The former president said the network has carried out a “smear campaign,” in his latest legal challenge against a perceived adversary.
Former President Donald Trump sued CNN for defamation Monday, arguing the cable network has unfairly attacked him in recent years, marking the latest in a series of post-presidency lawsuits filed by Trump against his perceived enemies.
Suing—and threatening to sue—media outlets is not uncommon, but it’s usually difficult to win defamation lawsuits against public figures in the United States because plaintiffs need to show defendants made intentionally false statements or acted with reckless disregard for the truth, a high bar known as “actual malice.” Statements of opinion generally aren’t defamatory under this standard, and in the past, courts have often considered accusing somebody of racism to be an opinion, not a factual assertion.
