Federal appeals court rejects Trump’s ‘meritless’ case against CNN
By Brian Stelter, CNN
(CNN) — A federal appeals court has rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt to revive a defamation lawsuit against CNN, calling his arguments “meritless.”
The 2022 suit objected to CNN’s use of the phrase “the big lie” in reference to the president’s lies about the 2020 election being “stolen.”
On Tuesday, a three-judge appellate panel affirmed a Florida judge’s 2023 ruling that said Trump failed to prove “falsity,” a necessary element to demonstrate that someone has been defamed.
Trump’s conduct — when he lost the 2020 election but claimed he won, and attempted to stay in power — is “susceptible to multiple subjective interpretations, including CNN’s,” the judges wrote. Thus, it is “not readily capable of being proven true or false.”
Judges Kevin Newsom and Elizabeth Branch, who were appointed by Trump, and Judge Adalberto Jordan, who was appointed by Barack Obama, wrote that “Trump’s other arguments are likewise meritless.”
A spokesperson for CNN declined to comment on the ruling.
The appeals court decision reaffirms that American news outlets tend to prevail when they stand their ground rather than settle out of court with Trump.
Settlement deals between Trump and major media companies like Disney and Paramount have drawn widespread criticism over the past year.
The original suit against CNN was filed by Lindsey Halligan and Jim Trusty, two of Trump’s personal lawyers.
Trusty withdrew from the case eight months later, however, citing “irreconcilable differences” with Trump.
Halligan has remained in Trump’s inner circle and is now the interim US attorney overseeing the Eastern District of Virginia. Her appointment has been challenged in court.
The original lawsuit also accused CNN of associating Trump with “Adolf Hitler and Nazis,” sometimes by citing comments made by guests on TV shows.
The district judge assigned to the case, Raag Singhal, said those were statements of opinion, not fact: “Bad rhetoric is not defamation when it does not include false statements of fact.”
Trump then appealed to the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled against him on Tuesday.
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team responded by to the loss by saying, “There is no doubt that Fake News CNN defamed President Trump and all of the tens of millions of Americans who have rightly stated that the 2020 Presidential Election was rigged and stolen by Crooked Joe Biden and his handlers. President Trump will continue to hold the mainstream media accountable and will pursue this case against CNN to its just and deserved conclusion.”
The-CNN-Wire
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Kara Scannell contributed reporting.
