California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued Fox News for defamation, accusing news media of intentionally manipulating videos to show that the governor lied to the phone call with President Trump.
The governor's punitive damages claim for $787 million escalates his active efforts to challenge misinformation. The lawsuit announced Friday puts News magazine at the forefront of the political agency war between the Democrats and the Republicans, challenging the media in the media by challenging channels that many people despise.
“By ignoring basic journalistic ethics and supporting malicious propaganda, Fox continues to play an important role in further eroding the bedrock principle of informed representation in the government,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit stems from Trump’s comments on the phone call from the news call, as tensions between the two leaders in immigration attacks increased, and the president decided to deploy the National Guard to the streets of Los Angeles.
Trump told reporters on June 10 that he talked to Newsom “a day ago.”
“Call him and tell him that he did better, he didn't do well,” Trump said. “Creating a lot of deaths and a lot of potential deaths.”
Newsom immediately refuted Trump's timeline on social media.
The governor has spoken publicly about talking to Trump on a phone late at night in California on June 6, which was on the East Coast on June 7. Newsom said the National Guard had never discussed it during the call. Newsom said they stopped talking.
“No phone number,” Newsom posted on X. “There is not even a voicemail. Americans should be shocked to say that the president who deployed the Marines to our streets didn't even know who he was talking to.”
Newsom's lawyers claimed in the complaint that by calling the phone it looked updated, Trump might suggest that they discuss deploying troops to Los Angeles, but they did not.
Trump attempted to shoot Newsom via FOX and shared a screenshot of his call log with host John Roberts. The log shows that, as Trump said, the call occurred on June 7, with no June 9 phone call provided.
“It is impossible to be sure whether President Trump's distortion was intentionally deceptive or simply due to his poor cognitive status,” the complaint said. “Fox's decision to cover up the president's false statements is not easily dismissed.”
Newsom's legal team said Roberts initially misrepresented the situation to the audience. Then on the night of June 10, Fox News host Jesse Watters showed a video of Trump's comments about the phone, but omitted the president, saying it was “a day ago.” Editor's opinion, Newsom said the two never spoke.
“Why did the news say lies and claim Trump never called him? Why did he do that?” Wat then asked.
Fox News criticized Newsom for attacking free speech.
“Governor Newsom's transparent publicity stunts are rash and aims to calm the criticism of his freedom of speech. We will vigorously defend the case and look forward to being dismissed,” Fox News said in a statement Friday morning.
Newsom is particularly sensitive to his critics on Fox, who describes it as the center of a right-wing media ecosystem that misleads the public to benefit Trump and his allies.
The amount of damages the governor demands is a delicate excavation of the export.
Fox agreed two years ago to pay a $787 million settlement to the Dominion voting system to file a lawsuit against the network’s false claims, rigging the voting machine to help President Biden win the 2020 election.
Newsom's lawyers said in a letter to Fox that if the socket withdraws his claim to lie with Trump, they will voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit.
“We hope you will give the same call time when withdrawing these false situations. “In addition, Mr. Watters and Mr. Fox News must issue a formal air apology for the lies you spread about Governor Newsom. ”
