PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA – Jurors remain undecided in the high-stakes defamation trial against CNN as deliberations continue Friday morning.
The plaintiff, U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young, alleged that CNN defamed him by implying that he illegally profited by helping people flee Afghanistan on the “black market” during the country’s military withdrawal by the Biden administration in 2021. Young believes CNN “destroyed his reputation and business” by calling him an illegal profiteer” who exploited “desperate Afghans” during a November 11, 2021 segment aired for the Biden administration in 2021. first time on CNN’s “The Leader with Jake Tapper.”
The jurors had been deliberating for nearly six hours. Judge William S. Henry of the 14th Judicial Circuit Court, who presided over the trial in Bay County, Fla., had already negotiated twice with the jury to continue working longer Thursday evening after the jury had asked to come back Friday morning. Jurors were served pizza after one said they were “hungry and tired.” They were dismissed at 9:18 p.m. CT.
The trial will resume Friday at 8:15 a.m. CT.
The deliberation comes after more than three years of litigation and a wild, sometimes chaotic, eight-day trial. The court previously ruled that Young “did not act illegally or criminally” despite what the network reported on air.
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US Navy veteran Zachary Young claims CNN defamed him by implying he illegally profited from helping people fleeing Afghanistan on the “black market” during the Biden administration’s military withdrawal from country in 2021. (Jessica Costescu)
Tapper first teased the 2021 segment at the center of the lawsuit by telling CNN viewers that “desperate Afghans are still trying to flee the country and are being preyed upon by people demanding they pay big money to get out.”
Later in the show, Tapper reminded viewers that the story of “desperate Afghans” being “preyed upon” was this.
Once the high-profile segment began, Tapper said Marquardt discovered that “Afghans attempting to leave the country face a black market full of promises, demands for exorbitant fees and no guarantees of safety or security.” success”.
Tapper fired back at Marquardt, who said “desperate Afghans are being exploited” and must pay “exorbitant, often impossible sums” to flee the country.
Marquardt then pointed the finger at Young, displaying a photo of his face on the screen and saying his company was charging $75,000 to transport a passenger vehicle to Pakistan or $14,500 per person to end up in the United Arab Emirates.
“Prices well out of reach for most Afghans,” Marquardt told viewers.
CNN DEFAMATION LAWSUIT: EDITOR WHO SAID THE STORY WAS ‘FULL OF HOLES LIKE SWISS CHEESE’ GRILLED ON THE WITNESS STAND
The segment at the heart of the trial first aired on “The Lead with Jake Tapper.” (CNN/Screenshot)
CNN then aired Marquardt allegedly trying to call Young, who did not answer the phone.
“In a text message, he told CNN that Afghans trying to leave should be paid by sponsors,” Marquardt said, adding that Young told the network that evacuation costs were “very volatile and based on environmental realities.
Marquardt then said Young “repeatedly refused to detail costs or say whether he made any money”, before playing a clip of an anonymous friendly man who couldn’t afford to vent his family from Afghanistan.
Marquardt returned to Young and told him he had received another text message.
“In another post, the person who proposed these evacuations, Zachary Young, wrote: ‘Availability is extremely limited and demand is high’… He goes on to say: ‘This is how the economy works, unfortunately ‘” Marquardt told viewers.
Tapper responded, “Unfortunately, hmm,” before thanking Marquardt for the report.
No other person or company was named other than Young.
CNN DEFAMATION LAWSUIT: PLAINTIFF ACCUSES NETWORK OF FAKE PHONE CALL CRITICAL TO “THEATHER”
CNN host Jake Tapper and correspondent Alex Marquardt during the segment at the center of the defamation lawsuit. (CNN/Screenshot)
The segment was shared on social media and also repackaged for CNN’s website. The Marquardt report was rebroadcast on November 13 on Jim Acosta’s CNN show and several times on CNN International.
Every second of the segment was analyzed 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 involvement of the “black market ” essentially ruined Young’s career as a defense contractor, where this language was specifically mentioned as grounds for termination in a contract he signed.
Young’s legal team obtained damning internal messages from CNN through findings repeatedly showing staff members expressing overt hostility toward the Navy veteran. Among those presented to the jury was one who called him a “shit”, an “asshole” and another who said he had a “face that could be punched”.
Marquardt’s own message telling a colleague “we’re going to nail this Zachary Young mf— uh” was cited often 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 national security editor Thomas Lumley was questioned in court after internal messages showed he was highly skeptical of the “fairly 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 LAWSUIT: JOURNALIST PRESSES HIS HEAVY LAWSUIT OF NAVY VETERAN AS DEFENSE MINIMIZES INVOLVEMENT
CNN issued an on-air apology on March 25, 2022, when substitute anchor Pamela Brown was sitting in Tapper’s chair. However, several CNN staffers who took the witness stand said they did not believe the apology was necessary and CNN Vice President Adam Levine said the apology was not made only for legal purposes.
During the trial, Judge Henry also repeatedly reprimanded CNNN’s lead attorney, David Axelrod, who is not the on-air pundit of the same name, and forced him to apologize to de Young on the spot for calling him a “liar” when the evidence showed he did so. I won’t lie about not being able to win work in his field following the CNN segment.
Axelrod had insisted that a document showing Young still had a security clearance was proof that he was able to find work after the CNN segment aired, but it ultimately turned out that the clearance security had been abandoned in 2022.
The trial resumes Friday and will be broadcast live on Fox News Digital.
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