The California governor is seeking $787 million in punitive damages.
A Delaware judge has set a March 2028 trial date for California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $787 million defamation lawsuit against Fox News.
Read more Missouri voters, officials anxiously await resolution of electoral chaos
If the case is not settled, dismissed or dropped before the trial date, it would be heard during the 2028 presidential primary elections. A majority of states will hold their primaries on Super Tuesday, March 7, 2028. Newsom, a Democrat, has said he is considering a run for president.
He claims in his lawsuit that Fox News and host Jesse Watters “distorted the facts” when reporting on a phone call last year between President Donald Trump and Newsom.
Newsom publicly disputed statements made by Trump on June 10, 2025, claiming that a call between Newsom and Trump had taken place “a day ago.”
According to screenshots of Trump’s call logs shared by a Fox News host, the call had taken place around midnight on June 6-7, 2025.
Watters said on his show that Newsom was lying.
“Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him? Why would he do that?” Watters said on June 10, 2025.
Read more What Republicans are campaigning on for the midterms
Newsom’s complaint states that Fox News “chose to create false propaganda to defend the President while casting Governor Newsom as dishonest.”
Watters apologized on air that July, and Fox News’s efforts to have the case thrown out have so far been unsuccessful.
The defamation suit was filed in Delaware Superior Court in June 2025, and the trial date was set in late August. Fox News said in a statement that it would “continue to vigorously defend against Governor Newsom’s meritless claims,” while Newsom’s lawyer Michael Teter said in a statement that “Fox purposefully distorted its reporting to lie about Governor Newsom.”
Catch up quickly every weekday morning with a rundown of the 7 most important and interesting stories. Sign up for The 7 newsletter.
Read more Oil’s rise past $100 per barrel deepens GOP’s midterm challenge
