Trump campaign files suit against ‘fake news’ CNN

Fox News obtained a copy of a libel lawsuit filed by President Trump’s re-election campaign against CNN on Friday for publishing “false and defamatory” statements about seeking Russia’s help in the 2020 election.

“The complaint alleges CNN was aware of the falsity at the time it published them but did so for the intentional purpose of hurting the campaign while misleading its own readers in the process… the campaign filed this lawsuit against CNN and the preceding suits against The New York Times and The Washington Post to hold the publishers accountable for their reckless false reporting and also to establish the truth,” Senior Legal Adviser to Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. Jenna Ellis told Fox News.

It was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia where CNN is located. It states in part that CNN claimed Trump’s 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.”

CNN knew the statements were false since there was “an extensive record of statements from the Campaign and the administration” disavowing it.

Trump’s legal team requested a retraction and apology last month but CNN executives refused.

The Campaign felt they had no alternative but to file this lawsuit to publicly establish the truth.

The story in question was published on June 13, 2019, and written by Larry Noble. It was headlined, “Soliciting dirt on your opponents from a foreign government is a crime. Mueller should have charged Trump campaign officials with it.”

While it was labeled an op-ed, Noble is a CNN contributor and there was no disclaimer that it was his view.

The piece states that Trump’s 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” as a fact and was still on CNN’s website as of Friday afternoon.

The Defamatory Article does not cite to any facts or reasoning in support of this claim. The Defamatory Article is false.”

The complaint notes that the Trump campaign “has repeatedly and openly disclaimed any intention to seek Russian involvement in the 2020 election” and “examples of this are too numerous to fully enumerate.”

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