President Donald Trump announced his intent to file lawsuits against several media outlets, including CNN, over their “repeated defamatory statements” against him.
“I have notified CNN of my intent to file a lawsuit over their repeated defamatory statements against me,” Trump wrote via his Save America PAC on Wednesday. “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.”
In his letter of intent, Trump accused CNN of “malice” for broadcasting “numerous articles and televised transmissions” with the purpose to defame him.
The 45th president slammed CNN’s coverage of the 2016 presidential race, accusing them of airing untrue and unchallenged statements saying that his presidency was “illegitimate” due to “Russian interference” in the election.
The 282-page letter from Trump’s attorneys to CNN executives, dated July 21, calls for the network to retract or correct numerous on-air statements and published articles about Trump that the lawyers allege are false and defamatory.
The letter goes on to cite dozens of examples, many of which relate to the network’s coverage of Trump’s repeated claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent. CNN coverage frequently referred to those claims as “lies,” “false narratives” and “baseless theories,” among other terms. The lawsuit alleges those descriptions are “false and defamatory.”