It must be very frustrating for CNN. It seems that they just lie about people anymore without getting sued. Covington youth Nicholas Sandmann took them for a bundle, Kyle Rittenhouse is about to take them for another fortune and now a judge has tossed CNN’s request to dismiss a lawsuit from the family of General Flynn. Gee, if everyone CNN lies about sues them, they will soon be bankrupt.
On Thursday, a federal judge allowed a case brought by Flynn’s brother John “Jack” Flynn and sister-in-law Leslie Flynn to continue to a trial. CNN accused the pair of being followers of QAnon. The problem CNN has is that it suffers from stage four Trump Derangement Syndrome and the mere mention of his name drives them over the edge. I would say it drives them crazy because, in reality, it is merely a putt and not a drive.
According to U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods’ ruling, CNN aired a show called “CNN Goes Inside A Gathering of QAnon Followers.”
Woods wrote:
“The report included a brief clip of Lieutenant General Michael Flynn proclaiming, ‘where we go one, we go all.’ Plaintiffs John P. (‘Jack’) and Leslie A. Flynn … are shown in the clip standing next to General Flynn.”
Jack and Leslie Flynn stated in their suit against CNN that they have never been members of QAnon and they are suing CNN for $75 million dollars.
Politico described QAnon as:
“Popular online conspiracy theory that claimed elites were sexually abusing children and that former President Donald Trump was planning to declare a national emergency to strike back at the shadowy figures engaged in the abuse.”
CNN tried to get the suit dismissed, pointing to tweets posted by Jack that the network’s attorneys said were consistent with the beliefs of QAnon followers.
The Flynns countered that Jack’s tweets showed that he “embraced the Constitution and equal justice under the law . . . not the dangerous, extremist, racist, anti-Semitic and violent beliefs espoused by QAnon” and that he has “denied basic tenets of the QAnon movement.”
As was the case with Sandmann, the Flynns said one of CNN’s major failures was not reaching out to them before publication. Further, they said the network had “no independent evidence to corroborate that [they] were followers or supporters of QAnon.”
Woods dismissed the Flynns’ defamation claim because the applicable law required them to list specific monetary losses that have resulted from CNN’s story. However, the judge allowed the false light claim to proceed.
