Trump To Ask the Supreme Court To Revive His $475 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against CNN

President Trump is planning to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to revive his $475 million defamation lawsuit against CNN over its use of the phrase “Big Lie” in reference to his claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. Mr. Trump first filed his lawsuit against CNN in 2022. He argued that the network tried to “taint” him with “a series of ever-more scandalous, false, and defamatory labels” such as “racist,” “Russian lackey,” “insurrectionist,” and “Hitler.” The complaint listed several examples of CNN allegedly likening him to Adolf Hitler, including a 2022 report from Fareed Zakaria that included footage of the German dictator.In 2023, a district court judge, Raag Singhal, a Trump appointee, dismissed the case, saying that references to the “Big Lie” were opinion and not made as factual statements. In March, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit rejected the president’s attempt to revive his lawsuit. An attorney for Mr. Trump, Richard C. Klugh Jr., filed a petition with the Supreme Court, signaling that the president intends to appeal the circuit court’s decision. Mr. Klugh asked the court to extend the deadline to file the appeal to August 14. “This case involves Respondent’s use of false, malicious, and defamatory statements in thousands of broadcasts and related publications, falsely accusing President Trump of taking the same actions that were taken by Adolf Hitler in the Nazi ‘Big Lie’ campaign, which led to the Holocaust,” reads the filing. “Respondent’s allegations were false, but were perceived as historical fact by large segments of CNN’s audience.”The filing says that Mr. Trump was “lawfully pursuing then-unresolved” claims about “irregularities” in the 2020 election, which the president’s lawyer claims are “now proven.”Mr. Trump’s lawyer argues lower courts wrongly determined that the statements at issue on CNN were “no different than generally labeling an opponent a fascist or communist,” because the network “did much more than mere name-calling.”The filing asks for extra time, citing the “press of urgent business by the President of the United States,” and the “numerosity of the defamatory content.”Mr. Trump’s effort to revive his lawsuit comes as CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, is set to be acquired by Paramount. The merger will require Justice Department approval and will put the network under the same roof as CBS News.Paramount executives have sought to address longstanding complaints of a liberal bias at CBS News, which has frustrated current and former staffers at the Tiffany Network. A recently fired “60 Minutes” correspondent, Scott Pelley, has accused network executives of trying to inject bias into his stories. A spokesman for the network said in a statement that the “only ‘interference’ is the normal back and forth between editor and correspondent that happens in every newsroom.”Many media journalists expect that Paramount executives will make changes at CNN once its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is finalized.While Mr. Pelley and other commentators have lamented the changes at CBS News, Mr. Trump recently expressed frustration with the network’s coverage. During an interview with NBC News’s Kristin Welker, Mr. Trump called his interviewer, NBC News, ABC News, CNN, and CBS News “crooked.”CNN declined to comment.

Trump To Ask the Supreme Court To Revive His $475 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against CNN

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