CNN has asked a Florida judge to toss out a defamation lawsuit brought by former President Donald Trump.
In October, Trump filed a $475 million lawsuit against the left-wing network accusing CNN of defamation over its coverage of his 2020 election claims.
This week, CNN rebutted Trump's allegations and requested the judge to immediately dismiss the suit, according to The Hill.
“The Complaint seeks to silence any criticism of Plaintiff's debunked claim that the 2020 presidential election was ‘stolen.' The lawsuit, though, does not even try to prove this claim is true, for the simple reason that evidence of material election fraud does not exist,” CNN's lawyers wrote. “These claims are untenable and repugnant to a free press and open political debate.”
Trump's attorneys argued in the October lawsuit that 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.”
As American Liberty News reported at the time:
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.
“When labels like ‘racist,' ‘Russian lackey,' and ‘insurrectionist' did not have the desired effect to undermine the Plaintiff's candidacy when running for President or the Plaintiff's accomplishments as President, CNN upped the stakes to conjure associations between the Plaintiff and arguably the most heinous figure in modern history,” the Trump lawyers wrote.
In CNN's filing attorneys pushed back that the “Big Lie” is “widely used by not just CNN but many journalists and commentators to refer to Plaintiff's unfounded claims of election fraud.”
They added, “Any alleged association resulting therefrom are also ‘rhetorical hyperbole' and ‘pure opinion' under well-established principles of defamation law.”
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 distinctly high legal bar.
This is a breaking news story. Check back with American Liberty News for the latest updates.
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Unfounded?.? Thousands of affidavits, under penalty of Federal prison…
The “Big Lie” has been proven to be true by many states catching voter fraud, I hope President Trump takes CNN to the cleaners.
As for malice and disregard for the truth, to prove that all Trump’s legal team has to do is show a clip of any of Don Lemon’s commentary on the subject.
The suit should be more than $475 million. The lies and abuse CNN has inflicted upon President Trump and his family is unbearable. That whole gang of CNN people along with MSNBC are exactly that—-a gang of bullies.
Clean their plow in court , They run their mouth all the time spreading lies everyday, Sue these clowns till their broke