Fox Anchor Hypes Trump Giving Him a ‘Receipt’ to Hit Back at Newsom — But It Actually Supports Newsom’s Claim

 

Fox News anchor John Roberts reported Tuesday on President Donald Trump reaching out to him with a “receipt” to hit back on California Governor Gavin Newsom’s (D) claim that Trump did not call him on Monday. While Roberts hyped the segment as Trump pushing back on Newsom, the “evidence” Trump gave Roberts actually further vindicates Newsom’s claim — and suggests Trump simply flubbed correctly remembering which day the call took place.

“Gavin Newsom, after President Trump said in the noon hour that he called him yesterday or the other day, Gavin Newsom tweeted the following. He said, quote, ‘There was no call, not even a voicemail. Americans should be alarmed that a president deploying Marines on our streets doesn’t even know who he’s talking to,’” Roberts began, adding:

Well, President Trump contacted me from Air Force One on his way to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he’ll be in just a little while. He said the first call to Gavin Newsom was not picked up. The second call Gavin picked up, we spoke for 16 minutes. I told him to essentially, quote, and this is quoting the president, “Get his ass in gear and stop the riots, which were out of control more than anything else. This shows what a liar he is, said I never called.”

“So here is the evidence, and here is the call log that the president sent me from his phone. This was June the 7th,” Roberts added as an image from Trump’s phone was shown on the screen.

Roberts then added the key piece of information, “Now, granted, this was on Saturday.”

Newsom’s tweet, which Roberts read to open the segment, was in response to a clip of a Tuesday exchange between Trump and a reporter:

Reporter: When is last time you spoke with Governor Newsom?

President Trump: A day ago. Called him up to tell him, got to do a better job, he’s doing a bad job. Causing a lot of death and potential death.

Now, while it is entirely possible Trump simply erred when remembering which day he spoke to Newsom, the call log Trump provided in no way refutes Newsom’s claim. In fact, the “receipt” that Roberts aired only furthers Newsom’s claim that there was “no call” on Monday. Newsom has repeatedly addressed his call with Trump on Friday night — early Saturday morning, Trump’s time.

“But look, there’s 1:22 in the morning, which would have been 10:22 at night, California time. There was an outgoing call for four seconds. And then there was an outgoing call for 16 minutes. So that from the president, which says is proof that he spoke to Gavin Newsom early in the morning, our time, late at night Friday night, would have been June 6th, I guess, in Los Angeles. So, Governor, over to you for the response,” Roberts concluded.

Co-anchor Molly Line, added, “So that’s next, right? We’re waiting to see what Governor Newsom has as a response to the president’s, essentially what he has there is the receipt, for what he says the call that was made.”

“It’s all about the receipts,” Roberts added.

“And a long conversation, a 16-minute conversation, as you mentioned, as things were heating up, is the timing of that call, as things were really just beginning to get started,” Line replied as they moved on.

Newsom and Trump have been battling for days with a heated war of words, which have included Trump saying he would arrest Newsom if he were Border Czar Tom Homan. The protests largely escalated after Trump and Newsom spoke in the early hours of Saturday, and Newsom has claimed they were not discussed on that call.

Newsom did later respond to the segment, responding to a clip of it shared by pro-Trump activist Charlie Kirk, “If only he had shown the right ones… Trump doesn’t even know what day it is.”

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

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Alex Griffing is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Send tips via email: alexanderg@mediaite.com. Follow him on Twitter: @alexgriffing