CNN faces lawsuit over 'fringe militia'

CNN faces lawsuit over 'fringe militia'
David Bossie and Citizens United threaten legal action after show labels activist group

Activist David Bossie and Citizens United are threatening to sue CNN for claiming he and his group are part of a "fringe militia."

Bossie, the president of Citizens United, says he is pursuing claims against the cable network for its reporting in a Nov. 28 show called "Broken Government – Campaign Killers," hosted by Campbell Brown.

The CNN show also referred to Bossie as a "dirty trickster."

Bossie says he is seeking, through legal counsel, "a formal apology and public retraction of those statements."

"If no retraction is forthcoming, CU will then bring legal action to hold CNN accountable for these and other misrepresented facts," the statement said.

"These baseless allegations were a disservice to CU and its 500,000 members, CNN and its audience, and to general principles of responsible, fact-based journalism."

As WND reported in August, in response to uproar from angry viewers and a media watchdog report, CNN advertisers distanced themselves from a special series entitled "God's Warriors," produced and anchored by the network's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour.

The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America called an episode of the series that focused on Judaism "one of the most grossly distorted programs" ever aired on mainstream American television.

Bossie, author of "The Many Faces of John Kerry," is a former chief investigator for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. He led probes during President Clinton's two terms, ranging from the Whitewater land deal to foreign money schemes in the 1996 campaign and the transfer of dual-use technology to China.

Bossie also authored "Intelligence Failure: How Clinton’s National Security Policy Set the Stage for 9/11." He co-authored "Slick Willie: Why America Cannot Trust Bill Clinton" in 1992 and "Prince Albert: The Life and Lies of Al Gore" in 2000.