Donald Trump sues CNN, wants half a billion dollars

Trump alleges that the news network defamed him out of fear that he may run for president again and now he wants to collect half a billion dollars in compensation.

The ex-president filed a federal lawsuit against the network, claiming it has been spreading slander about him for a number of years now and he alleges the news network is doing so in order to paint him in the worst possible light in anticipation of a 2024 president run by him.

Trump is reportedly displeased by the labels he says CNN has used to describe him, epithets which he claims include calling him "racist," "Russian lackey," "insurrectionist" and even drawing comparisons between him and German dictator Adolf Hitler, a man who sparked the second world war and was responsible for countless deaths.

In Trump's mind, all these labels constitute defamation.

Trump's attorneys argue that CNN's repeated use of the phrase "The Big Lie" when referencing Trump contesting the 2020 election results is a direct reference to a term used by Hitler to incite hatred of Jews and justify the Holocaust.

“If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed,” were Hitler’s actual words.

So, to Trump’s lawyers, CNN is associating Trump with Hitler by seemingly referencing those words.

"Beyond simply highlighting any negative information about the plaintiff and ignoring all positive information about him, CNN has sought to use its massive influence -- purportedly as a 'trusted' news source -- to defame the plaintiff in the minds of its viewers and readers for the purpose of defeating him politically,” say Trump’s lawyers.

Trump's team says CNN has blurred the line between opinion and news, so he is suing the news network.

CNN has yet to respond.