Gov. Gavin Newsom scored a small legal victory in his defamation case against Fox News and host Jesse Watters, as a Delaware judge ruled that his &787 million lawsuit can move forward.
“Looking forward to discovery,” the California governor responded Thursday in an X post.
Judge Sean P. Lugg found it “reasonably conceivable” that Fox intentionally pushed false claims about Newsom when accusing him of lying about a phone call with Donald Trump during protests in Los Angeles.
Fox filed to dismiss the lawsuit last August, calling the governor’s suit a political stunt. The court rejected the news network’s attempts to dismiss the case and permits it to go to trial.
Newsom filed his lawsuit against the conservative news network in June 2025, seeking the massive payout after Fox News star Watters said the governor lied about a phone call with President Trump.
“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 to TheWrap at the time. “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.”
The news organization called the governor’s suit a “political stunt” at the time, adding that the suit should be dismissed because it was supposedly filed in the wrong state, Delaware. The judge ruled against this dismissal moving the case forward to trial.
The post Gavin Newsom’s $787 Million Fox News Defamation Lawsuit Moves Toward Trial in Legal Win for Governor appeared first on TheWrap.
