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Main: Alex Marquardt testifying during a defamation trial on Jan. 13, 2025 (Law&Crime). Inset: Zachary Young watching the proceedings on Jan. 13, 2025 (Law&Crime).
The CNN journalist behind the reporting at the center of a civil trial between a U.S. Navy veteran and the cable news network he claims defamed him in a story about his work extracting people from war-torn Afghanistan took the stand on Monday as the case entered its second week of proceedings.
CNN’s chief national security correspondent Alexander Marquardt testified that his report was about “regular Afghans” who had connections to the U.S. and were “desperately trying to save their lives and their families’ lives” by getting out of the country and being charged prices no Afghans could reasonably afford.
He further asserted that he never set out to “take down” anybody, including plaintiff Zachary Young, a security contractor who worked with corporations get people out of Afghanistan in the chaos following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country.
Young, who testified in the case last week, claims a November 2021 segment on “The Lead with Jake Tapper” featuring Marquardt falsely painted him as an “illegal profiteer” exploiting “desperate Afghans” with “exorbitant” fees in a “black market” operation that ruined his business and professional reputation. From a legal standpoint, it has already been ruled that Young did not engage in any illegal activity.
Attorneys for Young repeatedly accused Marquardt of “chasing” a scandal and, when nothing concrete was uncovered, using Young as a scapegoat by making defamatory claims about his professional operation.
“I wasn’t looking to take anyone down, I don’t believe I took anyone down, and I don’t believe the story was about Mr. Young,” Marquardt said Monday.
Young’s attorney Devin Freedman showed jurors several messages between Marquardt and redacted individuals in Afghanistan who were looking to get out of the country. In the messages, Marquardt repeatedly asked the individuals if they had any contact with Young. Nearly all of the conversations showed that when the individuals reached out to Young, they did not receive responses.
In some of the exchanges, Young appeared to have told individuals that it would cost about $14,500 for his services in extracting them from Afghanistan.
“I think everything that you’ve been showing for the past few minutes is just evidence of all the research I was doing into this market and into Mr. Young’s role in this market,” Marquardt said, defending his reporting process.
Young’s attorneys also attempted to show that the network had a vendetta against his client and was out to get him, regardless of where the facts led.
“You needed a bad guy for your scandal story,” Freedman said to Marquardt. “You hated him, did you not?”
“No, that’s not true,” Marquardt responded.
Freedman showed messages between Marquardt and collaborating CNN journalist Katie Bo Lillis. When Marquardt told Bo Lillis that Young was “immediately” shutting down people who contacted him without corporate sponsors, she responded by saying of Young, “What a s—bag.”
A message from CNN producer Michael Conte was also shown to jurors in which, after seeing a photo of Young, he wrote, “What a punchable face.” In response, Marquardt said, “Right?”
“I was acknowledging what [Conte] said and was moving on, Marquardt said of his response to Conte. “You could see I didn’t laugh or anything like that.” Marquardt added that he did not think Young’s face was “punchable.”
Later messages showed Marquardt telling CNN colleagues that he was going to “nail this Zachary Young mf—er.
Fuzz Hogan, a senior director with CNN’s standards and practices department, also responded to a message about Young allegedly falsely promising to get people he extracts “refugee status” in other countries by saying, “Yeah, he’s a shit,” of Young.
Marquardt will continue to testify Tuesday.