In his lawsuit, Trump contends that CNN utilised its great influence as a renowned news source to undermine him politically.
Donald Trump, a former American president, has filed a lawsuit against the CNN media company. Trump filed a defamation suit against CNN on Monday, alleging the network had engaged in a "campaign of libel and slander" against him and demanded $475 million in punitive damages.
In his lawsuit, Trump contends that CNN utilised its great influence as a renowned news source to undermine him politically. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. CNN chose not to comment on the situation.
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Republican Trump claims in the 29-page complaint that, despite CNN's long history of attacking him, the network has increased its attacks in recent months due to concerns that he will run for president again in 2024. The case, which was submitted to the court, mainly focuses on "The Big Lie" of Trump's false allegations of widespread fraud, which he claims cost him the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.
The lawsuit alleges that CNN attempted to label the plaintiff with a variety of scandalous, false, and defamatory labels, including "racist," "Russian lackey," "insurrectionist," and ultimately "Hitler," as part of its deliberate drive to tip the political balance to the left.
In the lawsuit, CNN is accused of comparing Trump to Hitler on numerous occasions, including in a Fareed Zakaria-hosted special programme from January 2022 that featured video of the German dictator. Trump alleges that since January 2021, CNN has referred to him more than 7,700 times as "The Big Lie," a phrase with Nazi connotations.
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Trump has not indicated whether he will run for re-election. He lost the 2020 contest to Democrat Joe Biden. The former president announced in a statement that he would file lawsuits "in the coming weeks and months" against other significant media organisations. He also hinted that he might take legal action against a congressional committee looking into his supporters' attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Former president is currently the target of a criminal probe by the U.S. Justice Department for keeping official documents at his Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago, after leaving office in January 2021. Leticia James, the attorney general for the state of New York, filed a lawsuit against Trump last month, alleging that he had misled banks and insurance companies about the value of his properties.
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(With inputs from Reuters)
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