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California Gov. Gavin Newsom filed a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against Fox News on Friday, with host Jesse Watters charged with a loss of honor and loss.
The lawsuit filed in Delaware Superior Court for more than $787 million claims Fox “operates as a propaganda machine on President Trump’s radical right-wing agenda,” citing the nearly $800 million settlement that reached the Dominion voting system in 2023 over coverage of the 2020 election.
“By disregarding basic journalistic ethics in favour of malicious propaganda, Fox continues to play a major role in further erosion of the bedrock principles of informed representative governments,” the lawsuit states. “Setting the record straight and confronting Fox’s dishonest practices is important to prevent democracy from being overrun by disinformation and lies.”
“Gov. Newsom’s transparent publicity stunts are frivolous and designed to cool free speech critical of him,” Fox News said in a statement. “We have a fierce defense of this incident and look forward to it being dismissed.”
On June 10, a reporter asked Trump in his oval office when he last spoke to Newsom. Trump replied that it was “a day ago” and that he “called the governor to tell him.”
On X that same day, Newsom replied, “There were no phones, there were no voicemails.”
Newsom told MSNBC on June 8 that they spoke late on June 6th, and later accused Trump of the conversation as a “stone-cold liar.”
Watters, which aired on June 10th, claimed Newsom lied.
“Why does Newsom lie and claim that Trump didn’t call him? Why does he do that?” Watters said the on-screen banner “Gavin lied about Trump’s call.”
“If Fox News fails to issue a formal withdrawal and an on-air apology, the lawsuit may proceed, and the Ju Court may decide Fox News’ negligence and assign monetary value to its “blatantly unethical” conduct,” Governor’s lawyers Michael Teter and Mark Bankson wrote in a letter.
Politico first reported on the lawsuit.
The move by Newsom was effectively a Trump camp troll, and he actively used the courts to chase media, law firms, universities and other major institutions when testing the limits of office authority.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has given harsh criticism about the Trump administration’s policies and tactics as National Guard and Marine members were sent to Los Angeles amid ice raids and protests.
Around the time, whether Trump called Newsom on national television this month as Trump activates the US Marines and revitalizes the National Guard into the federal government in response to protests over immigration and customs enforcement raids in Los Angeles.
Newsom denounced Trump’s move as an escalator, saying that despite some imagery of violence in the city, existing law enforcement may have handled the violence and destruction without federal interference. He argued that the move is “deliberately inflammatory and only escalates tension,” and that “they don’t have to be unfulfilled now.”
This story first appeared on nbcnews.com. More from NBC News:
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