Trump Sues CNN for Defamation, Saying News Org. Fears 2024 Run for Reelection A general view of a CNN logo on a building in Washington, D.C. (AP)
By Jeffrey Rubin | Monday, 03 October 2022 04:54 PM EDT
Former President Donald Trump has filed suit against CNN for defamation, according to a Bloomberg news service report. It said the ex-president claims the cable news network has escalated a campaign of libel and slander against him because it fears he’ll run for re-election in 2024.
As reported by Bloomberg, the suit, filed by Trump lawyers Monday in a federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, asserts that CNN has attempted to taint Trump “with a series of ever-more scandalous, false, and defamatory labels of ‘racist,’ ‘Russian lackey,’ ‘insurrectionist,’ and ultimately ‘Hitler.’”
News reports from various wire services say Trump is seeking at least $475 million in damages.
“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,” Trump’s lawyers wrote, according to the Bloomberg account of the court filing.
CNN didn’t immediately respond to that news service.
Trump has sued other perceived critics, albeit with limited success. For instance, a suit accusing his 2016 election rival Hillary Clinton and others of conspiring against him with fake claims of campaign collusion with Russia was tossed by a judge last month, reports say.
Trump has been a vocal critic of CNN, lauding its lagging ratings and staff churn and celebrating reports that new leadershjp there is aiming to move the notoriously left-leaning news operation more to the center.
Recently, he posted this to his social media platform, Truth Social: “Fox News is really pushing the Democrats and the Democrat agenda. Gets worse every day. … If CNN ever went conservative, they would be an absolute gold mine, and I would help them to do so!”