CNN/Afghanistan defamation suit

In the midst of facing a $1 billion defamation suit, CNN gave the primary offending journalist, Alex Marquardt a promotion to chief national security correspondent and a cushy raise to go along with it. Rationally, one might question how someone could obtain a promotion after causing their company to become entrenched in serious and costly litigation, but it was a question and series of facts…

With the January 6, 2025 trial date rapidly approaching, CNN has apparently resorted to trying to get the court to bar an expert witness from testifying against them in the $1 billion defamation suit they’re facing. Among their various complaints directed against Major General James V. Young (retired), CNN essentially argued that he was too good of a witness and provided too many important…

In a pre-Halloween hearing in the $1 billion defamation suit against them, on Wednesday, CNN tried to bring their Sharia law defense back from the grave. Judge William Scott Henry of Florida’s 14th Circuit Court called it “a circular argument” that wanted pity for the Afghanis while implying they were criminals for escaping the Taliban. The network’s lawyer ultimately argued that “half-ass”…

In a major order filed Tuesday in the $1 billion defamation case against CNN, and exclusively obtained by NewsBusters, Judge William Scott Henry of Florida’s 14th Circuit Court threw out CNN’s desperate attempt to cite Taliban Sharia law in their defense. Judge Henry also ordered that Plaintiff and Navy veteran Zachary Young “did not act illegally or criminally.”

According to court documents exclusively obtained by NewsBusters, CNN has apparently requested the court to seal mentions and quotes from their journalistic standards, effectively barring them from being viewed by the public in the $1 billion defamation suit against the Cable News Network. Hiding their journalistic standards from the people who are supposed to trust them as a news source is…

The $1 billion defamation suit against CNN continued to chug along in the background as the presidential election and world events take center stage. But on Tuesday, Florida 14th Circuit judge William Scott Henry cleared the way for Plaintiff and U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young to use legal force to compel CNN to turn over financial documents and to subpoena their parent company Warner Bros.…

The legal representation CNN has relied on to handle the $1 billion defamation suit against them for the last two years may have been benched on Monday. According to filings exclusively obtained by NewsBusters, CNN has retained the services of law firm Ballard Spahr LLP out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to represent them in the Panama City, Florida case.

Mediation talks between CNN and Navy veteran Zachary Young broke down last Tuesday as an undisclosed settlement offer was rejected in the $1 billion defamation lawsuit against the Cable News Network, according to a filing exclusively obtained by NewsBusters. Essentially guaranteeing the case will go to trial in January 2025.

Sitting in on Friday for host and NewsBusters Executive Editor Tim Graham, Associate Editor Nick Fondacaro and I dove into an absurd Los Angeles Times profile celebrating ABC’s debate co-moderator Linsey Davis for, along with co-moderator David Muir, interjecting for so-called fact-checks of Donald Trump. 

Media giant Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is expected to catch a subpoena following a Thursday hearing in the $1 billion defamation suit against its subsidiary, CNN. In a hearing lasting almost four hours, exclusively recorded by NewsBusters, Florida 14^th Judicial Circuit Judge William Scott Henry cleared the way for Plaintiff and Navy veteran Zachary Young to issue a subpoena to…

In a public hearing exclusively recorded and streamed by NewsBusters, on Friday, CNN defended their use of Taliban Sharia law in the courtroom. CNN’s lead counsel Deanna Shullman (of Shullman Fugate PLLC) repeatedly argued that the network was correct to suggest Plaintiff and Navy veteran Zachary Young took part in an illegal “black market” because he was getting women out of Afghanistan “…

On Wednesday, Plaintiff and Navy veteran Zachary Young responded to CNN’s citation of the Taliban’s “Sharia law” in a scathing filing. Young’s counsel of Freedman Normand Friedland LLP ripped into CNN’s defense in the $1 billion defamation suit by calling it “a masterclass in absurdity and desperation.” Additionally, CNN may have blown up their own Sharia defense with an article post just last…

CNN was just handed a slew of legal defeats in the $1 billion defamation case against them. On Monday, Judge William Scott Henry of Florida’s 14th Circuit Court sided with Plaintiff and Navy veteran Zachary Young on multiple motions against CNN, including compelling them to turn over their journalistic conduct guidelines, compelling them to comply with turning over documents necessary for…

CNN was handed a major defeat in the $1 billion defamation case against them by Florida’s First District Court of Appeals on Friday as they denied the Cable News Network’s motion for a rehearing; their hope was that the court would overturn its decision that Plaintiff and Navy veteran Zachary Young could seek punitive damages at trial.