According to a Florida court filing on Monday, Donald Trump has sued cable TV network CNN, claiming defamation and seeking punitive damages of $475m, reports the Guardian.
Trump’s lawyers claimed that the US cable news station has attempted to smear the former US president “with a series of ever-more scandalous, false, and defamatory labels of ‘racist,’ ‘Russian lackey,’ ‘insurrectionist,’ and ultimately ‘Hitler’”. The lawsuit has been filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale.
“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.
Trump claimed that CNN had used its considerable influence as a leading news organization to defeat him politically.
CNN declined to comment on the case.
Trump, a Republican, claims in the 29-page lawsuit that CNN had a long track record of criticizing him but had ramped up its attacks in recent months because the network feared that he would run again for president in 2024.
“As a part of its concerted effort to tilt the political balance to the left, CNN has tried to taint the plaintiff,” the suit said.
The lawsuit lists several instances in which CNN appeared to compare Trump to Hitler, including a January 2022 special report by host Fareed Zakaria that included footage of the 20th-century German dictator.
Trump, who in 2020 lost a re-election effort to Democrat Joe Biden, has not said officially whether he would seek re-election, though has dropped many such hints.
The lawsuit comes as the 76- year-old former president faces considerable legal woes, including a criminal investigation by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) for retaining government records at his Mar-a-Lago in Florida after leaving office in January 2021.
Bd-pratidin English/Ishrar Tabassum
