Trump’s $475 Million ‘Huge Lie’ Defamation Lawsuit Towards CNN Dismissed

(Reuters) – A federal decide has thrown out Donald Trump’s $475 million defamation lawsuit in opposition to CNN, by which the previous president claimed the community’s description of his election fraud because the “massive lie” related him with Adolf Hitler.

In a ruling late on Friday night time, U.S. Decide Raag Singhal, who was nominated by Trump in 2019, mentioned CNN’s phrases had been opinion, not reality, and due to this fact couldn’t be the topic of a defamation declare.

“CNN’s statements whereas repugnant, weren’t, as a matter of regulation, defamatory,” wrote Singhal, who sits in federal court docket in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, close to Trump’s house at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

Trump’s lawyer, Alejandro Brito, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

The lawsuit, which was filed in October 2022, highlighted 5 cases by which CNN both revealed tales or aired feedback referring to Trump’s assertions concerning the 2020 election as his “massive lie.” The phrase can also be related to the Nazi regime’s use of propaganda.

The wording, the lawsuit mentioned, constituted “a deliberate effort by CNN to propagate to its viewers an affiliation between the plaintiff and some of the repugnant figures in fashionable historical past.”

However the mere use of the phrase “massive lie” will not be sufficient to present rise to a real connotation, Singhal wrote.

“No affordable viewer may (or ought to) plausibly make that reference,” he mentioned.

Since launching his first presidential marketing campaign in 2015, Trump has usually attacked media retailers whose protection he dislikes, with CNN a favourite goal.

Trump is the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, regardless of dealing with each state and federal indictments.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Enhancing by Sandra Maler)

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