CNN libel trial: Jury still undecided as deliberations continue into second day

Panama City, Florida – Jurors have yet to decide A high-stakes defamation suit Against CNN, where deliberations will continue until Friday morning.

The plaintiff, US Navy veteran Zachary Young, alleged that CNN defamed him by insinuating that he illegally profited from helping people flee Afghanistan on the “black market” during the war. Biden administration Military withdrawal from the country in 2021. Young believes CNN “ruined his reputation and business” by describing him as an illegal freeloader who “took advantage of ‘desperate Afghans'” during a November 11, 2021 segment that first aired on “The Lead with Jake Tapper.” On CNN.

Jurors deliberated for about six hours. Henry, the 14th Judicial Circuit Court judge who presided over the trial in Bay County, Florida, had previously negotiated twice with the jury to continue serving longer into Thursday evening after the jury was asked to return Friday morning. Jurors were served pizza after one said they were feeling “hungry and tired”. They were fired at 9:18 PM Central Time.

The trial will resume at 8:15 a.m. central time on Friday.

The deliberations come after more than three years of litigation and a wild, and at times chaotic, eight-day trial. The court previously ruled that Young “did not act illegally or criminally” despite what the network reported on air.

CNN’s Alex Marquardt is reluctant to admit he made money covering war zones: ‘I don’t go there to get paid’

Tapper first teased the 2021 segment in the middle of the suit by telling CNN viewers about “desperate Afghans still trying to escape the country who are being preyed upon by people who are demanding they pay big time to get out.”

Later in the show, Tapper reminded viewers that the story of “predation” on “desperate Afghans” was the next story.

Once the highly publicized segment began, Taber said Marquardt found that “Afghans trying to get out of the country face a black market filled with promises, exorbitant fee demands, and no guarantee of safety or success.”

Tupper threw to Marquardt, who said,Desperate Afghans They are exploited” and forced to pay “exorbitant, often impossible, sums” to flee the country.

Marquardt then pointed to Young, put a photo of his face on the screen, and said his company was asking $75,000 to take the passenger van to Pakistan or $14,500 per person to end up in the United Arab Emirates.

“The prices are out of reach for most Afghans,” Marquardt told viewers.

CNN libel trial: Editor who said story was ‘full of holes like Swiss cheese’ grilled on witness stand

CNN then broadcast Marquardt trying to call Young, who did not answer the phone.

“In a text message, he told CNN that Afghans trying to leave are expected to be paid for by herders,” Marquardt said, adding that Young told the network that evacuation costs are “highly volatile and based on environmental realities.”

Marquardt then said Young “repeatedly refused to detail the cost or say whether he was making money” before playing a clip of a sympathetic unidentified man who could not afford to evacuate his family from Afghanistan.

Marquardt got back to Young saying he had received another text message.

“In another message, that person offering evictions, Zachary Young, wrote, ‘Availability is very limited, demand is high’… and went on to say, ‘This is how the economy works, unfortunately,'” Marquardt told viewers.

“Unfortunately, well,” Tapper responded, before thanking Marquardt for the report.

No people or companies other than Young are named.

CNN defamation trial: Plaintiff accuses network of faking important phone call for ‘stage’

The clip was shared on social media and also repackaged for CNN’s website. Marquardt’s report was rebroadcast on November 13 on CNN’s Jim Acosta Show, and several times on CNN International.

Every second of the clip was cut during the trial, with CNN’s legal team insisting that Young was not a major part of the story and the plaintiff’s team suggesting that the inclusion of the “black market” essentially destroyed Young’s career as a defense contractor, as that language was specifically cited as grounds for termination. In the contract he signed.

Young’s legal team obtained damning internal communications from CNN through discovery that repeatedly showed employees expressing public hostility toward the Navy veteran. Among those presented to the jury was one who described him as a “shitbag” and another as a “hole”, saying he had a “hittable face”.

Marquardt’s own message telling his colleague “We’re going to nail this Zachary Young s—er” was often cited throughout the trial.

Young also testified that he rescued at least 22 women from Afghanistan, but CNN never published this information.

At one point, Thomas Lumley, CNN’s senior national security editor, was questioned in court after internal messages showed he was highly skeptical of the “deeply flawed” report. Lumley was called as a witness after internal messages showed he felt the report was “full of holes like Swiss cheese”.

CNN defamation trial: Journalist presses intense prosecution of Navy veterans as defense downplays involvement

CNN issued an on-air apology on March 25, 2022, when substitute anchor Pamela Brown was sitting in Tapper’s chair. but, Many CNN employees Those who took the witness stand said they did not feel an apology was necessary and CNN Vice President Adam Levine testified that the apology was issued for legal purposes only.

The trial also involved Judge Henry berating CNN’s lead attorney David Axelrod, who is not the on-air critic of the same name, several times and Force him to apologize to Young immediately for calling him a “liar” when evidence established that he did not lie about his failure to get work in his field in the wake of the CNN clip’s airing.

Axelrod insisted that the document showing Young still had a security clearance was proof that he was able to find work after the CNN clip aired, but it eventually emerged that the security clearance had been dropped in 2022.

The trial resumes on Friday and will be broadcast live Fox News Digital.

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