Newsom scores early win in his $787M lawsuit against Fox News

Gov. Gavin Newsom is celebrating a win after a judge ruled last week that his $787 million defamation lawsuit against Fox News can move forward.

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Newsom filed the defamation lawsuit in June against the conservative-leaning news network, alleging it misled the public about a phone conversation that took place between the California governor and President Donald Trump during civil unrest that erupted in Los Angeles earlier that month. 

Judge Sean P. Lugg said in an April 30 decision rejecting the network’s motion to dismiss that he found it “reasonably conceivable” that Fox knew the statements were false before making them. 

“Looking forward to discovery,” Newsom wrote Thursday on X after the judge’s decision, alluding to the legal process where each side turns over documents, including private communications that could be embarrassing.

Fox News said in an emailed statement to SFGATE that Newsom’s lawsuit is an attempt to limit free speech.

“We respectfully disagree with the court’s decision and plan to vigorously defend against this frivolous lawsuit as it’s nothing more than a blatant attempt to silence free speech and weaken the First Amendment,” the network said in an email.

The conversation in question took place between Newsom and Trump for 16 minutes on the evening of June 6, according to the court filing. The controversy erupted later after Trump told reporters during a June 10 media conference that he and the governor spoke “a day ago,” when the president called Newsom to tell him “he’s doing a bad job” during the Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests. Newsom took to social media to say Trump was wrong, apparently because the president had mixed up the date of the call.

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“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 wrote in a June 10 post to X.

Fox News then started covering Newsom’s denial, referencing phone logs shared by the president to report on national news that “Gavin Lied About Trump’s Call.” 

Newsom requested a retraction on June 27 and shortly after filed the lawsuit. Almost a month later, the complaint states, Fox News host Jesse Watters apologized for claiming the governor lied but also questioned why Newsom denied it in the first place. 

Watters says that Newsom “didn’t deceive anybody on purpose, so I’m sorry, he wasn’t lying. He was just confusing and unclear. Next time, Governor, why don’t you just say what you mean.”

The whopping $787 million claim could shape how the outlet covers the governor as his term ends later this year and as his expected presidential campaign is anticipated to begin. In a historic case from last year, Fox agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems the identical dollar figure Newsom is asking for, after the company alleged the news program promoted lies about the accuracy of its system during the 2020 election.