A pebble in the shoe? Former US President Donald Trump filed a complaint against the CNN channel on Monday, accusing it of defaming him because he fears he will run for president again in 2024. The Republican believes the channel “tried to use its immense influence” to “defame his viewers and readers for the purpose of defeating him politically,” according to the text of the lawsuit filed in Florida.
“CNN’s deterrence campaign, in the form of defamation and slander against the actor, has only escalated in recent months as CNN fears the actor will run for president in 2024,” according to the same source. Donald Trump accuses the channel of wanting to “unbalance the political balance on the left” by trying to “smear it” with “a series of increasingly defamatory, false and scandalous qualifications such as racist, lackey of the Russians, insurrectional and finally Hitler “.
The businessman particularly criticizes CNN for using the phrase “the big lie” to talk about his allegations that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from him by Joe Biden. ” The big lie is a direct reference to a tactic employed by Adolf Hitler and which appears in Mein Kampf, “according to the complaint.” big lie it was used by Hitler to incite hatred of Jews ”and“ should not be taken lightly ”.
Other media soon targeted
Its repeated use on Donald Trump’s channel – more than 7,700 times since January 2021, the complaint claims – is “a deliberate attempt by CNN to convey to its audience an association between the complainant and one of the most repugnant personalities in modern history.” . Donald Trump, 76, is therefore seeking compensation of $ 475 million.
VIDEO. Attack on Capitol Hill: Trump must be held accountable, the investigation says
In a statement, the former president said Monday evening that in the weeks and months to come he will file a complaint against “a large number” of other media, including for defamation. He also said he could take action against the House committee investigating the assault on the Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021.
During his tenure, the former Republican president had an abysmal relationship with mainstream media such as CNN and the New York Times, which he dubbed “fake news” media. He regularly raged at them on Twitter, from where he has since been banned.
