“The tone and content of Newsom’s complaint and his conduct underscore that the purpose of this lawsuit is to create a press spectacle and harass Fox News, not to remedy any legitimate reputational harm,” attorneys for Fox wrote in the filing.
Fox News has filed a motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a high-profile Democrat who many conservatives believe is planning to run for the White House in 2028.
As LegalReader.com reported earlier this summer, Newsom took legal action against Fox after the network accused him of lying about a conversation with President Donald Trump.
On June 10, shortly after Trump activated the California National Guard to contain immigration-related protests in Los Angeles, the president fielded a question from a journalist who asked when he and Newsom had last spoken.
“A day ago,” Trump said. “Called him to tell him, got to do a better job, he’s doing a bad job.”
Newsom, meanwhile, claimed on social media that he hadn’t heard from the White House in about three days. In his recounting of events, the governor stated that he had spoken with Trump at 1:28 a.m. on June 7. According to Newsom, the call was unrelated to the protests.
“There was no call,” Newsom said, prompting Trump to screenshot logs of the conversation that had occurred days earlier.
Fox News host Jesse Watters quickly seized the opportunity to accuse Newsom of lying.
“Why would Newsom lie and claim that Trump never called him?” Watters asked.
Although Watters later offered a half-hearted apology to Newsom, attorneys for Fox News now say that the governor’s lawsuit is a blatant “political stunt” that was filed solely “to advance his presidential ambitions.”
“The tone and content of Newsom’s complaint and his conduct underscore that the purpose of this lawsuit is to create a press spectacle and harass Fox News, not to remedy any legitimate reputational harm,” attorneys for Fox wrote in the filing.
In its 45-page motion, Fox noted that Newsom’s legal team said they would dismiss the lawsuit if Watters apologized live and on air. In his apology statement, Watters conceded that the governor “didn’t deceive anybody on purpose.”
“So I’m sorry,” Watters said, “he wasn’t lying. He was just confusing and unclear.”
Fox has also claimed that, even if Watters’ initial comments were factually incorrect, his statements were still somehow “substantially true.”
“At a minimum, Watters’ query about why Newsom would ‘lie’ is an opinion based on disclosed facts that enjoys full First Amendment protections,” the filing says.
Fox has continued to characterize Newsom’s $787 million lawsuit as a “headline-grabbing gimmick.”
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California Gov. Newsom suing Fox News for $787 million for defamation
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