California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is all but a lock to run for president in 2028, has learned a thing or two about earned media.
The Democratic governor is suing Fox News for defamation over a disputed call with President Donald J. Trump, with the New York Times acknowledging that Newsom “is taking a page from the president by suing a news media outlet over coverage.”
The dispute involves the timing of a call between Trump and Newsom — the president told reporters he spoke with the governor “a day ago,” which would have been a Monday, when the actual conversation was a late Friday, early Saturday call several days earlier. In a game of semantics, Newson claimed the call Trump spoke of never took place.
“There was no call. Not even a voicemail,” the governor claimed.
Trump disputed the claim of there being “no call,” telling Fox News he spoke to Newsom for about 16 minutes.
“I told him to, essentially, ‘get his ass in gear’ and stop the riots, which were out of control,” President Trump said. “More than anything else, this shows what a liar he is — said I never called.”
More from the Times:
In covering the sequence of events, Mr. Newsom alleges, Fox News made deceptive video edits and false statements that concealed that Mr. Trump said the leaders had spoken “a day ago.” Instead, he alleges, the network framed Mr. Trump’s call log as proof that Mr. Newsom had been dishonest when it showed that Mr. Trump was incorrect about when the call took place.
“Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him?” Mr. Watters said on his show, according to the lawsuit, which includes an image of a chyron stating, “Gavin Lied About Trump’s Call.”
Newsom is asking for $787 million in damages, which mirrors the amount Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems after the 2020 election to settle a defamation lawsuit.
“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. “Until Fox is willing to be truthful, I will keep fighting against their propaganda machine.”
In a letter to Fox News, Newson said that he would dismiss the lawsuit if the network issues a formal retraction and host Jesse Watters makes an on-air apology for suggesting that he had lied about the call with the president.
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Author: Tom Tillison
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