CNN faces another defamation lawsuit after appeals court sides with Project Veritas

CNN faces another defamation lawsuit after a federal appeals court revived a 2021 complaint that the cable news network may have defamed Project Veritas with “actual malice.” 

The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in the Northern District of Georgia ruled Thursday that Project Veritas reasonably alleged a defamation claim when former CNN anchor Ana Cabrera suggested on-air in 2021 that Project Veritas was banned from Twitter for “promoting misinformation.”

Project Veritas, a controversial undercover journalism organization, vehemently disagreed with Cabrera’s characterization and demanded correction, arguing that Twitter actually banned Project Veritas for violating Twitter’s “publication of private information,” or “doxxing,” policy. 

Project Veritas sued for defamation when CNN refused to issue a retraction. The district court initially granted CNN’s motion to dismiss, but Project Veritas appealed, and the court reversed its decision after a lengthy process. 

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“After careful review and with the benefit of oral argument, we conclude that Veritas plausibly alleged a defamation claim under New York law. And although the district court did not reach the issue, we also hold that Veritas plausibly alleged that the statements were published with actual malice, an additional requirement imposed by the First Amendment in a defamation suit involving public figures,” the court wrote. 

“Accordingly, we reverse the district court’s decision and remand for further proceedings,” the court continued. 

Cabrera — who is now with MSNBC – returned to air four days after she told CNN viewers that Project Veritas was banned from Twitter for “promoting misinformation” but pivoted “to a completely different reason behind the ban,” according to the court. 

The court ruled that “it is plausible that the reputational harm that arises from Cabrera’s on-air statements ‘have a different effect on the mind of the [audience]’ from that which the pleaded truth—that Veritas published a private house number in an unidentified city on an unidentified street—would have produced.” 

“We conclude that, at least at the motion-to-dismiss stage, Veritas plausibly alleged that the implications arising from Cabrera’s statements are not substantially true and thus are actionable under New York defamation law. We further hold that Veritas plausibly alleged that the statements were false and were published with actual malice. Accordingly, the district court erred in granting CNN’s motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6). We reverse the decision of the district court and remand for proceedings consistent with this decision,” the court ruled. 

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Circuit Judge Ed Carnes added concurring thoughts, “If you stay on the bench long enough, you see a lot of things. Still, I never thought I’d see a major news organization downplaying the importance of telling the truth in its broadcasts. But that is what CNN has done in this case.” 

Project Veritas took to X to celebrate its victory. 

CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

CNN is also facing a high-stakes defamation suit from a U.S. Navy veteran who alleges that CNN smeared him by implying he illegally profited when helping people flee Afghanistan during the Biden administration’s military withdrawal from the country in 2021. A civil trial in that case is scheduled to begin on Jan. 6 in front of Judge Henry in the Circuit Court for Bay County, Florida.