CNN defamation suit: Plaintiff accused of ‘misleading’ reporter by concealing part of CNN story.
Panama City, Florida – One of the reporters behind the central CNN report High defamation trial He was accused of “misleading” the plaintiff by concealing that it would be part of their story from the beginning.
U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young accused CNN of illegally profiting from desperate people trying to flee Afghanistan in a report first aired on reporter Alex Marquardt’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” in November 2021. The Biden administration Discharged from the military, he was involved in “black market” business and thereby tarnished his professional reputation.
CNN’s Katie Bo Lillis, an intelligence and national security reporter who collaborated with Marquardt on the story, was the first to contact Young, but kept her cards close to her chest. She testified on Wednesday.
CNN chose ‘theatrics over truth’ and ‘destroyed the life of an American veteran,’ the lawyer said, opening the hearing.
CNN reporter Katie Bo Lillis came under fire on the witness stand for her messages to the plaintiff in the case, Zachary Young. (Fox News Digital/Law & Crime; Jessica Costescu)
In the year On November 3, 2021, Young began communicating with Lillis after he mistakenly thought she must be a client when he saw her profile on LinkedIn. “I’d love to talk to you a little bit about your operation,” Lillis replied, “we’re actually doing some reporting on efforts to help at-risk Afghans get out of the country and your name came up.” I was hoping to ask you a little bit about your surgery in our two recent conversations.
What Lillis fails to mention, however, is that Young will always be part of the CNN story shown in Marquardt’s peak email to his bosses on October 28, 2021.
After Lillis explained to Young that she could not be a reporter and a client, Young immediately told her, “I’d prefer not to be named in any report.” But instead of revealing that he was the subject, Lillis suggested that they discuss it “a little off the record,” to which he replied, “Of course, if you agree, I won’t mention her name in any article.”
“I can’t promise that in advance, unfortunately,” Lillis told Young at the time. But still pushing him to chat off the record, she added, “It gives you a chance to understand what we’re doing…
“I’m a straight shooter, I’ll tell you exactly where we are,” he assured him.
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CNN’s Katie Bo Lillis took the witness stand on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Lillis and Marquardt were texting Young about their “cover” being blown.
“I walked into the office. If the cover is blown, I’ll approach it calmly and say we’ve done stories on immigration,” Marquardt said in the afternoon.
“Wow, I think our cover is blown,” Lillis told her colleague.
After a moment, Marquardt said, “It’s going to be on CNN.” “Yes, 100 percent,” Lillis replied.
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Attorney Kyle Roche, part of Zachary Young’s legal team. (Jessica Costescu)
Young attorney Kyle Roche repeatedly grilled Lillis during cross-examination.
Roche showed jurors a visual timeline of Lillis’ relationship with Young and Marquardt. According to the text messages, Marquardt told Lillis he wanted to get Young “to a place where I can call him on camera,” and Lillis said she still wanted to talk “on the ground” background when she told the Navy veteran.
“You can’t fool Zack with this talk, can you? You can’t lie to him? You can’t fool him?” Roche asked.
“I can’t lie to him about who I am or why I’m dating him,” Lillis said.
Roche shot back, “Did you lie to him about other things?”
“No, I mean, I don’t, but… I can’t lie to him,” Lillis replied.
Roche asked if using a “cover” was against journalistic ethics and replied that “false identification” was considered unethical.
“So if that’s how you define ‘cover’, then yes, it goes against journalistic ethics,” Lillis said, adding that she doesn’t believe the word “cover” is used in the context of her posts. When CNN reporters misrepresent themselves.
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CNN reporters Katie Bo Lillis and Alex Marquardt exchanged text messages about the report at the center of the high-profile defamation case.
Roche pressed Lillis that using “cover” was “the opposite of being a straight shooter.” Lillis laughed at the witnesses and suggested that “we don’t have a cover” because the messages prove that he was “blown up”.
Roche asked, “Once your cover was blown, weren’t you a straight shooter before?”
Lillis eventually admitted that she didn’t give Young all the information she had to offer, but insisted that she never misled herself.
In other text messages shown to jurors, Lillis said Young was working “100 percent” at CNN. Lillis dismissed Roche’s claim that he was a “misleading” young man and said she would not make a “direct statement” about the veteran’s appearance on the network.
“We should take the direct shooter’s opinion literally,” Roche said, and Lillis replied, “Yes.”
Lillis testified that, at that point, Marquardt didn’t have to tell Young that he wanted to get him on camera right away.
Jurors later peppered Lillis with questions about her zealous efforts to get Young to meet with CNN. The trial continues on Thursday.
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