Covington Catholic Teen Nick Sandmann To Sue CNN For Over $200 Million, Lawyer Says

Following a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post, Covington Catholic teenager Nick Sandmann and his family are planning to sue CNN for a similar amount, Sandmann's lawyer said.

Lawyer L. Lin Wood announced the lawsuit in an interview with Fox News host Mark Levin. The interview is set to air on Sunday at 10 p.m. ET during the network's Life, Liberty & Levin.

"CNN was probably more vicious in its direct attacks on Nicholas than the Washington Post, and CNN goes into millions of individuals' homes," Wood said.

Wood said he expects the lawsuit will be filed on "Monday or Tuesday" of next week.

"I've got some young, smart lawyers that are working hard as we can," Wood said. "Double-checking, and listen, when we file complaints, we've investigated it because we want to get it right. Maybe CNN can learn from that."

Wood said he expects the claim for compensatory damages will be higher than the Post lawsuit.

"I expect because of the way they went after Nicholas so viciously that the claim for his reputational damage will be higher than it was against The Washington Post. The Post was $50 million for the reputational damage, and we can discuss why that figure, $200 million in punitive damages. Punitive damages are designed to punish and to deter," Wood said. "I would think the punitive damage award against CNN that we'll seek will be at least the same $200 million as it was against The Washington Post. But the compensatory damage to Nicholas's reputation, that number I expect will be higher."

Sandmann, a student at Covington Catholic High School in Covington, Kentucky, became the center of the controversy involving an interaction with activist Nathan Phillips at the National Mall in Washington D.C. in January.

"If you took the time to look at the full context of what happened that day, Nicholas Sandmann did absolutely nothing wrong. He was, as I've said to others, he was the only adult in the room. But you have a situation where CNN couldn't resist the idea that here's a guy with a young boy, that Make America Great Again cap on. So they go after him," Wood said. "The CNN folks were online on Twitter at 7 a.m retweeting the little one-minute propaganda piece that had been put out. … They're out there right away going after this young boy. And they maintain it for at least two days. Why didn't they stop and just take an hour and look through the Internet and find the truth and then report it? Maybe do that before you report the lies."

Weeks after the altercation, Sandmann's lawyers, Wood and Todd McMurtry, sent over 50 letters to media organizations to apprise them of a possible lawsuit. Both the Post and CNN were among the names on the list, as were media professionals such as Bill Maher, Savannah Guthrie and CNN's Ana Cabrera.

An investigation conducted Greater Cincinnati Investigation Inc., an agency hired by Diocese of Covington, Kentucky found that the students, including Sandmann, did not instigate the incident with Sandmann or say "offensive or racist statements."

The Diocese is connected to Covington Catholic High School.