California Governor Newsom sues Fox News over alleged defamation

Fox called the suit implicit communicative astir telephone telephone with Trump ‘frivolous’ and a ‘publicity stunt’

California Governor Gavin Newsom has filed a $787m defamation suit against Fox News, accusing the web of misrepresenting a telephone telephone betwixt him and US President Donald Trump earlier this period amid migration arrests and the consequent protests successful Los Angeles.

The ailment was filed connected Friday successful Delaware Superior Court, the authorities successful which Fox Corp is incorporated.

Newsom spoke by telephone with Trump precocious connected June 6 – aboriginal June 7 connected the East Coast, soon aft protests broke retired successful Los Angeles pursuing national migration raids.

Less than 24 hours later, the president sent National Guard troops and 700 Marines to the state, bypassing the governor’s office.

In an interrogation with NBC News connected June 8, Newsom said that helium had a civilian speech with the president, but helium ne'er brought up sending the National Guard.

“I tried to speech astir LA, helium wanted to speech astir each these different issues,” Newsom said.

“He ne'er erstwhile brought up the National Guard,” helium added.

Newsom said helium did not talk with Trump again, and confirmed this aft Trump falsely told reporters connected June 10 that helium had spoken with the politician “a time ago”.

The suit alleged that the web had a “willingness to support President Trump from his ain mendacious statements by smearing his governmental hostile Governor Newsom successful a quality implicit erstwhile the 2 past spoke during a play of nationalist strife”.

The ailment said Fox nevertheless made a misleading video clip and aggregate mendacious statements astir the timing of the past call, acting with existent malice successful an effort to marque Newsom a liar and curry favour with Trump.

“Why would Newsom prevarication and assertion Trump ne'er called him?” Watters said connected June 10 connected his show, Jesse Watters Primetime, according to the complaint.

Watters’s study was accompanied by a chyron, a banner caption on the bottommost of a TV screen, that said “Gavin Lied About Trump’s Call,” the ailment added.

According to the complaint, Fox’s assertion that Newsom lied was “calculated to provoke outrage and origin Governor Newsom important harm” by making radical little apt to enactment his causes, donate to his campaigns, oregon ballot for him successful elections.

“Gov. Newsom’s transparent publicity stunt is frivolous and designed to chill escaped code captious of him. We volition support this lawsuit vigorously and look guardant to it being dismissed,” a spokesperson for Fox News told Al Jazeera successful an email.

In a follow-up, Al Jazeera asked Fox if Watters and his accumulation squad fact-checked claims astir the telephone telephone earlier speaking astir it – which is manufacture modular – but the web did not supply clarification.

Newsom’s punitive damages petition is astir identical to the $787.5m that Fox paid successful 2023 to settee Dominion Voting Systems’ suit implicit alleged vote-rigging successful the 2020 US statesmanlike election.

To prevail successful his lawsuit, Newsom would person to amusement Fox acted with existent malice, meaning it knew its statements were mendacious oregon had reckless disregard for their truth.

According to the New York Times, Newsom would driblet the suit if Fox issued a retraction and big Jesse Watters apologised on-air for saying the politician lied astir his telephone with Trump.

The governor’s bureau told Al Jazeera that it would not remark due to the fact that Newsom is pursuing the suit successful a idiosyncratic capableness and not done the office.

In an emailed statement, Newsom said, “If Fox News wants to prevarication to the American radical connected Donald Trump’s behalf, it should look consequences – conscionable similar it did successful the Dominion case. I judge the American radical should beryllium capable to spot the accusation they person from a large quality outlet. Until Fox is consenting to beryllium truthful, I volition support warring against their propaganda machine.”

Out of Trump’s playbook

Newsom’s suit comes arsenic Trump has gone aft quality organisations that person been captious of him. He reached a $15m colony with ABC News aft the web made successful an inaccurate assertion that a assemblage recovered Trump liable for rape successful the civilian lawsuit involving E Jean Carroll, alternatively than intersexual assault.

The White House besides precocious went aft the web erstwhile erstwhile White House analogous Terry Moran called White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller a “world-class hater”. Moran was aboriginal suspended and subsequently dismissed from the network.

Trump besides sued CBS News for $20bn for the editing of a 60 Minutes interrogation with his Democratic rival Kamala Harris, which was reportedly mediated into a colony statement of $20m with genitor institution Paramount Global, causing interest successful the quality division. Paramount has a pending merger with Skydance.

Trump has besides slashed funding for nationalist media, which the White House alleged was “radical, woke propaganda disguised arsenic ‘news’”.

Source:

Al Jazeera and quality agencies