A judge found guilty on Friday of defaming CNN’s Zachary Young, a former of the U.S. Navy. The judge is expected to even ascertain punitive damages against the media outlet, and CNN will be required to pay the former Navy veteran$ 5 million.
According to Fox News, the jury determined that Young should be awarded$ 1 million for personal damages, which include pain and suffering, and$ 4 million in lost earnings. The judge will then proceed with the trial’s second stage to identify punitive damages against CNN, according to the outlet.
After the outlet claimed the Navy veteran was an “illegal huckster” who assisted people leave from Afghanistan on the “black business” during the Biden-Harris government’s chaotic departure in 2021, Fox News reported that Young sued CNN for libel. The U.S. Navy veteran claimed that CNN “destroyed his reputation and business” by alleging that he lacked “desperate Afghans” during a report by CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt on an episode of” The Lead with Jake Tapper” on November 11, 2021.
During Thursday’s final statement, Vel Freedman, Young’s lawyer, urged the judge to condemn CNN over the defamation case, arguing that the CNN statement was a” determined attack” on the Navy soldier’s figure that “inflicted deep and lasting scars”.
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This is supposed to be the most reliable title in information, according to Freedman. CNN is thus egotistical, they are so used to getting whatever they want”.
The lawyer continued,” But they stand up around and they talk down to us with bold-faced falsehoods about what the company’s idea actually is, and they expect you to feel it.” ” I mean, do they think we’re all idiotic”?
However, CNN attorney David Axelrod argued that the media outlet’s narrative was “accurate” and was” hard but good”. He claimed that the Navy veteran had made an effort to persuade the outlet that he wasn’t” shady.”
” Mr. Young put himself in the story, no CNN. He inserted himself into it to produce a buck”, Axelrod said. ” Use your common sense. Do you see conspiracies, or do you really see good deeds being made up?
