On Monday, Donald Trumpβformer president and the biggest Karen of them allβsued CNN according to The Washington Post. He is accusing the network of defamation and asking for $475 million in punitive damages. The lawsuit, which is 29 pages long, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
It accuses CNN of executing a βcampaign of dissuasion in the form of libel and slanderβ that has βescalated in recent monthsβ because the network believed that Trump would once again run for president. The lawsuit also calls out CNN for using words like βracistβ and βinsurrectionistβ to describe Trump.
Suggested Reading
This isnβt the first time Trump has directly taken on the media, though his efforts proved unfruitful. His campaign sued both the New York Times as well as The Washington Post for libel. The pieces under fire were opinion articles that connected the campaign to Russian electoral interference.
The suit against the New York Times was dismissed while the lawsuit against The Washington Post is forthcoming. In addition, Trumpβs campaign filed a separate libel suit against CNN in 2020 over an opinion piece. It was ultimately dismissed. Trumpβs legal team cites various examples of defamation from CNNβincluding specific clips and articles.
One of them includes a 2019 interview with singer Linda Ronstadt, who juxtaposed certain parts of Trumpβs presidency to Nazis in Germany. The attorneys said that Ronstadt βis a singer, not a historian.β Trumpβs lawyers also labeled the interview a βpretext to repeat CNNβs message under the guise of real βreporting.ββ
CNN isnβt the first network, nor the last, to call out Trump on his dangerous antics. Although the lawsuit is most likely to be dismissed, it still begs the question: the truth hurts, doesnβt it?
Straight From
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.