Former US President Donald Trump filed a complaint against CNN on Monday, accusing it of tarnishing his image because she fears he will run for a new term in 2024, and demanded compensation of $475 million.
Trump - who is now openly discussing the idea of his second candidacy for the White House - said that the channel "sought to use its wide influence to defame him with its viewers and readers in order to overcome him politically," according to the text of the complaint he filed in Florida.
The complaint also stated that "CNN's campaign of defamation and slander against the complainant has escalated in recent months because CNN fears that the complainant will run for the presidential elections in 2024."
Trump accused the station of seeking to "swing the balance of politics to the left" by attempting to "tarnish his image with a series of false and shocking defamatory epithets, such as racist, servant of the Russians and Hitler".
Trump took to the station to use the phrase "the big lie" to talk about his saying that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen from him."
"The Big Lie is a direct reference to a tactic used by Adolf Hitler and is mentioned in Mein Kampf," the complaint said, adding, "The Big Lie was used by Hitler to incite hatred against Jews and should not be used lightly."
He asserted that the frequent use of that phrase on the station about Trump was "a deliberate attempt by CNN to establish a link in viewers' minds between the complainant and one of the most disgusting figures in recent history."
The complaint says the phrase has been used more than 7,700 times since January 2021.
On the other hand, the former US president confirmed - in a statement - yesterday evening, Monday, that he will file a complaint against a "large number" of other media outlets in the coming weeks and months for defamation as well.
He confirmed that he might also take measures on the parliamentary committee investigating the attack by his supporters on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
During his presidency, Trump had very tense relations with major media outlets - such as CNN and The New York Times - which he saw as promoting "fake news" and regularly attacked them via Twitter before being banned from using it.