That’s one from the MAGA playbook.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday he wants Fox News to pay him $787 million in a defamation lawsuit, accusing the right-wing network of lying about phone calls between him and President Donald Trump earlier this month.
His ire is specifically with host Jesse Watters. The Democrat says the primetime pundit’s program edited a video to support the president’s allegedly bogus claim that he called Newsom twice amid their sparring over anti-ICE protests, not just once.
“No more lies,” Newsom posted on X. “I’m suing Fox News for $787 million.”
The lawsuit was filed in Delaware, where Fox News is incorporated. In addition to hundreds of millions in payment, it also asks a judge to bar the network from claiming on air that Newsom lied about his call with Trump.
Newsom’s decision to challenge Fox in court is similar to how Trump and his allies have challenged mainstream media outlets in MAGA 2.0. It is akin to the lawsuit Trump filed against CBS last year, alleging it aired a deceptively edited 60 Minutes interview with then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
The suit initially demanded $10 billion but later increased the amount to $20 billion. The issue remains in mediation, but is likely to settle for far less than Trump has officially demanded.
The governor’s claim against Fox News appears to be stronger than Trump’s against CBS. Newsom spoke to the president late at night on June 6, which was after 1 a.m. June 7 in Washington, according to Newsom and a cellphone record provided to Fox News by Trump.
Days later, on June 10, Trump was asked when he last spoke to Newsom.
“A day ago,” Trump answered. “Called him to tell him, got to do a better job.”
Newsom publicly labeled that as a lie, as it had been days since they last spoke. He said it was alarming that Trump was deploying U.S. Marines to Los Angeles, but could not keep his dates straight, or did not know who he was talking to.
Trump fired back by texting Fox News. He sent them a screenshot of what he claimed was proof that he and Newsom had spoken the day prior, as he stated in his news conference. However, Newsom claims that call was their conversation from June 6, not one from June 9 (which he maintains never happened). The screenshot backs up Newsom’s claim.
Despite this, Newsom alleges that Fox News used deceptive editing to make it appear the California governor was lying about his contact with the president, not the other way around.
For this, Newsom demands that the network either cough up cash or have Watters apologize on air. If the network chooses the latter option, he says he will drop the lawsuit entirely.
If no apology is forthcoming, however, Newsom is asking Fox News to pay him $787 million—the same amount the network paid to Dominion Voting Systems in 2023 after it lost a defamation lawsuit related to post-election coverage in 2020.
“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,” Newsom said in a statement. “I believe the American people should be able to trust the information they receive from a major news outlet.”
Fox News told the Daily Beast in a statement that Newsom’s lawsuit was a “publicity stunt.”
“Gov. Newsom’s transparent publicity stunt is frivolous and designed to chill free speech critical of him,” the statement read. “We will defend this case vigorously and look forward to it being dismissed.”
