(Los Angeles) The California Democratic Governor, Gavin Newsom, filed a defamation complaint against Fox News, claiming the conservative chain for $ 787 million for having assured that he had lied about a call between him and the American president.
This call, spent the night before Donald Trump announces the sending of the National Guard soldiers to Los Angeles in the face of demonstrations contesting his migration policy, is part of the controversy on the question of whether the president had warned the governor or not.
Mr. Newsom, who claims to have never been warned, accuses in his Fox News complaint of having “voluntarily distorted the facts” concerning the temporality of this call, to accuse him of being a “liar”.
The 787 million he claims correspond to the staggering amount that the chain has paid to avoid a defamation trial with the manufacturer of machines Dominion Voting Systems, which she regularly accused against all obviousness of having contributed to fueling the 2020 presidential election, lost by Donald Trump, in favor of Joe Biden.
“If Fox News wants to lie to the American people on behalf of Donald Trump, she must assume the consequences, as she did in the Dominion affair,” said Newsom, seen in the United States as a possible Democratic Democratable for 2028, in a statement.
Fox News denounced a “futile” complaint aimed at “muzzling freedom of expression”.
In fact, the White House and Gavin Newsom both recognized that a call took place on the night of June 6 to 7, a few hours before Mr. Trump announced the deployment of the National Guard. Its content has not been disclosed and the governor has always assured that the sending of soldiers had not been mentioned.
Three days later, on June 10, when 700 navies also arrived in reinforcement on the orders of Mr. Trump, the president assured the press that he had spoken “the day before” to Mr. Newsom of his decision to send soldiers. An assertion that Mr. Newsom immediately disputed on X that day.
“There was no call. Not even a voice message, ”he wrote on the social network.
On the evening of June 10, Fox News released an extract from Mr. Trump’s words concerning a call to Mr. Newsom, but by removing the president’s assertion that he had taken place “the day before”, according to the complaint.
A chain presenter, Jesse Waters accused the Californian governor of lying.
His lawyers sent a letter to Fox News explaining that Mr. Newsom would give up prosecution if the chain retracted and apologized.
