• News & Politics
  • Culture
  • Food
  • Science & Health
  • Money
  • Life Stories
  • Video
  • Reviews
    • Lifestyle
      • The New Sober Boom
      • Getting Hooked on Quitting
    • Education
      • Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous
      • Is College Necessary?
    • Finance
      • Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear
      • Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset
    • Crypto
      • Investing
        • SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters
        • 'Dark' Personalities Drawn to BTC
Profile Log In/Sign Up Saved Articles Go Ad-Free Logout
subscribe
Help keep Salon independent
Newsletter
Profile Login/Sign Up
Saved Articles Go Ad-Free Logout
  • News & Politics
  • Culture
  • Food
salon logo
  • Science & Health
  • Money
  • Video

“Shockingly baseless”: Legal experts mock “bad faith, unethical” Trump lawsuit trying to silence CNN

"This lawsuit isn't worth the paper it's printed on," a former prosecutor said

By Areeba Shah

Staff Writer

Published October 4, 2022 1:53PM (EDT)

Former US President Donald Trump speaks during a Save America rally at Macomb County Community College Sports and Expo Center in Warren, Michigan, on October 1, 2022. (JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
Former US President Donald Trump speaks during a Save America rally at Macomb County Community College Sports and Expo Center in Warren, Michigan, on October 1, 2022. (JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
--

Shares

Facebook
Twitter
Reddit
Email

Former President Donald Trump on Monday filed a lawsuit accusing CNN of defamation, seeking $475 million in punitive damages.

The 29-page suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, accuses of CNN playing a part in a "campaign of dissuasion in the form of libel and slander against the Plaintiff," that "escalated" recently as the TV network "fears" Trump will run for president in 2024. 

The lawsuit claimed that as part of CNN's effort to "tilt the political balance to the Left," its hosts used "scandalous, false, and defamatory" labels like "racist," "Russian lackey," "insurrectionist," and "Hitler," when describing Trump. 

The lawsuit highlights several examples of CNN appearing to compare Trump to Hitler. In one, it mentions a January 2022 special report called "The Fight to Save Democracy" by host Fareed Zakaria, which included footage of Hitler. 

Another example includes an interview conducted by former anchor Brian Stelter in which psychiatrist Allen Frances claimed that "Trump is as destructive a person in this century as Hitler, Stalin, and Mao were in the last century."

Related

Trump threatens to sue CNN for defamation

Trump, whose presidency was marked by discrediting journalists and labeling mainstream media as biased, usually employed empty threats of suing outlets over news coverage he disagreed with. 

On rare occasions, his campaign sued the New York Times in 2019 over an op-ed suggesting a "quid pro quo" with Russian officials, which was later dismissed. Similarly, he went after The Washington Post for libel over an opinion piece that linked his campaign to Russian electoral interference. The suit is still pending. 

Some legal experts blasted the lawsuit, calling it a publicity stunt. National security attorney Bradley Moss tweeted that the "lawsuit is garbage."

First Amendment lawyer Ken White also weighed in on Twitter, saying that the lawsuit was "one of the most shockingly baseless, bad faith, unethical abuses of the judicial system to suppress speech I've ever seen. Absolutely contemptible garbage."

"The reason this case is frivolous, bad faith, and performative is that it explicitly attacks political opinion as if it were false statement of fact," he wrote. "It attacks the absolute core of the First Amendment."


Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.


Adam Steinbaugh, a First Amendment lawyer for pro-free speech organization FIRE, noted that the "First Amendment protects the right to opine that Donald Trump is a racist, demagogic insurrectionist and compare him to any number of dictators."

Barb McQuade, a former U.S. attorney and University of Michigan law professor, also chimed in on Twitter saying that the "lawsuit is a naked publicity stunt that Trump knows will be dismissed before discovery. It will never reach deposition stage. He will make more money off of fundraising over this legally baseless lawsuit than he will pay the court in sanctions. Winning!"

Others like former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti have described Trump's legal action as a "media stunt". "This lawsuit isn't worth the paper it's printed on," Mariotti tweeted. 

The same day Trump's legal team filed a lawsuit against CNN, he posted a statement on Truth Social, his social-media site, warning that other publications would also face legal action for their "disinformation" about the 2020 election that he lost. 

"In the coming weeks and months we will also be filing lawsuits against a large number of other Fake News Media Companies for their lies, defamation, and wrongdoing," the statement said, "including as it pertains to 'The Big Lie,' that they used so often in reference to their disinformation attack on Presidential Election of 2020."

Read more

about Trump's lawsuits

  • Trump asking fans for donations towards CNN lawsuit
  • Judge tosses Trump's Twitter lawsuit
  • "This isn't how it works": Trump's performative lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter is a futile stunt

By Areeba Shah

Areeba Shah is a staff writer at Salon covering news and politics. Previously, she was a research associate at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and a reporting fellow for the Pulitzer Center, where she covered how COVID-19 impacted migrant farmworkers in the Midwest.

MORE FROM Areeba Shah


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Aggregate Cnn Donald Trump Politics

Related Articles


Advertisement:
  • Home
  • About
  • Staff
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Service
  • Archive
  • Go Ad Free

Copyright © 2025 Salon.com, LLC. Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. SALON ® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon.com, LLC. Associated Press articles: Copyright © 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


DMCA Policy