California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday sued Fox News, accusing the community of intentionally misrepresenting his current telephone call with President Donald Trump. The go well with, lodged in Delaware the place Fox is predicated, seeks no less than $787 million in damages and calls for a courtroom order to cease the community from airing or publishing content material that falsely claims Newsom lied concerning the dialog.The lawsuit facilities on a section from Fox News host Jesse Watters, which allegedly featured a deceptively edited video of Trump to again claims that Newsom had misled the general public. The governor’s authorized workforce argues that the protection was not solely inaccurate but additionally deliberately damaging, relating to Trump’s current determination to deploy National Guard troops to Los Angeles.Newsom has more and more taken a confrontationalist strategy ever since Trump despatched troops in LA this month amid his administration’s immigration crackdown. Newsom’s attorneys additionally despatched a five-page letter to the media home summarizing the lawsuit, stuffed with sharp assaults on the community’s integrity and mocking remarks about Trump’s psychological sharpness, reported Politico.“It is perhaps unsurprising that a near-octogenarian with a history of delusionary public statements and unhinged late-night social media screeds might confuse the dates,” the attorneys wrote. “But Fox’s decision to cover up for President Trump’s error cannot be so easily dismissed.”The letter additionally said that the governor was able to drop the go well with if Fox retracts its declare and the host Jess Watters renders an on air apology.The quantity sought by Newsom is sort of the identical $787.5 million in damages that Fox News paid Dominion Voting Systems in 2023 to settle a high-profile defamation case involving false claims concerning the election. His lawsuit comes at a time when President Trump has additionally launched a number of authorized battles towards main media retailers and firms, a lot of which have resulted in multi-million greenback settlements.“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 informed Politico in a press release. “Until Fox is willing to be truthful, I will keep fighting against their propaganda machine.”Newsom says his final telephone call with Trump lasted about 16 minutes and occurred on June 7, simply at some point earlier than Trump ordered 2,000 troops to Los Angeles, regardless of Newsom’s objections, to reply to ongoing protests. On June 8, Newsom spoke concerning the telephone call on MSNBC.However, on June 10, Trump informed reporters he had spoken with Newsom “a day ago,” suggesting the call occurred the identical day 700 US marines have been despatched to Los Angeles. Newsom rapidly disputed that timeline in a put up on X, rejecting Trump’s assertion.“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,” Newsom stated within the put up.That night, Jesse Watters aired a shortened model of Trump’s feedback and questioned, “Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him?” At the identical time, he displayed a screenshot of the president’s call log, supplied by Fox host John Roberts, which really confirmed Newsom’s account that their final dialog occurred on June 7.The lawsuit accuses Fox News of deliberately misrepresenting the dispute between Newsom and Trump to break Newsom’s political future. His authorized workforce argues the protection meets the usual for defamation and will harm his assist with voters and donors. They additionally declare Fox’s actions violated California’s unfair competitors legislation by partaking in misleading enterprise practices.