Is Newsom Defamation Lawsuit Against Fox News ‘Publicity Stunt’ & ‘Frivolous?’

Governor Gavin Newsom filed a $787 million lawsuit against Fox News on Friday in Delaware Superior Court, alleging that the network, and Fox host Jesse Watters, defamed him by saying that Newsom was called by President Donald Trump to discuss deploying the military to help quell the L.A. anti-ICE riots days earlier than when the actual call took place.

According to the suit, Watters played a supposedly edited clip of President Trump that made it sound like he spoke with Newsom just before he deployed the military. But, when fact checked, the call was actually on June 7th, when the military option was far less certain. By doing this, Newsom claims that Fox News misled the public.

“There was no call. Not even a voicemail,” said Newsom on X only minutes after the segment aired on June 10th. “Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying Marines onto our streets doesn’t even know who he’s talking to.”

“Fox News showed a willingness to protect President Trump from his own false statements by smearing his political opponent Governor Newsom in a dispute over when the two last spoke during a period of national strife,” read the suit. “”Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him?” Watters said on June 10 on his show “Jesse Watters Primetime”. Watters’ report was accompanied by a chyron, a banner caption along the bottom of a TV screen, that said “Gavin Lied About Trump’s Call”. Fox’s claim that Newsom lied was calculated to provoke outrage and cause Governor Newsom significant harm.”

In addition to defamation, Newsom is also claiming that Fox News violated California’s Unfair Competition Law by deploying unfair and deceptive business practices.

Besides the suit itself, Newsom initially only gave a single sentence on the case, “Bring it on”, through a post on X on Friday morning.

However, later on Friday morning Newsom and his team gave additional details and quotes on the matter. They said that the amount being sought, $787 million, was the same amount that the network paid to Dominion Voting Systems in 2023 after Dominion charged Fox News with defamation over claiming that their systems switched votes for Trump to Joe Biden during the 2020 election. Newsom’s team also said that he would drop the Newsom v. Fox News suit if the network retracts the claims and Watters apologizes to Newsom on-air. If the case goes forward and Newsom wins, Newsom said that the $787 million would go towards anti-Trump causes. All legal fees, meanwhile, would come directly from campaign funds.

“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. “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.”

“History was occurring in real time. It is precisely why reporters asked President Trump the very question that prompted this matter: when did he last speak with Governor Newsom,” added Newsom’s legal team in a letter to Fox News.

Fox News responded not too long after, saying that not only was the case “frivolous,” but that they were looking forward to seeing it dismissed soon as a result.

“Governor Newsom’s transparent publicity stunt is frivolous and designed to chill free speech critical of him,” the network said in a statement. “We will defend this case vigorously and look forward to it being dismissed.”

As of Wednesday at noon, both Newsom and Fox News appear to be heading toward a legal battle that almost always ends with either the case being dismissed or settled out of court, rather than be played out. While Fox News previously agreed to the $787 million settlement with Dominion in 2023, other recent similar cases also ended with settlements. This included a December 2024 settlement where ABC paid Donald Trump $15 million to go towards his presidential library following untruthful on-air comments by anchor George Stephanopoulos.

However, there are signs that the Newsom case could be different. If there is a settlement, it will likely be for far less than $787 million. While Fox News did wind up paying $787 million to Dominion, Dominion initially filed for a $1.6 billion payout. In addition, Fox News is fighting significantly harder this time, showing that there is far less merit to his case and that it could indeed be easily dismissed by a judge.

As of Friday afternoon, the case is currently awaiting to be seen by a judge in Delaware.