Attorneys for President Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign sent CNN president Jeff Zucker and CNN executive vice president David Vigilante a four-page letter "to discuss an appropriate resolution of this matter" such as "a substantial payment of damages, as well as all other appropriate measures that are necessary to fully address the magnitude" of CNN's hidden anti-Trump bias. The legal letter cites specific examples from Project Veritas' investigation #ExposeCNN which shows company employees and contractors admitting that the company has a left-wing, anti-Trump bias despite publicly claiming otherwise.
The letter, first reported by the Washington Examiner, was sent by campaign attorney Charles Harder on Wednesday. Harder asserts that the network is in violation of the "Lanham Act" and "other applicable laws, by constituting misrepresentations to the public, to your advertisers, and others." This claim is backed by statements from CNN Media coordinators Nick Neville and Christian Sierra.
Here are Neville's statements that suggest an unethical bias, according to the campaign:
“Jeff Zucker, basically the president of CNN has a personal vendetta against Trump”
“[Jeff Zucker has] had an ongoing feud with Trump since The Apprentice” (where Zucker was a producer)
“I totally want to do just like the truth, the dogged reporting. But then you have higher up executives like Zucker and other people, who are saying we gotta make profits...so it turns into like certain things that you do are trying just to attract viewers, then it becomes kind of a comedy show”“Don Lemon comes on, he makes you think he’s objective news, but he’s blatantly opinionated. So either disclose where you’re coming from or get someone whose a little bit more objective. Don Lemon...love him or ha te him he’s blatantly anti-Trump, he’s blatantly left. So maybe Don Lemon could disclose that, but CNN makes it appear as though we have 24 hours of unbiased news, that’s not true.”
Here are Sierra's:
“There’s just nothing we can do if Zucker wants impeachment every single day to be the top story…He wants impeachment above all else”
“I hate how everything is all Trump all the time now, everyone at the network complains about it, they hate covering Trump every day”
“Our Democratic interviews are like softballs, compared to the Republicans”
Harder states that the letter "is not intended as a full or complete statement of all relevant facts." Indeed, on Thursday, Project Veritas released a third video showing several managers, including a 25-year-veteran and Peabody Winner, and supervisors admitting left-wing bias at the network as well.
Harder adds, "Never in the history of this country has a President been the subject of such a sustained barrage of unfair, unfounded, unethical and unlawful attacks by so-called 'mainstream' news, as the current situation."
Editor's Note: In the interest of transparency, the author of this piece has a relative who works for Project Veritas.
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