Former U.S President Donald Trump has sued multinational cable news channel CNN, accusing the channel of waging a campaign of libel and slander against him over fears that he will run for the presidential position again in 2024.
He alleged that CNN uses its trusted news source to defame him in the minds of its viewers and readers with a series of scandalous reports.
In a 29-page lawsuit filed in a US District Court in Florida by Trump’s lawyers, it reads “CNN’s highly defamatory and persistent association of the plaintiff to Hitler and Hitler’s “Big Lie” is no mistake.
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“It is wanton and malicious reporting intended to feed a narrative and to achieve the desired end to cause readers and viewers to associate the plaintiff with the lowest of low, to fear him, to not vote for him, and to support campaigns against him.
“Beyond simply highlighting any negative information about the plaintiff and ignoring all positive information about him, 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,” the filing states.
“As a part of its concerted effort to tilt the political balance to the Left, CNN has tried to taint the plaintiff with a series of ever-more scandalous, false, and defamatory labels of ‘racist,’ ‘Russian lackey,’ ‘insurrectionist,’ and ultimately ‘Hitler.”
Donald Trump is demanding the sum of $475 million in punitive damages from the cable company.
Trump and CNN have for a long time had an unending brawl, as the two parties are always at loggerheads. During his reign as the U.S president, Trump had a caustic relationship with CNN and other major news outlets like The New York Times during his presidency, branding them “fake news” and repeatedly raging against them on social media.
Following the election that brought in the current U.S president Joe Biden, Trump had alleged that there was electoral fraud in the election noting that he was the rightful winner of the election where he filed a lawsuit.
Following his lawsuit, at least 86 judges including some of the judges appointed by Trump have so far rejected lawsuits attempting to overturn the 2020 results.
The former head of Trump’s own Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency disclosed that the election was fair and secure.
A team of Republican lawyers, judges and ex-senators has also concluded there was no widespread voter fraud that could have tipped the election to Trump.
For the months and years that have followed the 2020 election, CNN took it upon itself to engage in a campaign of discussion, branding President Trump a liar, and one who subscribes to the notion of the ‘Big Lie.
CNN repeatedly reminds its readers that the Ex U.S President is likened to Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels.