Former President Donald Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against CNN, alleging that the cable news network has recently escalated a campaign of libel and slander against him because it fears he will run for re-election in 2024.
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,’” the former president’s lawyers said in the suit filed Monday in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
According to the filing, 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.
CNN did not respond immediately to an email requesting comment on the lawsuit.
Since leaving office, Trump has not shied away from suing his perceived adversaries, albeit with limited success. A federal judge in Florida dismissed his lawsuit last month, accusing his 2016 election rival Hillary Clinton and dozens of others of conspiring against him with allegedly false Russia claims.
Trump v. Cable News Network Inc., 0:22-cv-61842, US District Court, Southern District of Florida (Fort Lauderdale), is the case.
