JUST IN: Jake Tapper Gets Brutal Legal Update

CNN’s Jake Tapper suffered a legal body blow last week after a veteran suing him for defamation received good news regarding his ability to receive damages based on the anchor’s negative coverage of him.

Tapper last year helped report on work performed by Navy veteran Zachary Young during the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in a segment that suggested Young profited at the expense of war refugees by taking advantage of their desperation. Conservative legal scholar Jonathan Turley reported on a pair of orders given to a North Carolina jury that lower Young’s burden of proof dramatically: he is not a public figure, the judge concluded, and his damages expert will also be allowed to give their testimony to the jury. The burden of proof of claiming defamation as a public figure is nearly insurmountable given the broad limits of First Amendment speech.

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In its decision, the court found that CNN’s “correction” of its reporting was insufficient to remove the prospect of punitive damages from the suit. Tapper accused Young of operating in a black market and cited Sharia law in determining that he acted illegally by profiting from the withdrawal. The latter was “a bridge too far,” Judge William S. Henry wrote in an October ruling. CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt joined in, claiming he spoke with “desperate Afghans” who were “being exploited” by Young and ordered to pay “exorbitant, often impossible amounts” to escape the country.

Turley describes some of the internal messages obtained in CNN’s reporting, which paint a damning portrait of the network’s bias in angling to make Young the villain.

The damages in the case could be massive but Young was facing the higher New York Times v. Sullivan standard of “actual malice,” requiring a showing of knowing falsehood or a reckless disregard of the truth. Judge Roberts previously found that “Young sufficiently proffered evidence of actual malice, express malice, and a level of conduct outrageous enough to open the door for him to seek punitive damages.”

The evidence included messages from Marquardt that he wanted to “nail this Zachary Young mf*****” and thought the story would be Young’s “funeral.” After promising to “nail” Young, CNN editor Matthew Philips responded: “gonna hold you to that cowboy!” Likewise, CNN senior editor Fuzz Hogan described Young as “a s***.”

As is often done by media, CNN allegedly gave Young only two hours to respond before the story ran. It is a typical ploy of the press to claim that they waited for a response while giving the target the smallest possible window. In this case, Young was able to respond in the short time and Marquardt messaged a colleague, “f****** Young just texted.”

Three and a half months after first airing its coverage of Young, CNN and Tapper issued an on-air apology. “And before we go, a correction. In November, we ran a story about Afghans desperate to pay high sums beyond the reach of average Afghans. The story included a lead-in and banner throughout the story that referenced a black market. The use of the term black market in the story was in error. The story included reporting on Zachary Young, a private operator who had been contacted by family members of Afghans trying to flee the country. We didn’t mean to suggest that Mr. Young participated in the black market. We regret the error and to Mr. Young, we apologize,” Tapper said on March 11th, 2022.

That was insufficient, the court wrote, and amounted to a correction rather than a total retraction of its smear story. “The retraction/correction was not made during the other television shows in which the Segment aired. No retraction, correction or apology was posted on any online article or with any social media posting. Defendant’s representatives referred to the statement made on the Jake Tapper show as a correction rather than a retraction,” Judge Henry wrote.

Most importantly for Young, the court found he did not seek to make himself a “public figure” through his work in Afghanistan. “Young’s limited posts do not constitute him thrusting himself ‘to the forefront’ of the Afghanistan evacuation ‘controversy,'” the decision reads. “While Young was clearly trying to advertise his services, it can hardly be said that he played a sufficiently central role or was at the forefront in being able to influence the resolution of all those unable to escape Afghanistan.”

In addition, Young will be allowed to keep his damages witness, Richard Bolko. While Turley does not speculate on an amount Young may win, he suggests the decision spells “real trouble” for CNN. Fox News famously lost a defamation case brought by Dominion Voting Systems and ultimately settled for nearly $800 million.

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