Reuters, Washington :
U.S President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign sued CNN for libel on Friday, over an opinion piece that said the campaign had left open the possibility of seeking Russia’s help in the 2020 election.
The libel lawsuit was the campaign’s third in 10 days against major media outlets, following cases against The New York Times and the Washington Post.
All three lawsuits focused on opinion pieces published in 2019 that, according to the campaign, suggested it has had improper ties with Russia. CNN had no immediate comment.
A person familiar with the matter said CNN had yet to review the lawsuit. CNN is a unit of AT&T Inc.
The lawsuits each seek millions of dollars in damages, and extend the Republican president’s years-long battle with news media he believes demonstrate bias against him.
President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign said on Wednesday it was filing a libel suit accusing the New York Times of intentionally publishing a false opinion article that suggested Russia and the Trump campaign had an overarching deal in the 201
Friday’s lawsuit objected to a statement in a June 13, 2019 opinion piece by CNN contributor Larry Noble, which referred to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S election. Noble wrote: “The Trump campaign assessed the potential risks and benefits of again seeking Russia’s help in 2020 and has decided to leave that option on the table.
“The campaign said CNN was “well aware” that the statement was untrue when published, and the piece reflected its “systematic pattern of bias” against the campaign. Trump’s campaign used identical language in its lawsuits against the Times and Post. President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign sued CNN on Friday for libel, following similar lawsuits against The New York Times and The Washington Post.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia where CNN has its headquarters, cited a June opinion article written by Larry Noble, a former Federal Election Commission general counsel.
Noble argued in the article that former special counsel Robert Mueller should have charged the president for soliciting help from Russia in his 2016 campaign. Noble also wrote that the campaign “assessed the potential risks and benefits of again seeking Russia’s help in 2020 and has decided to leave that option on the table.” In a statement announcing the suit, Trump campaign senior legal advisor Jenna Ellis called that claim “100 percent false and defamatory.”
The Trump campaign lawsuit says that there is “extensive evidence” of bias against the president from both Noble and CNN. The suit claims that the president’s legal team asked CNN to retract the article in February, and that CNN declined to do so.
“Noble has written numerous articles accusing the President of criminal activity, and of campaign finance and ethics violations, and has lodged a complaint against a Super-PAC which supports the President,” the complaint reads. “CNN clearly had a malicious motive in publishing the Defamatory Article, and acted with reckless disregard for the truth.”
A spokesperson for CNN declined to comment.
The Trump campaign in recent weeks has filed similar lawsuits against The New York Times and The Washington Post over alleged defamation contained in opinion articles. All three lawsuits claim damages worth millions of dollars.
