Lawsuits Extend Donald Trump's Years of Fighting the News Media (File)
Washington:
Donald Trump's re-election campaign sued CNN on Friday for defaming a statement saying the campaign left open the opportunity to ask for help in the 2020 elections.
The defamation lawsuit was the third in 10 days of the campaign against large media, after cases against the New York Times and the Washington Post.
All three lawsuits focused on opinions released in 2019 that, according to the campaign, indicated that they had inappropriate relationships with Russia.
CNN had no immediate comment.
A person familiar with the matter said CNN has not yet reviewed the lawsuit. CNN is a unit of AT&T Inc.
The lawsuits claim millions in damages and prolong the Republican president's long struggle against news media that he believes show bias against him.
Friday's lawsuit contradicted a statement in a statement by CNN employee Larry Noble on June 13, 2019, which referred to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.
Noble wrote: "The Trump campaign assessed the potential risks and benefits of seeking Russia’s aid again in 2020 and has decided to leave this option on the table.
"The campaign said CNN was" well aware "that the statement was not true when released, and the play reflected its" systematic bias pattern "towards the campaign.
Trump's campaign used the same language in his lawsuits against the Times and the Post.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and published from a syndicated feed.)
