David Vigilante, CNN's senior vice president of legal.

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 independent 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 & Crutcher in Los Angeles who has reacted to earlier threats from the Trump campaign against CNN, applauded Vigilante's letter.

"The Trump campaign has been engaged in an abusive, frivolous campaign against freedom of expression and freedom of the press and it really is despicable. It's contrary to our American traditions and First Amendment traditions," he said Thursday in an interview. 

"The U.S. is supposed to be the beacon of protecting rights of individuals and journalists. This is a penny-ante effort to chill free speech," he added.

The CNN poll in question found that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was ahead of Donald Trump by 14 points. The survey was based on a phone poll that independent research and marketing firm SSRS conducted from June 2-5 with 1,259 respondents. 

The poll was released on June 8. The next day, Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis and chief operating officer Michael Glassner sent CNN president Jeff Zucker a cease and desist letter demanding an apology and retraction. 

The demand letter alleged that the poll was "designed to mislead American voters through a biased questionnaire and skewed sampling."

"It's a stunt and a phony poll to cause voter suppression, stifle momentum and enthusiasm for the President, and present a false view generally of the actual support across America for the President," the letter also stated. 

In CNN's next-day response, Vigilante wrote: "To my knowledge, this is the first time in its 40-year history that CNN had been threatened with legal action because an American politician or campaign did not like CNN's polling results."

Attempts to speak with Vigilante, who is based at CNN's headquarters in Atlanta, and Trump campaign representatives were unsuccessful. 

In its demand letter, the Trump campaign stated that it had hired McLaughlin & Associates to independently assess CNN's poll and asserted that the Republican research firm determined that the poll was biased.

"It's a poll of 1,259 adults—not even registered voters, let alone likely voters. Also, it was done between June 2nd and 5th, before the great economic news from last Friday. Further, the questions and topics selected likely biased the poll further," the letter stated.

Of the respondents who were asked if they "approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president," 57% disapproved, while 38% approved and 5% had no opinion, according to CNN's poll. 

The survey also showed that 63% of respondents disapproved of Trump's handling of race relations.

In CNN's response to the Trump campaign, Vigilante brought up McLaughlin's infamously inaccurate 2014 poll showing Eric Cantor leading Dave Brat by 34 points in Virginia's Republican primary. Brat won by 11 points. 

"In any event, McLaughlin was able to evaluate and criticize CNN's most recent poll because CNN is transparent and publishes its methodology along with its polling results," Vigilante wrote. "Because of this, McLaughlin was free to publish his own critique of CNN's analysis and share his criticisms across the U.S. media landscape. That's how free speech works. It's the American way." 

Vigilante concluded by dismissing the cease and desist letter as "factually and legally baseless." 

"It is yet another bad faith attempt by the campaign to threaten litigation to muzzle speech it does not want voters to read or hear. Your allegations and demands are rejected in their entirety," he wrote. 

Read More: 

Daily Dicta: Lawyers Shred Trump Counsel Harder's Letter Threatening CNN

Libel Lawyer Lin Wood Settles Second Defamation Suit With CNN