Speaking only for herself, this writer feels zero sympathy for Jake Tapper and CNN right now. Back in December, she told you how the network and its headliner host of 'The Lead' lost some major pre-trial motions in a defamation lawsuit brought against the network.
The plaintiff in the case is veteran Zachary Young, who CNN accused of war profiteering as Young assisted people escaping Afghanistan after the Biden administration's botched withdrawal.
Young sued the network for $1 billion and refused to settle.
And things are not going well for CNN or Tapper:
Things appear to be going from bad to worse for CNN in its defamation trial. This has been a brutal week as CNN figures, including host Jake Tapper, took the stand. If “this is CNN,” the judge (and possibly the jury) are not liking what they are seeing. https://t.co/OlS064aIac
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) January 16, 2025
However, the most damaging testimony may have come from top producers who told the jurors that they opposed the modest apology given to Young on air. Since Young seemed to do well before the jury, the testimony of senior editor Fuzz Hogan, CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt, CNN producer Michael Conte, CNN’s executive vice president of editorial Virginia Moseley, and CNN supervising producer Michael Callahan undermined any effort to portray the network as seeking to amend a wrong or reduce damage to Young.
Arguably, the worst moment came with an argument by CNN’s lead attorney, David Axelrod. Axelrod introduced a document that he claimed was a smoking gun and showed that Young was a liar. Pointing dramatically at Young and waiving the document in the air, Axelrod declared that he had the proof:
'Plaintiff’s entire case, sitting right there, is that after the publications, he couldn’t get any work…Mr. Young knew, when he filed this lawsuit that he had entered into a new consulting agreement with a government contractor one month after CNN’s publication. This entire lawsuit was a fraud on this court. It was a fraud on CNN. This man knew it. I don’t know what they know. But when his came up in discovery, CNN’s counsel asked Mr. Young about the Helios connection, and he completely lied in his deposition. Over and over again, he made up some incredible ruse that Helios just had his security clearance because it was a company that held security clearances. It makes no sense. He knew at that time that he had a consulting agreement with Helios Global and he didn’t disclose it. It was an outright lie.'
However, it turned out that the document merely was Young’s application to maintain his security clearance.
WOMP WOMP.
What a clown show CNN has become.
Young's attorney was having none of it:
Young’s attorney, Vel Freedman, later laid waste to CNN. He told the court that Young had lost his security clearance back in 2022 and that he hadn’t been aware of that until he double-checked after his testimony in the case. Freedman asked for the right to present a witness who would testify on the issue and Axelrod objected. Judge Henry had had enough and blew up at CNN. He read back Axelrod’s comments and said “You called him a liar multiple times there.” He told Axelrod that he owed an apology to the plaintiff. After telling CNN that “this isn’t Kindergarten, ” he added “Right now, your credibility with me, Mr. Axelrod, is about none.”
That is never a good thing to hear from a judge.
Axelrod apologized but the damage is clearly considerable.
Ouch.
This is breathtaking in the sheer audacity of Axelrod believing that people are stupid and won't fact check or cross-examine evidence. Then he defames the plaintiff in the defamation lawsuit against his employer... IN COURT!
— My Name is Nobody (@F3_Haskell) January 16, 2025
Sheer hubris.
They’ve gotten so used to people accepting their constant lies that they’re not used to this new level of scrutiny.
— Conservative Kiki (@CnsrvtvKiki) January 16, 2025
They sure have gotten used to lying and never been called out for it.
Good. They did this to themselves and if they don't learn from this screwup, they can get sued again.
— Slender Mandalorian (@SlenderMando) January 16, 2025
ABC News didn't seem to learn from its settlement in the Donald Trump defamation suit, so odds are CNN won't.
— Borealis (@StLouisHawken) January 16, 2025
Perfection.
Oh my gosh, what a nightmare. You never wanna be that lawyer. https://t.co/HRahzfrMd7
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) January 16, 2025
You do not.
This is @CNN lawyer David Axelrod. https://t.co/1NV0Z5gn9T pic.twitter.com/2qVhjvCWxr
— Allen 🐟 (@arlasko) January 16, 2025
Where's the lie?
Only 5% of defamation cases go to trial. I can’t believe this case wasn’t settled. In CNN’s case pride comes before the fall. https://t.co/enQolDTtDp
— Jo Jo (@wjbasnett) January 16, 2025
And what a fall it's going to be.
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