President Donald Trump told the US Supreme Court he intends to ask the justices to revive his $475 million defamation lawsuit against CNN over use of the term "Big Lie" in reporting on his claim that the 2020 election was rigged against him.
Trump's lawyers asked the Supreme Court for a 60-day extension to Aug. 15 to file his petition for review of the lower court's dismissal of the case, according to a request that was formally docketed by the justices on Friday. The filing, the first sign that Trump would seek to revive the suit, indicated his appeal would double down on his claims about the 2020 election.
ALSO READ | FTX Co-Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Applies For Presidential Pardon From Trump
Trump sued CNN in 2022, accusing the network of smearing him by frequently using the term "Big Lie" to describe his unsubstantiated theory that Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election was the result of massive voter fraud. He also claimed the network harmed his reputation by hosting guests who compared him to Adolf Hitler.
"In reality, President Trump was lawfully pursuing then-unresolved, and now proven, claims about election irregularities in the 2020 presidential election," Trump's personal attorney Alejandro Brito said in the Supreme Court filing.
Trump seeks to revive the lawsuit as he presses ahead with several other multibillion defamation cases against the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the British Broadcasting Corp., all of which were filed since Trump retook the White House in the 2024 presidential election.
CNN didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The suit against CNN was dismissed in July 2023 by US District Judge Raag Singhal in Florida, a Trump appointee who held that while CNN's statements where "repugnant," they "were not, as a matter of law, defamatory."
"This case involves political speech of the highest order," Singhal wrote at the time. "The First Amendment has its fullest and most urgent application precisely to the conduct of campaigns for public office."
His ruling was upheld in November 2025 by a three-judge federal appeals court panel that included two Trump appointees.
Trump contended in his CNN suit that the network had tainted his image by using "ever-more scandalous" labels to describe him in broadcasts, including "racist," "Russian lackey," and "insurrectionist," culminating in false comparisons to the late Nazi leader.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.