Cnn
–
California governor Gavin Newsom continues Fox News for $ 787 million, accusing the defamation media in his coverage of a recent telephone call between him and President Donald Trump.
Legal action comes as Newsom, a pretender to the potential presidential election in 2028, intensified his decline against Trump.
The trial stems from a public dispute between Newsom and Trump on the calendar of a telephone call that occurred while the demonstrations settled in Los Angeles on the efforts to apply the Trump administration at the beginning of the month.
In a trial brought before the Superior Court of Delaware, Newsom lawyers allege that Fox News has defamed it by broadcasting modified videos and making false statements claiming that the Democratic Governor lied to the telephone call.
“Why would Newsom lie and claim that Trump never called him?” The anchor of Fox News, Jesse Watters, said in a segment quoted in the trial. Newsom lawyers also noted that the segment presented a reading of the Chyron: “Gavin lied on Trump’s call”.
Newsom lawyers argued that the network was trying to harm Newsom’s future political prospects. “Viewers who heard Fox’s statement that Governor Newsom” was lying “when he spent the last time for President Trump is less likely to support Governor Newsom in the next elections and is less likely to support the causes of Governor Newsom or to contribute to his political organizations,” the lawyers wrote.
Newsom lawyers have also sent a letter to Fox News saying that the governor would abandon the trial if the network retracts the claims and Watters launches apology on the air.
The demand for damages of $ 787 million reflects the figure that Dominion voting systems paid news to avoid a defamation trial on the media elections in 2020.
“If Fox News wants to lie to the American people on behalf of Donald Trump, it should face consequences – just as they did in the Dominion affair,” Newsom said in a statement. “Until Fox is ready to be honest, I will continue to fight against their propaganda machine.”
Fox News rejected Newsom’s statements.
“Governor Newsom’s transparent advertising is frivolous and designed to cool the freedom of critical expression towards him,” said a spokesperson for Fox News. “We will vigorously defend this case and we are impatiently awaiting that it will be rejected.”
Newsom continues Fox News in his personal title. His lawyers include Mark Bankston, who represented the families of children killed in Sandy Hook primary school when they pursued Alex Jones, accommodation Alex Jones on the 2012 massacre, and Michael Teeter.
The Governor of California appeared on Fox News in several high -level moments, including a debate with Florida Governor Ron Desantis in 2023.
The movements intervene in the midst of speculation on the future presidential ambitions of Newsom. Newsom, which is limited in the long term, intensified its decline against Trump, a longtime rival, while California has become a target for the Trump administration. Officially, Newsom continued the Trump administration on the pricing policy and the deployment of the President of the National Guard in Los Angeles earlier this month.
Shortly after the announcement of the trial, Newsom sent a fundraising e-mail noting the prosecution in the object line and requesting contributions to his political group.
