Might Donald Trump sue CNN? According to a letter made public Wednesday, yes.
As reported by the Washington Examiner, leadership of the former president’s Save America initiative shared a notice of intent online.
The letter — dated July 21st — gives CNN 10 days to publicly retract its claims that Trump is a liar via the network’s references to the “Big Lie” and “lying” in relation to his Election 2020 challenges.
From the document — addressed to CNN headquarters, network Executive Vice President David Vigilante, and CEO Chris Licht:
[T]his letter serves as formal notice of the false statements about President Donald J. Trump (“President Trump”) in numerous articles and televised transmissions published by Cable News Network, Inc. (“CNN”) including, but not limited to, those discussed below. …
[C]NN must publish a full and fair correction, apology, or retraction, in the same editions or corresponding issues of the website publication in which the aforementioned articles, transcripts, or broadcasts appeared and in as conspicuous a place and type as said original article, transcript or broadcast within ten (10) days from the date of service of this notice. Failure to publish such a correction, apology, or retraction will result in the filing of a lawsuit and damages being sought against you, CNN.
“In November 2016,” the missive recalls, “Americans participated in a spirited presidential election, pitting Hillary Rodham Clinton against President Trump. President Trump earned 306 electoral college votes compared to Clinton’s 227.”
Following that result, the letter notes, “various members of the Democratic party gave numerous televised statements claiming the 2016 election was illegitimate.” Additionally involved: “suggestions about Russian interference causing President Trump to win the election and regular referrals to President Trump being an ‘illegitimate’ President.”
The letter observes that CNN allowed, “largely unchallenged,” such assertions by “Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Jimmy Carter, Jerry Nadler, John Lewis, Dianne Feinstein, Marcia Fudge, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.”
Yet, following 2020’s November 3rd election — held on a Tuesday — “by the following weekend,” CNN “was already asserting that, ‘The President falsely claimed the election was being stolen from him as many mail-in ballots, which were often counted after Election Day votes, landed in the column of his opponent.’”
CNN’s reporting, both before the election as well as after the election, consistently fed a narrative that denounced President Trump’s legitimacy and competency.
The letter goes on to recount CNN’s generosity:
Reportedly, the term “Big Lie” has been uttered in the context of President Trump’s belief, more than 7,700 times on CNN since January of 2021.
It also offers the Webster’s Dictionary definition of “lie,” which is “an assertion of something known or believed by the speaker to be untrue with intent to deceive.”
The Examiner relays a statement from Trump:
“I have notified CNN of my intent to file a lawsuit over their repeated defamatory statements against me. I will also be commencing actions against other media outlets who have defamed me and defrauded the public regarding the overwhelming evidence of fraud throughout the 2020 Election. I will never stop fighting for the truth and for the future of our Country!”
What will be the outcome? Concerning claims against the Right, outlets such as CNN and MSNBC certainly don’t appear to possess a sense of restraint. Those two or their guests have suggested black candidate Larry Elder was a white supremacist, Trump supporters were in a “nihilistic death cult;” and Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation may usher in a “thousand-year reich.”
As for the election, CNN definitely hasn’t dinged Hillary for insisting she was robbed. And in the arena of “Trump is a liar” rhetoric, it shows no signs of stopping. Neither, though, does Trump.
-ALEX
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