Trump sues CNN for defamation
Former President Trump has sued CNN in federal court in Florida for defamation.
In the lawsuit filed Monday, Trump’s attorneys claim CNN “has sought to use its massive influence — purportedly as a ‘trusted’ news source — to defame the Plaintiff in the minds of its viewers and readers for the purpose of defeating him politically, culminating in CNN claiming credit for ‘[getting] Trump out’ in the 2020 presidential election.”
The former president is seeking $475 million in punitive damages, according to the lawsuit.
Trump announced his intent to sue the network earlier this summer, saying in a statement he would “also be commencing actions against other media outlets who have defamed me and defrauded the public regarding the overwhelming evidence of fraud throughout the 2020 Election.”
The former president’s attorneys allege in the filing that CNN “has undertaken a smear campaign to malign the Plaintiff with a barrage of negative associations and innuendos, broadcasting commentary that he is like a cult leader, a Russian lackey, a dog whistler to white supremacists, and a racist.”
It also cited anchors, personalities and pundits on CNN using the term “Big Lie” to refer to Trump’s repeated false statements about the 2020 election and voter fraud as evidence of the outlet attempting to associate him with Adolf Hitler.
In order to prove defamation, public officials and other public figures must prove journalists acted with actual malice or reckless disregard for the truth in their reporting, a high legal bar to clear give First Amendment protections granted to the free press under the constitution. The New York Times, for example, has not lost a defamation case in more than 50 years.
CNN is a frequent foil of Trump, his followers and allies and conservatives more generally.
In 2020, the network settled a $275 million lawsuit brought by a high school student in Kentucky who was at the center of a viral video controversy and became a lightning rod for critics of the mainstream media.
Updated at 5:08 p.m.
Source: TEST FEED1
