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A federal judge dismissed Donald Trump<\/strong>\u2019s $475 million defamation lawsuit against CNN late Friday. The infamously litigious<\/a> former president claimed that the network\u2019s use of the phrase \u201cThe Big Lie\u201d to describe his fraudulent election claims amounted to defamation by likening him to Adolf Hitler<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing \u2018Hitler-like\u2019 is not a verifiable statement of fact that would support a defamation claim,\u201d U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal<\/strong>, who Trump appointed in 2019, wrote in his dismissal. \u201cCNN\u2019s statements, while repugnant, were not, as a matter of law, defamatory.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump filed the suit last October in a Fort Lauderdale, Florida district where four of the five sitting judges were his own appointees. At the time, he suggested<\/a> similar legal actions against other media companies were in the works. Trump had previously<\/a> sued<\/a> The New York Times<\/em> and The Washington Post<\/em> for their coverage of him.<\/p>\n The CNN suit alleged that the \u201cBig Lie\u201d phrase had been used roughly 7,700 times on the network since January 2021, and cited examples from host Jake Tapper,<\/strong> former commentator Chris Cillizza<\/strong>, and historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat.<\/strong> Trump\u2019s lawyers also cited a 2022 documentary in which host \u200b\u200bFareed Zakaria<\/strong> juxtaposed some of Trump\u2019s comments with footage of Adolf Hitler, as well as an interview in which singer Linda Ronstadt<\/strong> compared Trump\u2019s America with Nazi Germany.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Court finds Nazi references in the political discourse (made by whichever \u2018side\u2019) to be odious and repugnant. But bad rhetoric is not defamation when it does not include false statements of fact.\u201d Singhal wrote in his decision. \u201cCNN\u2019s use of the phrase \u2018the Big Lie\u2019 in connection with Trump\u2019s election challenges does not give rise to a plausible inference that Trump advocates the persecution and genocide of Jews or any other group of people. No reasonable viewer could (or should) plausibly make that reference.\u201d<\/p>\n Somewhat ironically, several months before the lawsuit was filed, then-recently hired (and now former) CNN CEO Chris Licht<\/strong> reportedly discouraged<\/a> staff from using the phrase as part of the network\u2019s turn to the center.<\/p>\n Friday\u2019s ruling marks the second time Singhal has ruled in favor of CNN in a defamation case this year. The Florida judge also oversaw former Trump lawyer and retired Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz<\/strong>\u2019s $300 million defamation suit against the network, which stemmed from CNN\u2019s coverage of Dershowitz\u2019s defense of Trump during his first impeachment trial. Singhal ruled<\/a> in favor of the network in April.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n