Judge throws out Trump’s defamation case against CNN

The former president claimed the network’s use of the ‘Big Lie’ had associated him with tactics used by Adolf Hitler.

Donald Trump leaves the stage in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday. Picture: AFP

Washington: A federal judge has dismissed a $US475m ($714m) defamation lawsuit that Donald Trump filed against CNN for describing his claim that the 2020 election was stolen as the “Big Lie”.

Mr Trump, in the suit filed in a US District Court in Florida in October, had alleged that the use of the phrase by the cable television news network associated the former US president with tactics used by Adolf Hitler.

US District Court judge Raag Singhal – who was appointed by Mr Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination – tossed out the suit on Friday (Saturday AEST).

“There is no question that the statements made by CNN meet the publication requirement for defamation under Florida law,” Judge Singhal said in his ruling. “The next question is whether the statements were false statements of fact. This is where Trump’s defamation claims fail.

“The complained of statements are opinion, not factually false statements, and therefore are not actionable.

“CNN’s statements, while repugnant, were not, as a matter of law, defamatory. The case will, therefore, be dismissed.”

In his defamation complaint, Mr Trump said the network’s use of the phrase the “Big Lie” was a “deliberate effort by CNN to propagate to its audience an association between the plaintiff and one of the most repugnant figures in modern history”.

Mr Trump had a caustic relationship with CNN and other major news outlets like The New York Times during his White House term, branding them “fake news” and repeatedly raging against them on social media. The twice-impeached Mr Trump, who has continued to insist falsely that he won the 2020 presidential election against Democrat Joe Biden, is to go on trial in Florida in May on charges of mishandling top-secret government documents.

Mr Trump is also facing dozens of felony charges in a case involving hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels in New York and is bracing for indictment in separate state and federal investigations into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

AFP