Standing Up
Former President Donald Trump yesterday announced that he had put CNN on notice…notice of intent to bring a civil action for defamation, that is.
And it was no short correspondence, apparently…a 282-page letter transmitted by email to the network’s CEO, and its executive vice president and general counsel.
It claims that following the 2016 election, “CNN repeatedly allowed for assertions that President Trump was illegitimately elected to go largely unchallenged” and continue to allow and encourage defamatory comments during the Trump presidency, and the 2020 election.
The former president said he would also be commencing actions against other media outlets that defamed him and, in his words, defrauded the public.
Keep in mind that the chance of a public figure winning a libel case against a media outlet is quite difficult; that’s because the legal standard is that Mr. Trump has to prove that CNN allowed the comments with knowledge that they were false, or by exhibiting a reckless disregard for the truth of the statements. That is a far higher burden than when a private person sues for libel, namely only that the media acted negligently. The standard is what it is because in theory, the public figure can call a news conference and get their side out to the public, something a private person likely could not.
Of course, Trump has been banned from virtually all social media except his own, and his public speeches aren’t covered by many news outlets…so that’s a new twist on the “public person” standard.
Frankly, I’ll be surprised if a lawsuit is even filed…because this is not an uncommon strategy, for a public person to declare in a news release that they will be suing in order to get that message out to the public, to show they are standing up against what’s been written or said. Even if nothing else is done, Trump has shown his supporters his public stance on the issue…and in theory, CNN and other outlets will watch themselves to avoid have a suit filed.
Then again, Trump made promises in the campaign and has a long list of those promises kept while in office…so if I were the folks at CNN, I’d be watching for the local sheriff or process server to come to the office door. Promises made, promises kept, after all.
