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By ALEX HAMMER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and AFP

Published: | Updated:

California Governor Gavin Newsom filed a lawsuit Friday against broadcaster Fox News, claiming defamation after alleged purposeful misrepresentation of details of a phone call with US President Donald Trump earlier this month.

The suit seeks $787 million in damages and was filed in a Delaware court, where Fox News is registered as a corporation. The amount Newsom's lawsuit seeks in damages, $787 million, is nearly the same as the amount Fox News paid in a settlement to Dominion.

Trump and Newsom spoke on the phone in the early hours of June 7 Washington time, but the pair did not address protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids occurring throughout Los Angeles, according to the lawsuit. 

Later that day, Republican Trump ordered thousands of National Guard troops to deploy to the city in response to the protests, against the wishes of the Democratic governor. 

Trump said during a June 10 White House press conference that he talked with Newsom 'a day ago' - a claim the California politician quickly refuted on social media. 

'There was no call. Not even a voicemail,' Newsom wrote on X.

In response, Fox News host Jesse Watters claimed Newsom was lying about the call.

Another Fox News reporter, John Roberts, said Trump sent him a call log to prove Newsom was lying, but the screenshot he provided showed the call happened on June 7.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has sued Fox News for an eye-watering $787 million over its coverage of a phone call with Donald Trump that Newsom denied ever took place
The suit claims that the network defamed the governor by broadcasting segments that said Newsom lied about being contacted by Trump amid rioting on the streets of Los Angeles

'Rather than leave the matter alone, or simply provide the facts, Fox News chose to defame Governor Newsom, branding him a liar,' the lawsuit said.

Newsom told broadcaster MeidasTouch he was used to criticism from Fox News, 'but this crossed the line -- journalistic lines, ethical lines, defamation, malice.'

The lawsuit said Fox News deliberately mislead viewers about the call to harm Newsom's career, saying those who watched Watters's report would be less likely to support his future campaigns.

Fox News called the lawsuit a 'publicity stunt.'

It said in a statement that the legal action 'is frivolous and designed to chill free speech critical of him.'

Newsom in a statement compared his case to a 2023 lawsuit against Fox News filed by election technology company Dominion Voting Systems, which said the broadcaster knowingly spread lies that its voting machines swayed the 2020 presidential election against Trump.

Attorneys for Newsom sent Fox News a letter demanding an on-air apology from host Jesse Watters, who played an edited clip on June 10 of Trump discussing the call (pictured)
'If only he had shown the right ones,' Newsom wrote in a post on X, citing a phone call that took places days before the one Trump said he made to the governor. 'Trump doesn't even know what day it is'

Newsom and Trump have been warring since Trump sent military troops to California earlier this month to police anti-ICE protest.    

Newsom responded to the move with a separate suit against Trump, claiming the move violated the US Constitution.

Trump, meanwhile, had already vowed to arrest Newsom for hindering a federal order. 

Trump federalized the California National Guard on June 7, and two days later authorized the deployment of an additional 2,000 National Guard members.

On June 9, the Pentagon activated 700 Marines to deploy to the city as well. They arrived the next day. 

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