Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom filed a defamation lawsuit on Friday against Fox News, alleging that it intentionally misrepresented details of a phone call he had with US President Donald Trump earlier this month.
Newsom's lawsuit, filed in a Delaware court, where Fox News is incorporated, seeks $787 million in damages.
Trump and Newsom spoke by phone on June 7, but did not address the protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids across Los Angeles for undocumented immigrants, according to the lawsuit.
Later that day, Republican President Trump ordered the deployment of thousands of National Guard troops to the city in response to the protests, bypassing the California governor's approval.
Trump stated during a White House press conference on June 10 that he had spoken with Newsom "the day before," a claim Newsom quickly refuted on social media.
Newsom wrote on the X platform, "There was no call. Not even a voicemail."
In response, Fox News anchor Jesse Watters claimed that Newsom was lying about the call.
Another Fox News journalist, John Roberts, said Trump sent him a call log to prove Newsom was lying, but the screenshot he showed of the log showed the call took place on June 7.
Newsom told Maids Touch he was used to Fox News' criticism, "but this crossed the line... journalistically, ethically, defamatoryly, and maliciously."
The lawsuit accused Fox News of deliberately misleading viewers about the call to damage Newsom's political career, saying that those who watched Watters' report would be less likely to support his future campaigns.
Fox News described the lawsuit as a "publicity stunt," saying in a statement to AFP that the legal action was "frivolous and aimed at suppressing free speech."
In a statement, Newsom compared his lawsuit to a 2023 lawsuit filed by Dominion Election Technology Systems against Fox News, which accused the network of intentionally spreading false information about its voting machines negatively impacting Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
The $100 million in damages Newsom is seeking is roughly the same amount Fox News paid in a settlement with Dominion.
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