The offending statements on CNN are “opinions, not false statements of fact,” Judge Raag Singhal justified his judgment on Friday evening (local time). They are therefore “not punishable”.
Disgusting but not defamatory
The statements were “disgusting”, “but not defamatory from a legal point of view”. CNN is known for its extremely critical reporting of Trump. In particular, the ex-president accused the broadcaster of calling its claim that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” by US Democrat Joe Biden a “big lie”.
“The ‘big lie’ is a direct reference to a tactic used by Adolf Hitler and appears in Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf,'” the lawsuit, filed in October, said. The use of the term is therefore an attempt by CNN to associate Trump with “one of the most disgusting personalities in recent history”.
During his tenure, Trump regularly railed against CNN and other critical media outlets like the New York Times, denouncing them as “fake news.” His statement that some media were “enemies of the people” caused particular outrage. Verbal attacks against journalists are still part of Trump’s appearances today.
Multiple court cases
Since the end of his term in office, the US judiciary has already filed two counts of indictments against Trump. In May, the 77-year-old, who has so far been the clear favorite of the Republicans for the presidential candidacy, has to answer in court for allegedly illegally storing secret files in the US state of Florida. Trump had previously been charged by the New York judiciary with hush money paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
In addition, Trump faces further charges for attempting to illegally influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and for storming the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Most recently, the ex-president said in a radio interview that he wanted to stick to his presidential candidacy even if he was convicted in the document affair.
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