Latest news with #NationalGuard
Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
California Governor Newsom sues Fox News for $787m over alleged defamation
California Governor Gavin Newsom has filed a $787m defamation lawsuit against Fox News, accusing the network of misrepresenting a phone call between him and US President Donald Trump earlier this month amid immigration arrests and the subsequent protests in Los Angeles. The complaint was filed on Friday in Delaware Superior Court, the state in which Fox Corp is incorporated. Newsom spoke by phone with Trump late on June 6 – early June 7 on the East Coast, soon after protests broke out in Los Angeles following federal immigration 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 interview with NBC News on June 8, Newsom said that he had a civil conversation with the president, but he never brought up sending the National Guard. 'I tried to talk about LA, he wanted to talk about all these other issues,' Newsom said. 'He never once brought up the National Guard,' he added. Newsom said he did not speak with Trump again, and confirmed this after Trump falsely told reporters on June 10 that he had spoken with the governor 'a day ago'. The suit alleged that the network had a 'willingness to protect President Trump from his own false statements by smearing his political opponent Governor Newsom in a dispute over when the two last spoke during a period of national strife'. The complaint said Fox nonetheless made a misleading video clip and multiple false statements about the timing of the last call, acting with actual malice in an effort to brand Newsom a liar and curry favour with Trump. 'Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him?' Watters said on June 10 on his show, Jesse Watters Primetime, according to the complaint. Watters's report was accompanied by a chyron, a banner caption along the bottom of a TV screen, that said 'Gavin Lied About Trump's Call,' the complaint added. According to the complaint, Fox's claim that Newsom lied was 'calculated to provoke outrage and cause Governor Newsom significant harm' by making people less likely to support his causes, donate to his campaigns, or vote for him in elections. 'Gov. Newsom's transparent publicity stunt is frivolous and designed to chill free speech critical of him. We will defend this case vigorously and look forward to it being dismissed,' a spokesperson for Fox News told Al Jazeera in an email. In a follow-up, Al Jazeera asked Fox if Watters and his production team fact-checked claims about the phone call before speaking about it – which is industry standard – but the network did not provide clarification. Newsom's punitive damages request is nearly identical to the $787.5m that Fox paid in 2023 to settle Dominion Voting Systems' lawsuit over alleged vote-rigging in the 2020 US presidential election. To prevail in his lawsuit, Newsom would have to show Fox acted with actual malice, meaning it knew its statements were false or had reckless disregard for their truth. According to the New York Times, Newsom would drop the lawsuit if Fox issued a retraction and host Jesse Watters apologised on-air for saying the governor lied about his call with Trump. The governor's office told Al Jazeera that it would not comment because Newsom is pursuing the lawsuit in a personal capacity and not through the office. In an emailed statement, Newsom said, 'If Fox News wants to lie to the American people on Donald Trump's behalf, it should face consequences – just like it did in the Dominion case. I believe the American people should be able to trust the information they receive from a major news outlet. Until Fox is willing to be truthful, I will keep fighting against their propaganda machine.' Out of Trump's playbook Newsom's lawsuit comes as Trump has gone after news organisations that have been critical of him. He reached a $15m settlement with ABC News after the network made in an inaccurate claim that a jury found Trump liable for rape in the civil case involving E Jean Carroll, rather than sexual assault. The White House also recently went after the network when former White House correspondent Terry Moran called White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller a 'world-class hater'. Moran was later suspended and subsequently dismissed from the network. Trump also sued CBS News for $20bn for the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with his Democratic rival Kamala Harris, which was reportedly mediated into a settlement agreement of $20m with parent company Paramount Global, causing concern in the news division. Paramount has a pending merger with Skydance. Trump has also slashed funding for public media, which the White House alleged was 'radical, woke propaganda disguised as 'news''.
San Francisco Chronicle
5 hours ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Newsom sues Fox News, alleging defamation over coverage of Trump call
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom sued Fox News on Friday, alleging the network lied about his communications with President Donald Trump over the deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles. Newsom says Fox's reporting amounts to defamation. His lawsuit serves as both a formal legal complaint and an opportunity for the governor to troll two longtime foes: Trump and Fox News. Trump's decision to deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles to quell protests over his immigration raids caused a major escalation in the long-simmering tensions between Newsom and Trump, who hail from opposing political parties and frequently tangle over their policy differences. Newsom and Trump spoke by phone late on June 6 in California and early June 7 on the East Coast. Newsom says the two men barely talked about the protests in Los Angeles on the call, which focused on Trump's threats to withhold federal funding from the state. Newsom was blindsided, he says, when Trump announced he was sending the troops into Los Angeles. On June 10, Trump told reporters at the White House he had spoken to Newsom 'a day ago' to tell him he needed to get the situation in Los Angeles under control, though a call log he provided to Fox News reporter John Roberts showed the conversation took place on June 7 at 1:23 a.m. Eastern. Newsom said Trump's comments were false because the only phone call took place several days prior. '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 social media post. Roberts said on air that Trump had said the call took place 'yesterday or the other day' and posted on social media that Trump had provided a screenshot of the call log with an accompanying statement. 'This shows what a liar he is,' Trump said in the statement. 'Said I never called. Here is the evidence.' In the lawsuit, Newsom alleges Roberts did not accurately characterize Trump's statements. But he alleges that the bigger offender was Fox commentator Jesse Watters, who said Newsom lied that Trump never called him without providing the context that Trump said the call occurred 'a day ago.' The lawsuit, filed in state court in Delaware, seeks $787 million in damages. That's how much Fox agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems in 2023 to settle a defamation case over the network's inaccurate coverage of the 2020 election. 'If Fox News wants to lie to the American people on Donald Trump's behalf, it should face consequences — just like it did in the Dominion case,' Newsom wrote in a statement. 'I believe the American people should be able to trust the information they receive from a major news outlet. Until Fox is willing to be truthful, I will keep fighting against their propaganda machine.' 'Gov. Newsom's transparent publicity stunt is frivolous and designed to chill free speech critical of him,' the statement reads. 'We will defend this case vigorously and look forward to it being dismissed.' Newsom's lawyers also include digs at the president's mental acuity in the lawsuit. 'It is impossible to know for certain whether President Trump's distortion was intentionally deceptive or merely a result of his poor cognitive state, but Fox's decision to cover up for the President's false statement cannot be so easily dismissed,' they wrote. They provided their evidence for their characterization of the president's mental state in a footnote: 'As a rather ironic example of perhaps President Trump's cognitive decline, he recently spoke of former President Biden as not being 'the sharpest bulb.'' Separately, Newsom is also suing the Trump administration to regain control over the California National Guard troops the president deployed in Los Angeles. That lawsuit is ongoing, and so far judges have allowed Trump to retain authority over the troops as it proceeds.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
California Gov. Gavin Newsom sues Fox News over alleged defamation in story about call with Trump
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued Fox News on Friday over alleged defamation, saying the network knowingly aired false information about a phone call he had with President Donald Trump around the time the National Guard was sent Los Angeles. The lawsuit alleges Fox News anchor Jesse Watters edited out key information from a clip of Trump talking about calling Newsom, then used the edited video to assert that Newsom had lied about the two talking. Newsom is asking for $787 million in punitive damages in his lawsuit filed in Delaware court where Fox is incorporated. That's the same amount Fox agreed to pay in 2023 to settle a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems. The company said Fox had repeatedly aired false allegations that its equipment had switched votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden during the 2020 election, and the discovery process of the lawsuit revealed Fox's efforts not to alienate conservatives in the network's audience in the wake of Biden's victory. 'If Fox News wants to lie to the American people on Donald Trump's behalf, it should face consequences -- just like it did in the Dominion case,' Newsom said in a statement. 'I believe the American people should be able to trust the information they receive from a major news outlet.' He asked a judge to order Fox News to stop broadcasting 'the false, deceptive, and fraudulent video and accompanying statements' that Newsom said falsely say he lied about when he had spoken to Trump regarding the situation in Los Angeles, where protests erupted on June 6 over Trump's immigration crackdown. Fox News called the lawsuit 'frivolous.' 'Gov. Newsom's transparent publicity stunt is frivolous and designed to chill free speech critical of him. We will defend this case vigorously and look forward to it being dismissed,' the company said in a statement. The law makes it difficult to prove defamation, but some cases result in settlements and, no matter the disposition, can tie up news outlets in expensive legal fights. Particularly since taking office a second time, Trump has been aggressive in going after news organizations he feels has wronged him. He's involved in settlement talks over his lawsuit against CBS News about a '60 Minutes' interview last fall with Democratic opponent Kamala Harris. This week, Trump's lawyers threatened a lawsuit against CNN and The New York Times over their reporting of an initial assessment of damage to Iran's nuclear program from a U.S. bombing. Newsom's lawsuit centers on the details of a phone call with the president. Both Newsom and the White House have said the two spoke late at night on June 6 in California, which was already June 7 on the East Coast. Though the content of the call is not part of the lawsuit, Newsom has said the two never discussed Trump's plan to deploy the National Guard, which he announced the next day. Trump said the deployment was necessary to protect federal buildings from people protesting increased immigration arrests. Trump later announced he would also deploy Marines to the area. On June 10, when 700 Marines arrived in the Los Angeles area, Trump told reporters he had spoken to Newsom 'a day ago' about his decision to send troops. That day, Newsom posted on X that there had been no call. 'There was no call. Not even a voicemail,' Newsom wrote. On the evening of June 10, the Watters Primetime show played a clip of Trump's statement about his call with Newsom but removed Trump's comment that the call was 'a day ago,' the lawsuit said. Watters also referred to call logs another Fox News reporter had posted online showing the phone call the two had on June 6. 'Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him? Why would he do that?' Watters asked on air, according to the lawsuit. The segment included text across the bottom of the screen that said 'Gavin Lied About Trump's Call.' Newsom's suit argues that by editing the material, Fox 'maliciously lied as a means to sabotage informed national discussion.' Precise details about when the call happened are important because the days when Trump deployed the Guard to Los Angeles despite Newsom's opposition 'represented an unprecedented moment,' Newsom's lawyers wrote in a letter to Fox demanding a retraction and on-air apology. 'History was occurring in real time. It is precisely why reporters asked President Trump the very question that prompted this matter: when did he last speak with Governor Newsom,' the letter said. ___ Associated Press journalist David Bauder contributed to this report.
UPI
6 hours ago
- Politics
- UPI
California Gov. Newsom sues Fox News in $787M defamation suit over Trump call
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during the Vogue World: Hollywood Press Announcement in Los Angeles on March 26. Newsom has filed a $787 defamation suit against Fox News. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo June 27 (UPI) -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday filed a $787 million defamation lawsuit against Fox News, alleging misleading comments about his phone call with President Donald Trump. The suit was filed in Superior Court in Delaware, where the news network is incorporated. "No more lies," Newsom posted on X. "I'm suing Fox News for $787 million." The two-sentence message included a report on the lawsuit by Politico. CNBC and The New York Times also obtained the lawsuit. The amount is nearly identical to the $787.5 million Fox News paid Dominion Voting Systems in April 2023 to settle another defamation case over 2020 election falsehoods. The suit alleges Fox News was motivated to "lie and distort on behalf of the President." Earlier this month, prime-time host Jesse Watters claimed Newsom lied about his phone calls with Trump, who ordered National Guard troops to Los Angeles to quell protests in response to the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Trump invoked a rarely used federal statute, and the federal courts have backed his authority in lawsuits by Newsom. Newsom's lawyers argue a video segment was misleading from Trump about the call. "If Fox News wants to lie to the American people on Donald Trump's behalf, it should face consequences -- just like it did in the Dominion case," Newsom told Politico in a statement. "I believe the American people should be able to trust the information they receive from a major news outlet. Until Fox is willing to be truthful, I will keep fighting against their propaganda machine." Fox News said in a statement: "Gov. Newsom's transparent publicity stunt is frivolous and designed to chill free speech critical of him. We will defend this case vigorously and look forward to it being dismissed." Newsom's lawyers said they will drop the lawsuit if Fox retracts its claims and Watters apologizes to him on air. The lawsuit claims Newsom last spoke with Trump for approximately 16 minutes by phone late June 6 or early June 7, depending on the three-hour time difference. This is one day before the president deployed 2,000 California National Guard troops over Newsom's objections to counter protests in Los Angeles. "The contents of that conversation are not germane to this matter, but at no point did President Trump raise the demonstrations in Los Angeles which had begun that day, nor discuss the National Guard," the suit said. "And when Governor Newsom attempted to discuss the situation in Los Angeles, President Trump steered the topic away." On June 8, Newsom spoke about the phone call on MSNBC. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on June 10 that he spoke with Newsom "a day ago," implying a conversation took place the same day the National Guard and Marines were deployed to Los Angeles. Trump said he had called the governor "to tell him, got to do a better job, he's doing a bad job. Causing a lot of death and a lot of potential death." Newsom refuted there had been a call on that day or the situation in Los Angeles. "There was no call. Not even a voicemail," Newsom wrote in a post on X. "Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying Marines onto our streets doesn't even know who he's talking to." That evening, Watters played an edited clip of Trump that removed the president's claim that he spoke to Newsom "a day ago." Mediaite has posted the segment. Watters then noted Newsom had said there was no phone call. Watters reported Fox News host John Roberts received Trump's call logs, which showed the president and the governor last spoke on June 6 or 7. "Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him?" Watters asked. "Why would he do that?" A chyron said "Gavin Lied About Trump's Call," the suit said. The suit alleges that Trump's call log as proof that Newsom was dishonest when it showed that Trump was incorrect about when the call took place. "Rather than leave the matter alone, or simply provide the facts, Fox News chose to defame Governor Newsom, branding him a liar," the suit said. "Recognizing that President Trump was not correct, yet wanting to curry favor with the President, Fox News willfully distorted the facts." Newsom's lawyers said the report meets the legal standard for defamation and it violated California's Unfair Competition Law, which outlaws "deceptive and unfair business practices." And the news network caused "significant ill will toward Governor Newsom because he is a strong champion of progressive values and an articulate voice fighting the radical Fox News agenda." "It is perhaps unsurprising that a near-octogenarian with a history of delusionary public statements and unhinged late-night social media screeds might confuse the dates," the lawyers wrote in the lawsuit. "But Fox's decision to cover up for President Trump's error cannot be so easily dismissed." Newsom and Trump have had mainly a contentious relationship. Newsom hugged Trump as the president departed to plan tour wildfire damage in Los Angeles in January. In April, though, Newsom sued him over tariffs. Trump has threatened to withhold funds for education and disaster recovery, and to remove the state's ability to regulate vehicle emissions. In 2023, Newsom participated in a Fox News debate with Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida. During a briefing Friday in the White House, Trump criticized Newsom after a question about non-registered immigrants. "They don't have a governor in California, they have a man who wants to give away everything to people nobody has seen before," Trump said. "If we didn't go into Los Angeles with the National Guard and be strong and tough you wouldn't maybe have a Los Angeles. So it would be like the rest of California." He also criticized the state's response on the wildfires, and noted he helped bring water from other parts of California. California officials said Trump didn't directly bring water to California wildfires, and his actions didn't have a positive effect on firefighting efforts.
San Francisco Chronicle
6 hours ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
California Gov. Gavin Newsom sues Fox News over alleged defamation in story about call with Trump
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued Fox News on Friday over alleged defamation, saying the network knowingly aired false information about a phone call he had with President Donald Trump around the time the National Guard was sent Los Angeles. The lawsuit alleges Fox News anchor Jesse Watters edited out key information from a clip of Trump talking about calling Newsom, then used the edited video to assert that Newsom had lied about the two talking. Newsom is asking for $787 million in punitive damages in his lawsuit filed in Delaware court where Fox is incorporated. That's the same amount Fox agreed to pay in 2023 to settle a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems. The company said Fox had repeatedly aired false allegations that its equipment had switched votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden during the 2020 election, and the discovery process of the lawsuit revealed Fox's efforts not to alienate conservatives in the network's audience in the wake of Biden's victory. 'If Fox News wants to lie to the American people on Donald Trump's behalf, it should face consequences -- just like it did in the Dominion case,' Newsom said in a statement. 'I believe the American people should be able to trust the information they receive from a major news outlet.' He asked a judge to order Fox News to stop broadcasting 'the false, deceptive, and fraudulent video and accompanying statements' that Newsom said falsely say he lied about when he had spoken to Trump regarding the situation in Los Angeles, where protests erupted on June 6 over Trump's immigration crackdown. Fox News called the lawsuit 'frivolous.' 'Gov. Newsom's transparent publicity stunt is frivolous and designed to chill free speech critical of him. We will defend this case vigorously and look forward to it being dismissed,' the company said in a statement. The law makes it difficult to prove defamation, but some cases result in settlements and, no matter the disposition, can tie up news outlets in expensive legal fights. Particularly since taking office a second time, Trump has been aggressive in going after news organizations he feels has wronged him. He's involved in settlement talks over his lawsuit against CBS News about a '60 Minutes' interview last fall with Democratic opponent Kamala Harris. This week, Trump's lawyers threatened a lawsuit against CNN and The New York Times over their reporting of an initial assessment of damage to Iran's nuclear program from a U.S. bombing. Newsom's lawsuit centers on the details of a phone call with the president. Both Newsom and the White House have said the two spoke late at night on June 6 in California, which was already June 7 on the East Coast. Though the content of the call is not part of the lawsuit, Newsom has said the two never discussed Trump's plan to deploy the National Guard, which he announced the next day. Trump said the deployment was necessary to protect federal buildings from people protesting increased immigration arrests. Trump later announced he would also deploy Marines to the area. On June 10, when 700 Marines arrived in the Los Angeles area, Trump told reporters he had spoken to Newsom 'a day ago' about his decision to send troops. That day, Newsom posted on X that there had been no call. 'There was no call. Not even a voicemail,' Newsom wrote. On the evening of June 10, the Watters Primetime show played a clip of Trump's statement about his call with Newsom but removed Trump's comment that the call was 'a day ago,' the lawsuit said. Watters also referred to call logs another Fox News reporter had posted online showing the phone call the two had on June 6. 'Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him? Why would he do that?' Watters asked on air, according to the lawsuit. The segment included text across the bottom of the screen that said 'Gavin Lied About Trump's Call.' Newsom's suit argues that by editing the material, Fox 'maliciously lied as a means to sabotage informed national discussion.' Precise details about when the call happened are important because the days when Trump deployed the Guard to Los Angeles despite Newsom's opposition 'represented an unprecedented moment,' Newsom's lawyers wrote in a letter to Fox demanding a retraction and on-air apology. 'History was occurring in real time. It is precisely why reporters asked President Trump the very question that prompted this matter: when did he last speak with Governor Newsom,' the letter said. ___
