeles.

Trump said he had called the governor "to tell him, got to do a better job, he's doing a bad job. Causing a lot of death and a lot of potential death."

Newsom refuted there had been a call on that day or the situation in Los Angeles.

"There was no call. Not even a voicemail," Newsom wrote in a post on X. "Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying Marines onto our streets doesn't even know who he's talking to."

That evening, Watters played an edited clip of Trump that removed the president's claim that he spoke to Newsom "a day ago." Mediaite has posted the segment.

Watters then noted Newsom had said there was no phone call.

Watters reported Fox News host John Roberts received Trump's call logs, which showed the president and the governor last spoke on June 6 or 7.

"Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him?" Watters asked. "Why would he do that?"

A chyron said "Gavin Lied About Trump's Call," the suit said.

The suit alleges that Trump's call log as proof that Newsom was dishonest when it showed that Trump was incorrect about when the call took place.

"Rather than leave the matter alone, or simply provide the facts, Fox News chose to defame Governor Newsom, branding him a liar," the suit said. "Recognizing that President Trump was not correct, yet wanting to curry favor with the President, Fox News willfully distorted the facts."

Newsom's lawyers said the report meets the legal standard for defamation and it violated California's Unfair Competition Law, which outlaws "deceptive and unfair business practices."

And the news network caused "significant ill will toward Governor Newsom because he is a strong champion of progressive values and an articulate voice fighting the radical Fox News agenda."

"It is perhaps unsurprising that a near-octogenarian with a history of delusionary public statements and unhinged late-night social media screeds might confuse the dates," the lawyers wrote in the lawsuit. "But Fox's decision to cover up for President Trump's error cannot be so easily dismissed."

Newsom and Trump have had mainly a contentious relationship.

Newsom hugged Trump as the president departed to plan tour wildfire damage in Los Angeles in January.

In April, though, Newsom sued him over tariffs.

Trump has threatened to withhold funds for education and disaster recovery, and to remove the state's ability to regulate vehicle emissions.

In 2023, Newsom participated in a Fox News debate with Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.

During a briefing Friday in the White House, Trump criticized Newsom after a question about non-registered immigrants.

"They don't have a governor in California, they have a man who wants to give away everything to people nobody has seen before," Trump said. "If we didn't go into Los Angeles with the National Guard and be strong and tough you wouldn't maybe have a Los Angeles. So it would be like the rest of California."

He also criticized the state's response on the wildfires, and noted he helped bring water from other parts of California.

California officials said Trump didn't directly bring water to California wildfires, and his actions didn't have a positive effect on firefighting efforts.