A Florida jury found CNN liable Friday for defaming a Navy vet who assisted multiple people in escaping Afghanistan after the 2021 American withdrawal.
Zachary Young filed a $1 billion suit against the network on June 12 over a November 2021 segment by reporter Alex Marquardt that aired on “The Lead with Jake Tapper” that portrayed his evacuation efforts as exploiting Afghans. The jury awarded Young $4 million in damages for lost income and $1 million for emotional distress.
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Judge William A. Henry ruled in October that Young “did not act illegally or criminally” during his efforts to evacuate people from Afghanistan, Fox News reported.
The trial started Jan. 6, with attorneys for Young telling a jury in Bay County, Florida, that the network failed to “confirm any of the facts” in their November 2021 report while describing the disparaging terms used by CNN employees towards Young, according to Fox News.
“We gonna nail this Zachary Young mfucker,” Marquardt said in an email, according to court documents, with another CNN employee responding, “gonna hold you to that, cowboy.”
Marquardt testified Monday he found no evidence Young committed any crimes and later told jurors Young was “a small part of the story,” Fox News reported.
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“In November, we ran a story about Afghans desperate to flee the country who faced paying high sums beyond the reach of average Afghans. The story included a lead-in and banner throughout the story that referenced a ‘black market.’ The use of the term ‘black market’ in the story was an error. The story included reporting on Zachary Young,” CNN host Pamela Brown told viewers in March 2022 while filling in for Tapper on “The Lead.”
“We did not intend to suggest that Mr. Young participated in the black market,” Brown continued. “We regret the error, and to Mr. Young we apologize.”
The jury began hearing evidence and receiving instructions on the punitive damages phase of the trial Friday, with a forensic economist explaining the financial terms the jury would hear.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.