California Gov. Gavin Newsom sues Fox News for $787 million, alleging defamation

The Democratic governor accuses the conservative news network of allegedly defaming him in its reporting of a phone call he had with President Donald Trump

Newsom has offered to withdraw the lawsuit if Fox News retracts its claim that the governor lied a call, and if host Jesse Watters issues an on-air apology

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Gavin Newsom sued Fox News on Friday, seeking damages of at least $787 million from the conservative network for allegedly defaming him by making misleading s a phone call with President Donald Trump. "No more lies," Newsom wrote in a tweet that announced his lawsuit, which the Democrat filed in Superior Court in Delaware, where Fox News is incorporated

Newsom's suit is focused on s by Fox News anchor Jesse Waters, who had said Newsom lied not having a call with Trump on a certain day in early June

The suit alleges that Fox News was motivated to "lie and distort on behalf of the President," who has been engaged in a feud with the governor over the deployment of California National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles in response to tests over the Trump administration's immigration enforcement efforts

It also accuses Fox of harboring "significant ill will toward Governor Newsom because he is a strong champion of gressive values and an articulate voice fighting the radical Fox News agenda. "Newsom's lawyers, in a letter Friday to Fox News, said the governor is prepared to voluntarily dismiss his lawsuit "if Fox News retracts the claim that he lied when speaking President Trump not calling him on June 9. "The letter also demands a "formal on-air apology" from Watters and Fox News in exchange for dismissal of the suit. "If Fox News wants to lie to the American people on Donald Trump's behalf, it should face consequences — just it did in the Dominion case," Newsom said in a statement. "I believe the American people should be able to trust the information they receive from a major news outlet

Until Fox is willing to be truthful, I will keep fighting against their paganda machine. "Fox News, in a statement, said "Gov

Newsom's transparent publicity stunt is frivolous and designed to chill free speech critical of him. ""We will defend this case vigorously and look forward to it being dismissed," the network said

Newsom's suit says the governor and Trump spoke for 16 minutes during a call late June 6, or early June 7, depending on the time zone. "The contents of that conversation are not germane to this matter, but at no point did President Trump raise the demonstrations in Los Angeles which had begun that day, nor discuss the National Guard," the suit says. "And when Governor Newsom attempted to discuss the situation in Los Angeles, President Trump steered the topic away. "The suit notes that days later, on June 10, Trump at a press briefing in the Oval Office told reporters that he last spoke to Newsom "a day ago. "The president said he had called the governor "to tell him, got to do a better job, he's doing a bad job

Causing a lot of death and a lot of potential death. "Newsom, after learning of Trump's claim, denied there had been a call on that day, much less that they discussed the situation in Los Angeles. "There was no call

Not even a voic," Newsom wrote in a post on the social media site X

Hours after Trump made his claim on June 10, the suit notes, Watters, during an episode of "Jesse Watters Primetime," played an edited clip of Trump that removed the president's claim that he spoke to Newsom "a day ago. "Watters then reported that Newsom had said there was no phone call

Watters then noted that Fox News host John Roberts had received Trump's call logs, which showed the president and the governor last spoke on June 6 or 7. "Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him. " Watters asked. "Why would he do that. "A chyron that played on Watters' show said "Gavin Lied Trump's Call," the suit notes

The suit says, "Rather than leave the matter alone, or simply vide the facts, Fox News chose to defame Governor Newsom, branding him a liar. ""Recognizing that President Trump was not correct, yet wanting to curry favor with the President, Fox News willfully distorted the facts," the suit says