California Gov. Gavin Newsom filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Fox News on Friday, accusing host Jesse Watters of defamation by falsely claiming that Newsom had lied about a phone call with President Donald Trump during a dispute over the use of the National Guard in Los Angeles.
The lawsuit, seeking more than $787 million and filed in Delaware Superior Court, claims that Fox "operates as a propaganda machine for President Trump’s radical right-wing agenda," citing the nearly $800-million settlement the network reached with Dominion Voting Systems in 2023 over its coverage of the 2020 election, which Trump lost.
"By disregarding basic journalistic ethics in favor of malicious propaganda, Fox continues to play a major role in the further erosion of the bedrock principles of informed representative government," the lawsuit states. "Setting the record straight and confronting Fox’s dishonest practices are critical to protecting democracy from being overrun by disinformation and lies."
“Gov. Newsom’s transparent publicity stunt is frivolous and designed to chill free speech critical of him," Fox News said in a statement. "We will defend this case vigorously and look forward to it being dismissed."
On June 10, a reporter asked Trump in the Oval Office when he had last spoken with Newsom. Trump replied that it was "a day ago" and that he had called the governor "to tell him, got to do a better job."
On X that same day, Newsom responded: "There was no call. Not even a voicemail."
Newsom told MSNBC on June 8 that the two had spoken late on the night of June 6, then accused Trump of being a “stone-cold liar” over the contents of their conversation.
On air on June 10, Watters claimed that Newsom had lied.
"Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him? Why would he do that?" Watters said, as an on-screen banner read: "Gavin Lied About Trump's Call."
"If Fox News fails to issue a formal retraction and on-air apology, we will proceed with the lawsuit so that a jury can determine Fox News’s culpability and assign a monetary value to its 'blatantly unethical' conduct," the governor's lawyers Michael Teter and Mark Bankson wrote in a letter.
Politico first reported on the lawsuit.
The move by Newsom is in effect a troll of the Trump camp, which has aggressively used the courts to go after the media, law firms, universities and other major institutions as he tests the limits of his office's powers.
The back and forth over whether Trump called Newsom played out on national TV this month as Trump activated U.S. Marines and federalized the National Guard in response to protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Los Angeles.
Newsom slammed Trump's move in activating troops as escalatory and, despite some images of violence in the city, said existing law enforcement could have handled any violence or destruction without federal interference. He argued that the move was “purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions” and that there was “currently no unmet need.”
