Fox News Jesse Watters tried to clear up his earlier claim that Gavin Newsom was lying in a denial of a phone call with Donald Trump last month, but the California governor indicated that he would still proceed with his defamation lawsuit against the network.
Newsom’s $787 million lawsuit, filed last month in Delaware, concerns a call that the governor had with Trump late on June 6, the day before the president federalized the National Guard to respond to protests following ICE raids in the Los Angeles region. Newsom opposed that move, and said that the president didn’t raise the issue of the demonstrations or the National Guard in their phone call.
Days later, on June 10, Trump claimed to reporters that he had spoken to Newsom “a day ago” about the demonstrations in Los Angeles. But Newsom quickly challenged that claim, writing in a post on X, “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.”
That day, Fox News anchor John Roberts obtained a screenshot of Trump’s call log, showing a 16-minute call on June 6/7. Later, Watters played a clip of Trump’s statement about the call, but removed the president saying that the call occurred “a day ago,” per the lawsuit.
Watters told viewers, “Newsom responded, and he said there wasn’t a phone call. He said Trump never called him. Not even a voicemail, he said. But John Roberts got Trump’s call logs, and it shows Trump called him late Friday night and they talked for 16 minutes. Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him? Why would he do that?” As Watters spoke in the June 10 segment, the Fox News chyron read, “Gavin Lied About Trump’s Call.”
On his show on Thursday, Watters said, “We thought the dispute was about whether there had been a call at all, not when. We thought the governor was clear when he said, without qualification, that there was no call. Now Newsom is telling us what was in his head when he wrote the tweet. He didn’t deceive anybody on purpose, so I’m sorry. He wasn’t lying. He was just confusing and unclear.”
Through a spokesperson, Newsom responded to Watters’ apology, “Discovery will be fun. See you in court, buddy.” Newsom’s attorneys had preceded the lawsuit with a legal demand letter, asking for a “formal retraction” and on-air apology.
Newsom’s lawsuit accused Fox News of “willfully” distorting facts in an effort to curry favor with Trump. It also contends that Watters “purposefully presented a false picture of President Trump’s statement.”
At the time the lawsuit was filed, Fox News said, “Governor 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 post Jesse Watters Tells Viewers Gavin Newsom Wasn’t Lying About Trump Call, But Governor Tells Fox Host, “We’ll See You In Court, Buddy” appeared first on Deadline.
