Trump administration official files $50 million lawsuit against CNN alleging defamation

Kash Patel, the chief of staff to Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, has filed a $50 million lawsuit against CNN alleging defamation, FOX News reports.

The lawsuit alleges that the network promoted "unfounded left-wing political narratives" designed to depict Patel as a conspiracy theorist. Aside from CNN, the defamation suit targets five of the network's reporters: Barbara Starr, Zachary Cohen, Ryan Browne, Alex Marquardt and Nicole Gaouette.

Statements which Patel considers to be defamatory include the claim that he is a "Trump loyalist connected to Biden conspiracy theories is leading Pentagon transition," that he was "was connected to efforts to spread conspiracy theories about Joe Biden," and that he is "a Trump loyalist connected to efforts to spread conspiracy theories about the President-elect."

Patel alleges that CNN was trying to assign him an identity as an unhinged conspiracy theorist through multiple statements like these one.

Patel alleges that CNN was motivated to depict him in such a way as retaliation for his work to discredit allegations of Russian collusion against President Donald Trump. Trump and his officials repeatedly described the investigation into alleged collusion with Russia as a "hoax."

Steven S. Biss, Patel's attorney, argues that the network's "publication of the Defamatory Statements is part of a general pattern of retaliation and discrimination against Kash" and part of "a larger conspiracy undertaken between 2018 and the present to discredit Kash through the publication of false statements and the promotion of unfounded left-wing political narratives."

The complaint alleges that when Kash was counsel for Devin Nunes, a Republican who at the time served as chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, "uncovered many inconvenient facts undermining the fake political narrative about ‘collusion’ between members of the Trump campaign and 'Russians.'"

"CNN attacked Kash and published defamatory falsehoods about him because CNN was deeply invested in promoting the Russia collusion hoax and the fraudulent 'dossier' manufactured by Fusion GPS for the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee," the complaint further alleges, and that CNN began a "smear campaign" against the GOP official after he "debunked CNN's reporting" regarding the Russian collusion scandal.

CNN "knew that Kash was not the source of a single conspiracy theory and had no connection to any conspiracy theory about Biden," the complaint asserts. Biss noted in the complaint that CNN never provided a single example on air of Kash promoting conspiracy theories surrounding Joe Biden.

Kash seeks presumed, actual, special, and punitive damages from CNN for their reporting, as well as a permanent injunction banning the network and their reporters from repeating such statements about him.

The lawsuit asserts that CNN held personal animus and malice towards Kash for his opposition to the Russian collusion narrative and "[because] of this malice and desire to injure Kash, Defendants knowingly and recklessly ignored the probable falsity of the story and printed it."

A special counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller investigated the President for alleged collusion with Russia, a major distraction for the President during the first two years of his term. Despite the lengthy and far-ranging investigation, no evidence was uncovered suggesting that the Trump campaign actively colluded with Russia to swing the election in Trump's favour.

CNN has not yet commented on the lawsuit.