MADRID, 30 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
A federal judge in the state of Florida has dismissed this Friday a lawsuit for defamation of 475 million dollars (about 430 million euros) that the former president of the United States, Donald Trump, presented against CNN, accusing the chain of defaming him by using the phrase ‘the Big Lie’ and supposedly comparing him to Adolf Hitler.
“CNN’s use of the phrase ‘the Big Lie’ in connection with Trump’s election challenges does not lead to a plausible inference that Trump advocates the persecution and genocide of Jews or any other group of people. No reasonable viewer could (or should) plausibly make that reference,” explained District Judge Raag Singhal, appointed by Trump in 2019, and this was picked up by CNN itself.
“‘Being like Hitler’ is not a verifiable statement of fact in support of a defamation claim,” the judge added.
“Like the personalities of Trump and CNN, the Court considers that references to the Nazis in political speech (made by any side) are hateful and disgusting,” the judge recounted, adding that, however, “bad Rhetoric is not libel when it does not include false statements of fact.”
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement Saturday that they “agree with the highly respected judge’s findings that CNN’s statements about President Trump are repugnant.”
This lawsuit is one of many that Trump has filed against the media, including CNN, ‘The New York Times’ and ‘The Washington Post’, objecting to coverage during his presidency and after losing the presidential election against the now president, Joe Biden, in 2020.
Trump had accused CNN of a “deterrence campaign in the form of smear and smear” and of creating a “false and inflammatory association” between himself and Hitler.
