(The Center Square) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is suing Fox News for alleged defamation over its coverage of a phone call he had with President Donald Trump during immigration enforcement protests in Los Angeles.
Newsom filed a $787 million lawsuit against Fox News Friday morning, accusing the cable network of playing an edited clip of Trump that made it appear Newsom had lied about the timing of their phone call. Newsom's legal team is arguing the situation meets the legal standard for defamation and will harm the governor's vote counts in future elections.
Newsom is termed-out as governor, but is widely expected by politicians and others to run for president in 2028, although he hasn't made an announcement.
In Newsom's lawsuit filing, the governor claims his phone call with Trump was on June 7, the day before Trump deployed 2,000 California National Guard members to Los Angeles in response to immigration protests. Newsom said the call lasted approximately 16 minutes.
While taking questions in the Oval Office on June 10, Trump told a reporter he had a phone call with Newsom "a day ago," implying he spoke to the governor the same day he deployed 700 Marines to Los Angeles.
"There was no call," Newsom said in response to Trump's claim on X June 10. "Not even a voicemail."
Trump reached out to Fox News reporter John Roberts on June 10 and shared his call log from June 7 showing he had a phone call with Newsom.
"More than anything else, this shows what a liar he is – Said I never called," Trump told Roberts according to a post on X from Roberts. "Here is the evidence."
Newsom's lawyers said in a letter Roberts reported the situation on air later that evening, claiming Trump said he had his phone call with Newsom "yesterday or the other day."
"Mr. Roberts chose to present a factually incorrect picture to Fox viewers to obscure President Trump's false statement of fact," Newsom's lawyers said in the letter.
Newsom's attorneys also said that that same night, Fox host Jesse Watters went on air and played an edited clip of Trump's remark from the Oval Office, which was edited to have Trump only speaking after he had already said "a day ago."
The governor claims his response to Trump's statement on X was in reference to Trump's claim of having a phone call with him on June 9.
The governor said he will dismiss the lawsuit if Fox retracts its claim that Newsom lied about the timing of his phone call with Trump, and if anchor Jesse Watters and Fox issue a formal on-air apology, according to the letter from Newsom's lawyers.
"Governor Newsom’s transparent publicity stunt is frivolous and designed to chill free speech critical of him," Fox News said in a statement, according to Politico. "We will defend this case vigorously and look forward to it being dismissed."
• Jamie Parsons is an intern reporter and member of the 2025 Searle Freedom Trust and Young America's Foundation National Journalism Center Apprentice and Internship initiative.
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