Media

Covington Catholic’s Nicholas Sandmann Files $275 Million Defamation Suit Against CNN

AT IT AGAIN

The Kentucky high-school student and his legal team claim the network falsely accused him of “racist conduct.”

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Madalyn McGarvey/Reuters

Nicholas Sandmann, a Kentucky high-school student who was at the center of a viral confrontation with a Native American elder in Washington, D.C., has filed a defamation lawsuit against CNN, asking for $275 million in damages. According to court documents obtained by The Daily Beast, Sandmann’s attorneys claim CNN falsely accused Sandmann and his Covington Catholic classmates of “racist conduct” in at least four T.V. broadcasts and nine online articles. “CNN brought down the full force of its corporate power, influence, and wealth on Nicholas by falsely attacking, vilifying, and bullying him despite the fact that he was a minor child,” the suit said, insisting that the network had a “well-known and easily documented biased agenda against President Trump” and his supporters. The attorneys also accuse CNN of ignoring the “consequences of its actions upon a minor child” and not punishing analyst Bakari Sellers after he implied that Sandmann could be “punched in the face.” Sandmann and his lawyers also recently sued The Washington Post for defamation, and have expressed than they intend to sue more media outlets. CNN did not respond to The Daily Beast’s requests for comment.