Former U.S. President Donald Trump sued CNN on Monday, alleging defamation against him. He is seeking $475 million in compensation. The New York businessman believes that the news channel fears that he will run in the 2024 presidential election.
"As part of its concerted effort to tip the political scales to the left, CNN sought to besmirch the whistleblower with a series of increasingly outrageous, false and defamatory labels of 'racism,' 'Russian lackey,' ' insurrectionist,' and finally 'Hitler,'" the complaint details. Trump's legal team noted in the 29-page lawsuit that CNN had a long history of criticizing him and that these "defamations" have only "increased in recent months."
Alleged evidence
The former U.S. president attached some articles and excerpts from the network's programming comparing Trump's proposals to Adolf Hitler's incitement of hatred against Jews.
The lawsuit lists several alleged instances in which CNN allegedly compared Trump to Hitler, including a January 2022 special report by host Fareed Zakaria that included images of the German dictator.
Reuters reported that the former president said that he would file lawsuits against other major media companies in the next few weeks and months and that he may even take action against the congressional committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.
A lawsuit accusing his 2016 election rival Hillary Clinton of conspiring against him with allegedly false allegations about Russia was dismissed by a Florida judge last month. Trump, who in 2020 lost a re-election bid to Democrat Joe Biden, has not said whether he would seek re-election.
