CNN defamation trial: Jury remains undecided as deliberations enter second day
PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA – The jury is still out high defamation suit The debate against CNN will continue until Friday morning.
The plaintiff, U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young, alleged that CNN defamed him by suggesting that he made illegal profits while helping people on the “black market” to flee Afghanistan. of the Biden administration Young believes CNN destroyed his reputation and business by portraying him as an illegal profiteer exploiting “desperate Afghans” in a Nov. 11, 2021, segment that first aired on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper.” .”
Jurors had been deliberating for about six hours. Judge William S. Henry of the 14th Judicial District Court in Bay County, Florida, who presided over the trial, had previously negotiated twice for a longer extension on Thursday evening after the jury had previously requested to return on Friday morning. After one of them said “hungry and tired”, the jury members were given pizza. They were dismissed at 9:18pm CT.
The trial will resume at 8:15 a.m. on Friday.
The trial comes after more than three years of litigation and a wild, sometimes chaotic, eight-day trial. The court previously ruled that Ganj “did not commit an illegal or criminal act” despite the network’s broadcasts.
U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young is suing CNN for defaming him, alleging that the Biden administration made illegal profits while helping people flee Afghanistan on the “black market” during the 2021 withdrawal. (Jessica Costescu)
Tapper first teased the 2021 segment at the center of the suit, telling CNN viewers that “desperate Afghans are being hunted by people trying to flee the country and are being asked to pay a lot to get out.”
Later in the show, Tapper reminded the audience that the story of the “desperate Afghans” being “torn” was next.
After the much-hyped segment began, Tapper said Marquardt found “Afghans trying to leave the country face a black market full of promises, exorbitant payment demands and guarantees of safety or success.”
Tapper threw it to Marquardt, who said:desperate Afghans exploited” and have to pay “exorbitant, often impossible sums” to escape the country.
Marquardt then singled out Young by putting a picture of his face on the screen and said his company wanted $75,000 to carry passengers to Pakistan or $14,500 per person to travel to the United Arab Emirates.
“The prices are out of reach for most Afghans,” Marquardt told the audience.
The segment centered on the trial originally aired on The Lead with Jake Tapper. (CNN/Screenshot)
CNN later showed Marquardt trying to call Young, who did not answer the phone.
“In a text message, he told CNN that sponsors of Afghans trying to leave are expected to pay for them,” Marquardt said, adding that Young said the network’s evacuation costs were “highly variable and based on environmental realities.”
Marquardt later said Young “repeatedly refused to count the costs or say he was making any money” before playing a clip of an anonymous sympathizer who couldn’t afford to evacuate his family from Afghanistan.
Marquardt got back to Young saying he had received another text message.
“In another message, the person who suggested these evacuations, Zachary Young, wrote, ‘Availability is extremely limited and demand is high…’ he continued, ‘Unfortunately, that’s how the economy works,'” Marquardt told the audience.
“Unfortunately, hmm,” Tapper replied before thanking Marquardt for the report.
No one or company other than Young was named.
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CNN anchor Jake Tapper and reporter Alex Marquardt during the segment at the center of the defamation lawsuit. (CNN/Screenshot)
The segment was shared on social media and repackaged for CNN’s website. The Marquardt report was rebroadcast multiple times on Jim Acosta’s CNN show on November 13 and on CNN International.
Every second of the segment was dissected during the trial, with CNN’s legal team insisting that Young was not a key element of the story, and the plaintiff’s team suggesting that the “black market” implication essentially destroyed Young’s career as a defense contractor. was specifically mentioned as a reason for termination in the contract he signed.
Young’s legal team damned CNN’s internal messages through discovery, which repeatedly showed employees expressed open hostility toward the Navy veteran. Among those presented to the jury were those who called him a “bag of shit” and said he had a “hole face”.
Marquardt’s own message to his colleague, “we’re going to shoot this Zachary Young mf—er,” was frequently referenced throughout the trial.
Young also testified that he rescued at least 22 women from Afghanistan, but this information was never reported by CNN.
At one point, CNN’s senior national security editor, Thomas Lumley, took heat in court after internal messages showed he was highly skeptical of the “highly flawed” report. Lumley was called as a witness after internal messages felt the report was “full of holes like Swiss cheese”.
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CNN issued an on-air apology on March 25, 2022, with replacement anchor Pamela Brown sitting in Tapper’s chair. However, several CNN employees Those on the witness stand said they did not need an apology, and CNN Vice President Adam Levine said the apology was only for legal purposes.
The judge also repeatedly reprimanded CNN’s lead counsel, David Axelrod, during the proceedings. forces an apology Ganja on the spot for calling him a “liar” when he proved he wasn’t lying about not being able to get a job in his field during a CNN segment.
Axelrod insisted that a document showing that Young still had a security clearance proved he was able to get a job after the CNN segment aired, but it was later revealed that the security clearance was revoked in 2022.
The trial will continue on Friday and will be broadcast live Fox News Digital.
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