Former President Donald Trump, who has a reputation for being litigious, is litigating again. He said he has filed suit against CNN for “defaming and slandering my name.”
Trump does not like the characterization of his unsubstantiated election-fraud claims as the “big lie,” although that term has become one in fairly common parlance, used by numerous news outlets to describe his ongoing attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
But Trump has long had a particular axe to grind with CNN — which used to be helmed by Trump’s former NBC boss, Jeff Zucker — and continues to wield this weapon to try and raise money.
Announcing the “BREAKING” news of his lawsuit in an email solicitation for money, Trump said, “They’ve called me a LIAR, and so far, I’ve been proven RIGHT about EVERYTHING,” the latter statement likely safe as “puffery,” which is something that no reasonable person would conclude is a serious claim.
Trump asked his supporters to rush money to show they stand with him and his lawsuit.
That email followed one sent Monday (October 3) in which Trump asked for a donation in exchange for becoming one of his “Speech Defenders,” defending the former president, he said, from Big Tech and its “media puppets” for mercilessly censoring him. The email showed an “official Trump Free Speech Defenders” badge (pictured), but it was not clear if a real version was a premium for handing over the money.
Someone who knows a little something about free speech rights calls Trump's suit a politically motivate attempt to shift the focus from his other legal troubles.
“Just when you think Donald Trump’s war against the media was taking a back seat, we now have this nearly half-billion dollar suit against CNN alleging defamation," said Roy Gutterman, a professor at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School and director of the Tully Center for Free Speech.
"This, like Trump’s previous forays into defamation law should clearly be dismissed as a politically-motivated attempt to punish the media and shift focus away from his other legal troubles. One of the interesting arguments he makes is that CNN cast him as a dictator, yet here he is using the law to try to silence and punish a news outlet that is sometimes critical of his actions, sort of the way a dictator might. Also interesting, he singles out several CNN reporters but only names CNN as a defendant.
"Trump is again taking aim at the actual malice standard, which protects the media and critics of government officials.” ▪️
