(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued Fox News on Friday over what he claimed were defamatory remarks about his phone call with President Donald Trump before the deployment of the National Guard in the Golden State.
Newsom claimed Fox News host Jesse Watters mistakenly accused him of lying about Trump never informing him of the deployment, which was aimed at quelling the anti-ICE riots that broke out earlier this month in San Francisco.
He’s demanding $787 million, the same amount Fox paid in its settlement with Dominion Voting Systems after the 2020 election.
Fox News slammed the longshot lawsuit as “frivolous” and a “transparent publicity stunt” to “chill free speech” critical of him. The channel added, “We will defend this case vigorously and look forward to it being dismissed.”
Newsom insists Trump never called him, even though Trump’s call log shows a June 7 conversation and Trump himself tweeted on June 10 that he’d called Newsom “a day ago.”
Here is the call log: https://t.co/Mmp0Np6aqf pic.twitter.com/nZMY9NevZ0
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) June 10, 2025
“There was no call. Not even a voicemail,” Newsom wrote on X. “Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying Marines onto our streets doesn’t even know who he’s talking to.”
In remarks to Politico, Newsom added that “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 claimed he will “keep fighting against” what he dubiously described as Fox’s “propaganda machine.”
The suit, filed in Delaware where Fox is incorporated, centers on Watters’s on‑air challenge: “Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him?”
JUST IN: California Governor Gavin Newsom sues Fox News for $800M, accusing the network of lying about his call with President Trump during the LA riots.
Newsom is specifically demanding an on-air apology from Jesse Watters.
“Mr. Newsom’s lawyers also sent Fox News a letter… pic.twitter.com/PskmgEjGnZ
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) June 27, 2025
