President Donald Trump sued CNN for defamation and wants at least $475 million in damages.
Trump threatened to sue CNN in July if the network did not “take down, retract, and cease and desist the use of the terms ‘Big Lie’ and ‘lying'” concerning him questioning the 2020 presidential election.
Trump filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Fort Lauderdale Division.
“As a part of its concerted effort to tilt the political balance to the Left, CNN has tried to taint the Plaintiff with a series of ever-more scandalous, false, and defamatory labels of ‘racist,’ ‘Russian lackey,’ insurrectionist,’ and ultimately ‘Hitler,'” states the complaint.
The lawsuit also accuses CNN of escalating the “libel and slander” against Trump “in recent months because CNN fears he “will run for president in 2024.”
The lawsuit explains why the “actual malice” standard “should not apply” in this case:
Even though the actual malice standard is met here, in circumstances like these, the judicially-created policy of the “actual malice” standard should not apply because “ideological homogeneity in the media—or in the channels of information distribution—risks repressing certain ideas from the public consciousness just as surely as if access were restricted by the government.” Suits like these do not throttle the First Amendment, they vindicate the First Amendment’s marketplace of ideas.
I do not have formal law training yet (I start Seton Hall School of Law in January. Professor Jacobson makes law interesting, so it rubbed off on me!), but I’ll try to explain this as well as possible.
Trump quotes the late Judge Silberman from the Tah v. Global Witness Publishing, Inc case: “It should be borne in mind that the first step taken by any potential authoritarian or dictatorial regime is to gain control of communications, particularly the delivery of news. It is fair to conclude, therefore, that one-party control of the press and media is a threat to a viable democracy. It may even give rise to countervailing extremism. The First Amendment guarantees a free press to foster a vibrant trade in ideas. But a biased press can distort the marketplace. And when the media has proven its willingness—if not eagerness—to so distort, it is a profound mistake to stand by unjustified legal rules that serve only to enhance the press’ power.”
The lawsuit lists Trump as “a citizen and resident of the State of Florida.” This is significant because public officials and figures must prove the actual malice standard. The “actual malice standard” comes from a SCOTUS case in 1964, in which the court “held that for a public official to succeed on a defamation claim, the public official plaintiff must show that the false, defaming statements were said with ‘actual malice.'”
We’ve covered Sarah Palin’s lawsuit against The New York Times.
But the lawsuit states it “is an action for defamation.” To prove defamation, the plaintiff must: “1) a false statement purporting to be fact; 2) publication or communication of that statement to a third person; 3) fault amounting to at least negligence; and 4) damages, or some harm caused to the reputation of the person or entity who is the subject of the statement.” However, defamation varies state to state.
“The Big Lie” is the main subject of the defamation complaint. CNN touted Trump questioning the 2020 presidential election as the “Big Lie,” which is another way to connect Trump to Hitler:
23. In its campaign of dissuasion, CNN has branded the Plaintiff as one who subscribes to the notion of the “Big Lie.” The “Big Lie” is a direct reference to a tactic employed by Adolf Hitler and appearing in Hitler’s Mein Kampf. As commonly understood: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” The “Big Lie” was used by Hitler to incite hatred of the Jews and to convince people to ostracize Jewish people. It was an entire propaganda campaign to justify Jewish persecution and genocide. The phrase is not taken lightly and is not bandied about blithely. CNN anchors and commentators understand this. They have not used it against other political leaders and previously criticized political analogies to Nazi Germany and to Hitler.24. In a CNN broadcast on September 4, 2012, CNN Anchor Ashleigh Banfield discussed a statement by the then-chair of the Democratic Party in California, John Burton. Banfield noted that Burton “actually compared Republicans to Nazis.” Id. She read Burton’s statement during the broadcast: “They lie and they don’t care if people think they lie. As long as you lie, Joseph Goebbels, the big lie, you keep repeating it, you know.” Id. Banfield continued with background on Goebbels, a Nazi propagandist under Hitler. Id. Paul Steinhauser, a CNN Political Director appearing on Banfield’s show, responded: “No, not cool. The Nazi comparisons never work in politics. This is another example of why you don’t or should not do that.” Id. Banfield stated: “I’m getting sick of both parties calling people Nazis…It’s stupid and sick.” Id.
Then Trump brings up CNN’s continued use of the “Big Lie” despite new CEO Chris Licht allegedly telling employees to drop it:
Since then, CNN’s on-air personalities—including John King, Jake Tapper, John Avlon, Brianna Keilar, and Don Lemon, among others—have continued to use the phrase in describing the Plaintiff and the Plaintiff’s questions of election integrity despite an apparent admonition from their Chief Executive Officer.27. Reportedly, the term “Big Lie” has been used in reference to the Plaintiff more than 7,700 times on CNN since January of 2021. Id.
Trump has a point when he mentions CNN doesn’t use the “Big Lie” when talking about others who deny their election losses. He immediately mentions Stacey Abrams when she appeared on State of the Union in 2019: “In response to what I believe was a stolen election—I’m not saying they stole it from me, they stole it from the voters of Georgia. I cannot prove empirically that I would’ve won, but we will never know. And so what I demanded on November 16 was a fair fight because you see, voter suppression is as old as America.”
CNN also did not challenge anyone after 2016 when they insisted the Russians stole the election from Hillary Clinton, even allowing guests to refer to Trump as an “illegitimate” president: “CNN repeatedly allowed for assertions that the Plaintiff was illegitimately elected largely to go unchallenged, including statements made by Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Jimmy Carter, Jerry Nadler, John Lewis, Dianne Feinstein, Marcia Fudge, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. None of these individuals who challenged the legitimacy of the 2016 presidential election were accused of propagating a ‘Big Lie’ or even of lying.”
Trump accuses CNN of using “its platform to propagate its politics.” He uses the following examples to prove his point:
Meanwhile, 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 is the stuff of tabloids cloaked as “honored” news.13. CNN’s reporting on the Plaintiff in recent years has consistently fed a narrative to denounce the Plaintiff’s legitimacy and competency. The reporting is results-oriented, as betrayed in an undercover video: A CNN employee was filmed discussing the Defendant’s coverage of the 2020 presidential election. The employee boasted that CNN helped to defeat the Plaintiff in the 2020 election and called the Defendant, his employer, “propaganda”: “Look at what we did, we got Trump out…I am 100% going to say it. And I 100% believe it that if it wasn’t for CNN, I don’t know that Trump would have got voted out.” Id.
Let’s not forget then-anchor Brian Stelter of Reliable Sources not pushing back when Allen Frances said, “Trump is as destructive a person in this century as Hitler, Stalin, and Mao were in the last century.”
Trump also notes Anderson Cooper interviewing Linda Ronstadt, who compared Trump’s rise to that of Hitler. I giggled: “No matter how lovely a voice she may have, Ronstadt is a singer, not a historian. The interview is merely a pretext to repeat CNN’s message under the guise of real ‘reporting.’ More problematic is the use of celebrities to propagate CNN’s message.”
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