Donald Trump filed a defamation suit against CNN, accusing the channel of being involved in a false campaign

Former US President Donald Trump filed a defamation suit on CNN on Monday. Trump has accused the CNN network of engaging in a false campaign against him ahead of the 2024 presidential election. According to The Wall Street Journal, the former US president is seeking more than US$475 million in damages from CNN.

Trump has filed this lawsuit in a federal court in southern Florida. In it, he alleged that CNN used its influence with the audience to spread false claims about Trump to politically defeat him. 

Accused of displaying as racist

Trump accused CNN of associating him with Adolf Hitler and portraying him as a racist, according to The Wall Street Journal. He alleged that the network has recently been ramping up these efforts in the hope that he might run for a re-election in 2024.

Trump filed a lawsuit against the media in the past too

Throughout his business and political career, Trump has frequently threatened to sue media organizations over news coverage. The New York Times reported that in 2020, articles written on The New York Times and The Washington Post were sued. It linked former US President Donald Trump to Russian interference in US elections.

Trump had threatened legal action over the Capitol violence case

At the same time, in 2019, Trump threatened to prosecute CNN for immoral and illegal attacks. CNN called that threat a desperate PR stunt. Simultaneously, the former US President threatened legal action against various news media outlets and a media house select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol.