Trump files defamation lawsuit against CNN, seeking $475 million

Former President Donald Trump filed a defamation lawsuit Monday against CNN, accusing the network of engaging in a smear campaign against him in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential race. Mr. Trump’s suit, filed in a federal court in southern Florida, alleged CNN has sought to use its influence with viewers to spread false claims about him for the purpose of defeating him politically. He accused CNN of associating him with Adolf Hitler and portraying him as a Russian lackey and a racist. The network, he alleged, has been escalating these efforts recently in the expectation that he may run for president again in 2024. Mr. Trump is seeking more than $475 million in damages. A spokesman for CNN declined to comment on the suit.

The former president’s suit must clear a high legal bar. To win a defamation lawsuit, public figures must prove that a news organization acted with actual malice and either knowingly published a false statement or showed a reckless disregard for the truth. Mr. Trump’s campaign sued the New York Times in February 2020 accusing it of knowingly publishing false and defamatory statements in an opinion piece on the 2016 election and Russia. A New York state court judge dismissed the case. In legal documents, Mr. Trump alleged that CNN has repeatedly attempted to associate him with Hitler and Nazism and argues that comparing him to one of the most heinous figures in modern history shows the network was motivated by malice. The former president also criticized the network’s use of the term the “Big Lie” in reference to his false claims of widespread voter fraud during the 2020 election.