BREAKING: Jury Finds CNN “Committed Defamation Against Navy Vet Zachary Young” – CNN Owes Young $5 Million in Emotional and Financial Damages

Jurors began deliberating after closing arguments were made on Thursday in a defamation lawsuit against CNN.

The deliberations continued into Friday after the jury remained undecided late Thursday evening.

BREAKING: Jury finds CNN “COMMITTED DEFAMATION AGAINST ZACHARY YOUNG.”

Jury finds CNN owes Young punitive damages.

— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) January 17, 2025

Jury found Young is owed $4 million in financial damages and $1 million in emotional damages by CNN.

Jury found Young is owed $4 million in financial damages and $1 million in emotional damages by CNN.

— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) January 17, 2025

Possible punitive damages incoming…

Young attorney Kyle Roche explaining how punitive damages could/would be determined by how much CNN is worth. That will unfold in Phase II.

“You will get to decide how much CNN should pay.”

— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) January 17, 2025

Navy Vet Zachary Young sued CNN for defamation over a 2021 report that

The lawsuit against CNN stemmed from their coverage of Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal, which the court previously determined showcased “actual malice, express malice, and a level of conduct outrageous enough” for Plaintiff Zachary Young to seek damages.

Young, who was offering to transport Afghans out of the country to flee the Taliban in 2021, was accused by Tapper and CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt of running a “black market” scheme and exploiting “desperate Afghans” for personal gain while disregarding the dangers and circumstances surrounding the evacuation efforts.

Tapper even maliciously and sarcastically highlighted Young’s use of the word “unfortunately” in a message to the network about the “extremely limited” availability of evacuations and high demand, as if to imply that Young was benefitting from the situation.

Young argued that the network intentionally painted him in a bad light and harmed his security consulting company.

The court wrote in its previous ruling, “Young proffered CNN messages and emails that showed internal concern about the completeness and veracity of the reporting— the story is ‘a mess,’ ‘incomplete,’ not ‘fleshed out for digital,’ ‘the story is 80% emotion, 20% obscured fact,’ and ‘full of holes like Swiss cheese.’”

“Young also proffered a message exchange he had with Marquardt just hours before publication where he advised there were factual inaccuracies in the reporting. CNN published anyway.” The judges also reportedly acknowledged that according to internal communications, the news crew “had little regard” for Young and disparaged him with profane language in private discussions.

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