CNN/Afghanistan defamation suit

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.

In their motion for summary judgment filed last week regarding the $1 billion defamation suit against them, CNN argued that their allegedly defamatory reporting accusing Plaintiff and Navy veteran Zachary Young of a crime was factually true, because his efforts to get women and children out Afghanistan were illegal under Taliban law; or as it’s more infamously known, Sharia law.

On Thursday (July 25), CNN appeared desperate in a legal filing connected to the $1 billion defamation suit against them, when they petitioned Florida’s 14th Judicial Circuit to force Plaintiff and Navy veteran Zachary Young to appear in person for a mediation conference. The topic of the meeting they want to have? “Settlement talks.”

CNN seems to be desperately trying to stonewall the $1 billion defamation suit against them, forcing Navy veteran and Plaintiff Zachary Young to ask Florida’s court system to intercede. According to a motion to compel responses filed on Wednesday, CNN was refusing to turn over documents related to their internal journalistic conduct guidelines and their social media guidelines. Both could…

The drip, drip, drip of developments from the $1 billion defamation suit against CNN has been steady. In addition to reporting on CNN attempting to block host Jake Tapper from being deposed as part of the proceedings, NewsBusters has exclusively obtained an unredacted transcript from the deposition of CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt connected to the case. NewsBusters has also obtained an…

Overshadowed by the Republican National Convention last week, CNN’s lawyers filed a motion for a protective order that aimed to block network host Jake Tapper from being deposed as part of the $1 billion defamation suit against the network. It was the second time Tapper was requested for deposition and the second time CNN put up resistance, this time more aggressively.

The dam appears to have broken after NewsBusters took the lead in recent days to put a spotlight on the massive defamation suit against CNN that could possibly cost them upwards of $1 billion. Along with the increased notoriety of the case, so has followed public awareness and expert analysis. NewsBusters has sought out expert opinions on how CNN had allegedly harmed plaintiff, security…

Earlier this week, NewsBusters was the first to report that the defamation suit against CNN could cost the network upwards of $1 billion. The possible cumulative damages were able to be that high because a Florida appeals court affirmed that plaintiff, security contractor, and Navy veteran Zachary Young was able to prove malice on behalf of CNN. And what few have seen, was the video from…