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NEWS JUNE 15, 2020 ¦ 7

CNN’s GC Rejects Trump Demand:
‘That’s How Free Speech Works’

By Phillip Bantz

CNN executive vice president and top lawyer
David Vigilante is getting plenty of attention for
his withering reply to the Trump presidential
campaign’s demand for a retraction and apology for
releasing the results of a political poll.
“To the extent we have received legal threats from
political leaders in the past, they have typically come
from countries like Venezuela or other regimes
where there is little or no respect for a free and inde-
pendent media,” Vigilante wrote in a letter rejecting
the Trump campaign’s demand.
Since CNN posted the June 10 letter on Twitter, it
has been retweeted more than 41,000 times, and has
more than 106,000 “likes.”
Ted Boutrous Jr., a partner at Gibson, Dunn & David Vigilante, CNN’s senior vice president of legal.
Crutcher in Los Angeles who has reacted to earlier The demand letter alleged that the poll was “de-
threats from the Trump campaign against CNN, ap- signed to mislead American voters through a biased
plauded Vigilante’s letter. questionnaire and skewed sampling.”
“The Trump campaign has been engaged in an “It’s a stunt and a phony poll to cause voter sup-
abusive, frivolous campaign against freedom of ex- pression, stifle momentum and enthusiasm for the
pression and freedom of the press and it really is President, and present a false view generally of the
despicable. It’s contrary to our American traditions actual support across America for the President,” the
and First Amendment traditions,” he said Thursday letter also stated.
in an interview. In CNN’s next-day response, Vigilante wrote: “To
“The U.S. is supposed to be the beacon of pro- my knowledge, this is the first time in its 40-year
tecting rights of individuals and journalists. history that CNN had been threatened with legal
This is a penny-ante effort to chill free speech,” action because an American politician or campaign
he added. did not like CNN’s polling results.”
The CNN poll in question found that presump- Attempts to speak with Vigilante, who is based
tive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden at CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta, and Trump cam-
was ahead of Donald Trump by 14 points. The sur- paign representatives were unsuccessful.
vey was based on a phone poll that independent In its demand letter, the Trump campaign stated
research and marketing firm SSRS conducted from that it had hired McLaughlin & Associates to inde-
June 2-5 with 1,259 respondents. pendently assess CNN’s poll and asserted that the
The poll was released on June 8. The next day, Republican research firm determined that the poll
Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis and chief op- was biased.
erating officer Michael Glassner sent CNN president “It’s a poll of 1,259 adults—not even registered
Jeff Zucker a cease and desist letter demanding an voters, let alone likely voters. Also, it was done
apology and retraction.
¦ Continued on PAGE 8

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