A federal judge has dismissed a $475 million (£369 million) defamation lawsuit filed by Donald Trump against CNN.
The former US president claimed that the network had likened him to Adolf Hitler by using the phrase "the Big Lie" to describe his unfounded allegations of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election. However, US District Judge Raag Singhal, who was appointed by Trump, ruled in favor of CNN, stating that the network's comments were considered opinions and not defamatory statements.
Judge Singhal explained that while CNN's use of the phrase "the Big Lie" was repugnant, it did not imply that Trump advocated the persecution or genocide of any group, including Jews. Therefore, it did not meet the criteria for defamation under Florida law.
Trump's lawsuit claimed that the association between him and Hitler created by the use of the phrase was false and incendiary. Despite the ruling on this particular lawsuit, the former president is still facing multiple legal battles, including two indictments and 40 criminal charges related to alleged mishandling of classified government documents. Additionally, he is facing 34 felony counts for falsifying business records in connection to a hush money payment to a porn star in New York and a possible indictment related to alleged efforts to undermine the 2020 election.
It is worth noting that the phrase "Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth" is often attributed to Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, but the European Center for Populism Studies states that it first appeared in Hitler's Mein Kampf, 16 years before Goebbels' use of it. However, Hitler used it to describe the behavior of Jews, not as a tactic he advocated himself. Neither CNN nor Donald Trump has issued any official comments regarding the court's verdict.
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