A federal judge says he had no option but to dismiss Donald Trump’s libel action against CNN, saying that while the network’s comments likening him to Adolf Hitler were “repugnant”, they were protected by the First Amendment.
Mr Trump sued for $US475 million ($714 million) after CNN commentators said the defeated candidate’s claims about election fraud in the 2020 presidential race were a “big lie” that put him in the same category as the genocidal German dictator.
In a ruling late on Friday night (US time), Judge Raag Singhal, who was nominated by Mr Trump in 2019, said CNN’s words were opinion, not fact, and therefore could not be the subject of a defamation claim.
“CNN’s statements while repugnant, were not, as a matter of law, defamatory,” wrote Judge Singhal, who sits in federal court in Fort Lauderdale near Mr Trump’s Florida home at Mar-a-Lago.
“We agree with the highly respected judge’s findings that CNN’s statements about President Trump are repugnant,” a Trump spokesperson said.
“CNN will be held responsible for their wrongful mistreatment of President Trump and his supporters.”
The statement did not say whether Mr Trump would appeal the decision.
The lawsuit, which was filed in October 2022, highlighted five instances in which CNN either published stories or aired comments referring to Mr Trump’s assertions about the 2020 election as his “big lie.”
The phrase is also associated with the Nazi regime’s use of propaganda.
The wording, the lawsuit said, constituted “a deliberate effort by CNN to propagate to its audience an association between the plaintiff and one of the most repugnant figures in modern history.”
But the mere use of the phrase “big lie” was not enough to give rise to a true connotation, Judge Singhal wrote.
“No reasonable viewer could (or should) plausibly make that reference,” he said.
Since launching his first presidential campaign in 2015, Mr Trump has often attacked critical media outlets, with CNN a favourite target.
Mr Trump is the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, despite facing both state and federal indictments.
-AAP