Federal appeals court rejects Trump's 'Big Lie' defamation lawsuit against CNN

A three-judge panel in a federal appeals court in Georgia on Tuesday declined to revive President Donald Trump's 2022 defamation lawsuit against CNN for using the phrase "big lie" when referring to his claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

The ruling comes after a Trump-appointed federal judge in Florida dismissed the $472 million lawsuit in 2023, after Trump claimed the outlet was trying to compare him to Adolf Hitler, which his team argued was defamatory. 

“Being ‘Hitler-like’ is not a verifiable statement of fact that would support a defamation claim,” the judge wrote in the dismissal at the time. “CNN’s statements, while repugnant, were not, as a matter of law, defamatory.”

The appeals panel, which included two of Trump’s own appointees, agreed Tuesday that CNN's use of the phrase was not defamatory because it was not verifiable fact, and amounted to First Amendment-protected opinion instead.

“Trump’s argument is unpersuasive,” the panel wrote. “Although he concedes that CNN’s use of the term ‘Big Lie’ is, to some extent, ambiguous, he assumes that it is unambiguous enough to constitute a statement of fact. This assumption is untenable.”

A spokesperson for Trump's legal team told Politico that the president is expected to appeal the panel's decision. 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.