California Gov. Gavin Newsom has filed a $787 million lawsuit against Fox News alleging the company defamed him through its coverage of a phone call between the governor and President Donald Trump.
“No more lies,” Newsom wrote on social media platform X on June 27, confirming news of the lawsuit. “I’m suing Fox News for $787 million.”
The governor seeks damages for what he alleged were lies about a phone call with the president. He has also asked the court for an order to stop Fox News from broadcasting or posting segments that say Newsom lied about the call.
Newsom also sent a letter to Fox News, demanding that it issue a retraction and that host Jesse Watters issue an on-air apology about the call. If the news company and Watters meet those conditions, Newsom will drop the lawsuit.
Newsom’s latest legal action was done in a personal capacity, one of his official spokespersons, Brandon Richards, told The Epoch Times.
Observers have been speculating on a possible presidential run for Newsom in recent years, though he has denied any intention of entering the 2028 race. However, the governor hinted at the possibility in an interview with the Wall Street Journal for a profile published on June 10.
“I’m not thinking about running, but it’s a path that I could see unfold,” he said.
Fox News reported earlier this month that Newsom had lied when he said he did not get a call from Trump.
Trump shared with Fox News an apparent screenshot of a call the president said he had with the governor about the Los Angeles riots, dated 1:23 a.m. on June 7, that lasted 16 minutes.
“There was no call. Not even a voicemail,” Newson wrote in a June 10 post on X.
In the lawsuit, Newsom said he did not speak with Trump again after a June 7 phone call. Trump told reporters on June 10 that he had spoken with the governor “a day ago.”
The complaint states Fox News made a misleading video clip and multiple false statements about the timing of the last call, acting with malice in an effort to brand Newsom a liar and to curry favor with Trump, Reuters reported.
Newsom spoke about the lawsuit with independent journalist Terry Moran Friday and posted a video of the conversation on his Substack account.
“Well, the beef is, you can’t maliciously slander someone,” Newsom said about the lawsuit. “You can’t defame someone by altering facts, editing facts, knowingly doing that, without being held to some higher level of ethics and accountability.”
Newsom called Fox News a “propaganda network” and further explained his claims.
“Donald Trump and I had a phone call on June 6, early morning, maybe June 7,” Newsom said. “Four days later, Donald Trump lied and said, well, we talked the day before. I highlighted the fact that we never talked the day before.”
The governor alleged that Fox News knowingly “decided to cover up for the president’s lie” in a way that defamed him.
“I just think we need to call that out now,” he added. “There’s red lines, and this red line, they crossed it. And I want a simple apology.”
Newsom also accused Fox News of running a chyron stating he lied about President Trump.
The governor said he asked for $787.5 million in damages based on a previous settlement between Fox News and Dominion. The voting systems company sued Fox News for $1.6 billion over alleged false 2020 election claims.
The news corporation settled with Dominion in April 2023, agreeing to pay the company $787.5 million to avert a trial.
Fox News responded Friday to the lawsuit, calling it a “publicity stunt.”
“Gov. Newsom’s transparent publicity stunt is frivolous and designed to chill free speech critical of him,” a Fox News spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email. “We will defend this case vigorously and look forward to it being dismissed.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the defendant in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest lawsuit in one instance and misspelled Fox News host Jesse Watters’s name. The Epoch Times regrets the errors.
