The Trump 2020 re-election campaign is suing CNN for libel. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, accuses the network of “false and defamatory” statements related to their narrative that Trump sought Russia's help in the 2016 election.
"The complaint alleges CNN was aware of the falsity at the time it published them but did so for the intentional purpose of hurting the campaign while misleading its own readers in the process... the campaign filed this lawsuit against CNN and the preceding suits against The New York Times and The Washington Post to hold the publishers accountable for their reckless false reporting and also to establish the truth,” Trump campaign Senior Legal Adviser Jenna Ellis told Fox News.
One of the CNN stories that the lawsuit identifies as particularly problematic is an opinion piece from Larry Noble entitled, "Soliciting dirt on your opponents from a foreign government is a crime. Mueller should have charged Trump campaign officials with it." The complaint also references Project Veritas investigations that showed CNN President Jeff Zucker telling CNN staffers to focus on Trump's impeachment.
The Trump campaign claims they tried to get CNN to issue apologies and retractions about their Russia reports, to no avail. They are seeking millions of dollars in retribution.
Other than running with their Russia narrative, CNN has made it their MO to question everything President Trump and his cabinet says. Just look at the outrageous chyrons. And CNN reporter Jim Acosta's resume may as well say, "spars with President Trump at every press conference."
But Trump gives it right back. In their most recent tête-à-tête, Acosta told the president that CNN's record on delivering the truth "is a lot better than yours sometimes if you don’t mind me saying." He did mind Acosta saying, and added his own two cents.
“Let me tell you about your record, your record is so bad you ought to be ashamed of yourself,” Trump responded. “You probably have the worst record in the history of broadcasting.”
And CNN was, remember, the inaugural recipient of Trump's "fake news" insult.
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