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Gavin Newsom slaps Fox News with explosive $800M lawsuit: Here's why
California Governor Gavin Newsom has filed an $800 million lawsuit against Fox News.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has filed an $800 million lawsuit against Fox News. The lawsuit alleges that the network deliberately misrepresented a phone call he had with President Donald Trump during the Los Angeles riots. It also claims that the false portrayal misled viewers and could damage Newsom’s political future, particularly in potential upcoming elections.
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Why is Gavin Newsom suing Fox News?
On Friday, Newsom filed a defamation lawsuit seeking $787 million in damages. The suit stems from remarks made by host Jesse Watters, who claimed Newsom lied about his phone conversations with former Trump concerning the recent deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles.
According to the governor’s legal team, Watters’ show aired a deceptively edited video of Trump to falsely support the accusation, thereby intentionally misleading viewers and harming Newsom’s reputation, as reported by Politico.
In a statement to the media outlet, the governor said, “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.” He added, "Until Fox is willing to be truthful, I will keep fighting against their propaganda machine.”
Newson will dismiss lawsuit on one condition
In the complaint filed in Delaware Superior Court, the California governor stated he spoke with Trump for about 16 minutes on June 7, one day before the president deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, allegedly over the state’s objections.
However, the president later told reporters on June 10 that the conversation happened “a day ago,” implying a different timeline. The claim was quickly denied in a post on X by Newsom. That evening, Watters aired an edited clip of Trump’s remarks, questioned the governor’s honesty, and showed a screenshot of a call log obtained by Fox News host John Roberts claiming the June 7 exchange happened.
Newsom's lawyers, however, said that their client is willing to dismiss the lawsuit if Watters apologizes to him on air.
