Fox News is once again facing a defamation lawsuit over false claims made on air, with California Governor Gavin Newsom filing suit against the network Friday, in much the same way President Trump has sued other media organizations.

Newsom is suing Fox News for $787 million for defamation, saying that host Jesse Watters falsely claimed Newsom was lying about his phone calls with Trump several weeks ago. As Politico notes, the $787 million sum is nearly identical to the $787.5 million settlement that was reached two years ago in the Dominion voting machines case, in which Fox News was sued for making and repeating falsehoods about 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 said in a statement. "Until Fox is willing to be truthful, I will keep fighting against their propaganda machine."

Newsom has also sent a formal letter to Fox News requesting an on-air apology and retraction to be made by Watters, as the New York Times reports. Newsom reportedly pledged to drop the lawsuit if his conditions are met.

The suit pertains to two phone calls — one real, and one fictional, the product of a lie by the president to reporters, Newsom says. The first call, which can be confirmed by phone records, occurred around 10 pm Pacific Time on June 6, which was 1 am Eastern Time on June 7. In that call, Newsom previously said that he and the president discussed a range of topics, including the protests in LA — and he said the notion of calling up the National Guard never came up.

24 hours later, the president federalized the California National Guard and sent 2,000 troops into the city to quell the protests there, an action that the state continues to contend was illegal, and which is being fought over in US District Court.

Trump, speaking to reporters during a White House press conference on June 10, was asked if he'd spoken to Newsom, and he replied, "A day ago. Called him to tell him, got to do a better job."

Newsom publicly proclaimed that this phone call never happened, because they had only spoken several days earlier before the National Guard was called in, but Fox News, and Watters, proceeded to edit video together to suggest that Newsom was lying about having ever spoken to the president in recent days.

Newsom aides said that he was suing in his personal capacity, and would pay any fines or penalties out of his campaign account. Any proceeds won in the case will be given to anti-Trump causes.

Politico suggests that Newsom's lawsuit "marks a pointed escalation in Newsom’s feud with the Republican president and his allies in media."

Fox News put out a statement in response saying, "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."

Trump himself has filed defamation suits against ABC and CBS, the former suit which was settled for $15 million in December. In that suit, Trump sued over the fact that George Stephanopoulos’ had said on air that Trump was found civilly liable for rape — when, in fact, he was found civilly liable for sexual abuse, and a judge in the case said it was "common modern parlance" to refer to such a case as rape.

Newsom has been on the offensive with Trump and his administration since the events of the weekend of June 6, when protests erupted in Los Angeles over ICE raids and arrests of workers at a garment factory and a Home Depot parking lot.

The administration has contended that National Guard troops and Marines are necessary to protect federal property and ICE agents, while the state is arguing that Trump is in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, which outlaws the use of the military to conduct domestic law enforcement activities. This question is still to be resolved, but a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has permitted the National Guard to continue to be deployed in LA, reversing an emergency injunction by a lower court.

Speaking on The Daily podcast three weeks ago, Newsom said of the National Guard deployment, "This is theater. It’s madness. It’s unconstitutional. I’ve said it’s immoral. It puts people’s lives at risk. And they’re using these brave men and women as pawns."

Newsom further said of Trump, about his characterization of their phone call and its timing, "He lied. He lied. My mother and dad’s grave. I don’t mess around when I say this. He lied. Stone cold liar... then starts making up all these things he claimed he told me about, which honestly starts to disturb me on a different level that maybe he actually believed he said those things... And he’s not all there. I mean that."

Previously: Newsom Calls Trump 'Truly Disturbed' For Threatening to Withhold Federal Disaster Aid From Los Angeles

Top image: California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference at Gemperle Orchard on April 16, 2025 in Ceres, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)