Trump’s Defamation Case Against CNN Over ‘Hitler-Like’ Comments Is Dismissed

Republican presidential candidate former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the Moms for Liberty Joyful Warriors national summit at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown in Philadelphia, Pa., on June 30, 2023. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

A federal judge has dismissed former President Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against CNN, finding the network’s comments comparing the former president to Adolf Hitler “repugnant” but not defamatory.

U.S. District Judge Anuraag Singhal, a Trump appointee, ruled on July 28 (pdf) to dismiss  Mr. Trump’s lawsuit, in which he alleged that CNN defamed him by making statements comparing him to Hitler and the Nazi regime.l

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

Mr. Trump sued CNN in 2022, arguing in his complaint that the network’s commentators, hosts, and editors made defamatory statements against him by referring to his claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election as the “Big Lie,” a term associated with the Nazi regime.

The former president argued in his complaint (pdf) that the comments amounted to defamation because they “create a false and incendiary association between [Trump] and [Adolf Hitler],”  and lead audience members to formulate the notion that Mr. Trump “would be Hitler-like in any future political role.”

“As a part of its concerted effort to tilt the political balance to the Left, CNN has tried to taint the Plaintiff with a series of ever-more scandalous, false, and defamatory labels of ‘racist,’ ‘Russian lackey,’ ‘insurrectionist,’ and ultimately ‘Hitler,’” Mr. Trump’s attorneys wrote in the complaint, adding that these labels are “neither hyperbolic nor opinion; these are repeatedly reported as true fact.”

However, the judge ruled that the use of the term amounted to opinion rather than fact and so CNN is not liable under defamation laws.

“Being ‘Hitler-like’ is not a verifiable statement of fact that would support a defamation claim,” the judge wrote.

‘Odious and Repugnant’

The judge also objected to Mr. Trump’s assertion that describing his rigged election claims as “the Big Lie” amounted to a demonstrably false statement.

“Trump complains that CNN described his election challenges as ‘the Big Lie.’ Trump argues that ‘the Big Lie’ is a phrase attributed to Nazi Party politician Joseph Goebbels and that CNN’s use of the phrase wrongly links Trump with the Hitler regime in the public eye,“ the judge wrote. ”This is a stacking of inferences that cannot support a finding of falsehood.”

“Even if the phrase ’the Big Lie‘ could somehow plausibly compel a reasonable viewer to perceive Trump as ’Hitler-like,‘ or ’authoritarian,‘ such terms are not statements of fact subject to defamation laws ’because of the tremendous imprecision of the meaning of such terms in the reals of political debate,'” he wrote, citing the legal precedent Buckley v. Littel.

“A connotation or implication is only actionable if it is ‘provably false,’” the judge added.

However, the judge said repeatedly that CNN’s use of Nazi references was at the very least distasteful, even if not meeting the standard for defamation.

“The Court finds Nazi references in the political discourse (made by whichever ’side') to be odious and repugnant,” he wrote.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Mr. Trump’s spokesperson with a request for comment.

Mr. Trump continues to maintain that he was robbed of a victory in the 2020 election.

Other Trump Cases

The former president, who is the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is involved in a number of legal disputes.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is investigating Mr. Trump’s role in actions surrounding his challenges to the 2020 presidential election that culminated in a breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Mr. Trump said his attorneys met with U.S. Justice Department officials on July 27, in a sign charges could come soon.

Special counsel Jack Smith has accused Mr. Trump of unlawfully keeping classified national security documents when he left office in 2021 and of lying to officials who tried to recover them.

Mr. Trump on June 13 pleaded not guilty to those charges, which include alleged violations of the Espionage Act, which criminalizes unauthorized possession of defense information.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating whether Mr. Trump tried to illegally overturn the results of Georgia’s 2020 presidential vote.

That probe is focusing on a phone call Mr. Trump made to Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, asking him to find enough votes to declare him the winner in that state.

A grand jury has been empaneled in Ms. Willis’s investigation, and Mr. Trump’s legal efforts to shut down the probe have been unsuccessful.

A New York grand jury has indicted Mr. Trump for allegedly falsifying business records in connection with a payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.

Also in New York, Mr. Trump faces a civil lawsuit brought by the state’s attorney general Letitia James, alleging fraud.

Mr. Trump recently took to his social media platform to denounce the various investigations focusing on him.

“I’m illegally being targeted by them,” Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “If I wasn’t leading by so much or if I wasn’t running, if I was just sort of taking it easy, none of this would happen.”

An average of the latest polls shows Mr. Trump far ahead of his nearest rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. As of July 27, Mr. Trump was leading Mr. DeSantis, 52.4 percent to 15.5 percent.

In a series of video messages posted on his social media platform, Mr. Trump labeled the various investigations targeting him as an effort to undermine his candidacy.

“These are crooked, corrupt people. It’s called election interference and we can’t let this take down our country because our country is going to hell and we have to turn it around,” Mr. Trump said.