California Democratic Governor Gin Newsom filed a $787 million defamation lawsuit against Fox News on Friday, alleging the news network deliberately misrepresented the timeline of a phone call between him and President Donald Trump to make it appear the governor lied about their communication.
The lawsuit, first reported by POLITICO, centers on Fox News’ coverage of a June 7 phone call between Trump and Newsom during anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles County. President Trump said he deployed thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines to the area to quell the violence despite the governor’s objections, but local officials say they are there to protect federal buildings and federal workers.
The dispute arose when Trump claimed on June 10 that he had called Newsom “a day ago.” Newsom subsequently denied any recent contact, stating: “There was no call. Not even a voicemail. Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying Marines onto our streets doesn’t even know who he’s talking to.”
No more lies.
I’m suing Fox News for $787 million.https://t.co/L73VUsPsuB pic.twitter.com/qKoRaxHRDW
— Gin Newsom (@GinNewsom) June 27, 2025
Fox News then ran a segment on Jesse Watters’ program that Newsom’s claims “willfully distorted” the timeline to the network’s viewers. According to the lawsuit, Watters aired a deceptively edited video that juxtaposed Trump’s “day ago” claim with call logs obtained by Fox host John Roberts showing the call occurred on June 7 — three days earlier, not one day as Trump had claimed. Newsom accuses the network of falsely claiming he lied about the phone call and violated California’s Unfair Competition Law, which outlaws “deceptive and unfair business practices.”
JULY 4 SALE: Get Six Months Of DW+ Free
“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 to POLITICO, referencing Fox’s $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems in 2023.
“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 propaganda machine,” the governor added.
Fox News dismissed the lawsuit in a statement to The Daily Wire, writing, “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.”
In Fox News’s initial reporting on the disputed call, headlined “Trump brings receipts he called Newsom amid LA riots as California gov claims there wasn’t ‘even a voicemail,'” the network did include Newsom’s clarification that the call was from “3 days ago” rather than the “day ago” Trump had claimed.
POLITICO notes that defamation cases brought by public officials face a much higher legal standard than those filed by private citizens. Newsom has indicated he would retract the lawsuit if Fox News issues a formal retraction and Jesse Watters delivers an on-air apology.