Appeals court rejects Trump’s lawsuit against CNN for ‘Big Lie’ phrase

Nov. 18 (UPI) — President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against CNN for using the phrase “The Big Lie” was rejected by a federal appeals court.

Trump was trying to revive the $475 million suit against the news organization that had been rejected by a lower court. CNN used “The Big Lie” to describe Trump’s assertion that the 2020 election was rigged and that Trump had actually won, despite there being no evidence.

Trump’s lawyers tried to argue that the phrase was used to align Trump with German dictator Adolph Hitler.

“Trump’s argument is unpersuasive,” the appellate judges wrote. “First, although he concedes that CNN’s use of the term ‘Big Lie’ is, to some extent, ambiguous, he assumes that it is unambiguous enough to constitute a statement of fact. This assumption is untenable.”

Trump’s legal team responded in a statement: “There is no doubt that Fake News CNN defamed President Trump and all of the tens of millions of Americans who have rightly stated that the 2020 Presidential Election was rigged and stolen by Crooked Joe Biden and his handlers. President Trump will continue to hold the mainstream media accountable and will pursue this case against CNN to its just and deserved conclusion.”

The judges said Trump’s “argument hinges on the fact that his own interpretation of his conduct — i.e., that he was exercising a constitutional right to identify his concerns with the integrity of elections — is true and that CNN’s interpretation — i.e., that Trump was peddling his ‘Big Lie’ — is false. However, his conduct is susceptible to multiple subjective interpretations, including CNN’s.”

Trump has a history of suing media outlets. In December, ABC News settled a defamation suit for $15 million. The suit alleged that anchor George Stephanopoulos said that Trump was “liable for rape,” when he was actually found liable for sexual abuse. CBS News’ parent company Paramount settled a suit Trump brought in response to an interview with candidate and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

In September, YouTube settled with Trump over his loss of a channel after the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol. Trump is now suing the Wall Street Journal for $10 billion for reporting about a 50th birthday letter he allegedly wrote to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

In September, Trump filed a $15 billion suit against The New York Times for “false and malicious” statements against him. That suit was dismissed, but he has since refiled the suit.

He is now threatening to sue the BBC for an edited video of a speech.