Pro Golfer Patrick Reed Fires Off Warning Letter To CNN, Jake Tapper & Bob Costas Threatening $450 Million Defamation Lawsuit

An attorney for pro golfer Patrick Reed fired off a warning letter to CNN, anchor Jake Tapper, and sports commentator Bob Costas, claiming they aired a "highly defamatory" piece about the legal war between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

RadarOnline.com can confirm it was titled, The Court Fight Between PGA Tour and LIV Golf Escalates as the Saudi-backed LIV Tries to Avoid Handing Over Information.

Larry Klayman sent CNN and Bloomberg a scathing letter on Sunday, putting the networks on notice that further legal action will be taken if certain steps are not done.

RadarOnline.com can confirm the letter to CNN addressed Tapper, Costas, new chief executive Chris Licht, and general counsel David Vigilante.

In the letter obtained by this website, Klayman said he and his client reserve the right to sue "if an on air public apology is not immediately made to Mr. Reed and the broadcast [be] removed and retracted from CNN's websites, streaming services and other forms of publication, in order to mitigate the damage which they three have caused."

They also demanded discipline be "meted out to Tapper and Costas."

Klayman said the broadcast was not only slanderous but "also designed to incite ridicule, hatred and violence against LIV Golf players," including his client who is a PGA-turned-LIV golfer.

Reed was not specifically named, but took issue with Tapper's claim that his LIV earnings are from "blood money."

"Last year, with that money, they snagged several top PGA players to come on board," Tapper said. "The human-rights-challenged Saudis did this by offering these players quite a bit of money. A lot of money. Blood money? Sure, maybe. A lot of it."

Klayman also referenced previous 9/11 claims. "The broadcast republishes with reckless disregard for the truth, a prior Bloomberg article," the letter read.

Attached was the aforementioned Bloomberg article which detailed how LIV was accused of "using its U.S. lawsuit against PGA to 'build an intelligence file' on families of 9/11 victims who have been critical of the kingdom and its new professional golf circuit."

If no action is taken, the attorney said his client may seek "damages well in excess of $450,000,000 dollars which includes compensatory, actual, special and punitive damages."

CNN responded to the allegations in a statement obtained by RadarOnline.com. "This is a frivolous lawsuit, whose aim is to chill free speech and intimidate journalists from covering important stories about the Saudi government and the Saudi-backed LIV golf tournament," it read. "CNN will aggressively defend its reporting, which did not even mention the plaintiff in its coverage."