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Judge William Henry blasts CNN’s top lawyer in case ongoing libel trial On Wednesday, he was ordered to apologize to accuser Zachary Young for repeatedly calling him a “liar” and tell the powerful lawyer he had lost all credibility in court.
“This is not kindergarten. You entered kindergarten a long, long time ago,” Judge Henry said.
Young, a Navy veteran, claims CNN defamed him by suggesting he profited illegally during the war by helping people flee Afghanistan on the “black market.” Biden administration’s Withdraw troops from the country in 2021. Yang believes CNN “ruined his reputation and business” by calling him an illegal profiteer who exploited “desperate Afghans” in a November 2021 program.
Young’s lead attorney, Will Friedman, told Judge Henry on Wednesday that his client had just learned that he had lost his security clearance, which had been renewed after the CNN report aired. CNN’s legal team said earlier that Yang’s maintaining a security clearance proved he lied about being able to work after the CNN show aired.
Judge William Henry lashed out at CNN’s top lawyer on Wednesday.
Friedman said Young checked the status of his security clearance after testifying and discovered that he had actually lost it in 2022. So Friedman tried to add a witness from Helios Global, the company that held Yang’s now-defunct security clearance, to tell the truth. Jurors believed the relationship would “dissolve” in 2022.
CNN chief lawyer David Axelrod, the CNN political commentator’s namesake, opposed the last-minute effort. Friedman, however, insisted “the jury should not have been misled” and said Bay County jurors were left with the impression that Young still has a security clearance.
Axelrod insisted he did not mislead the jury, but Judge Henry criticized the CNN legal team’s “blatant misrepresentation” for suggesting the security clearance document was an employment contract.
Judge Henry read aloud a transcript of Axelrod’s remarks last week, in which he called the lawsuit a “fraud” and insisted that Yang “lied” about his ability to earn income after the CNN report.
“You called him a liar on a number of occasions there,” Judge Henry said.
CNN’s lead attorney, David Axelrod, angered Judge William Henry. (Jessica Costescu)
Judge Henry seemed irritated that Axelrod used security clearance documents to insist that Young was a “liar,” but then objected to witnesses being able to explain that Young actually didn’t have a security clearance. Friedman told the judge that CNN “knew” Yang no longer had a security clearance but did not tell the court.
“They know it’s not true,” Friedman said. “CNN knew the relationship ended and knew Mr. Yang didn’t know the relationship ended, had evidence but failed to disclose it to the other party and then had an expert come forward to say he still had the evidence.”
Just as a similar chaos erupted last week, Judge Henry then called for an adjournment because he wanted to go back to his chambers and think things through. He came back and immediately rebuked Axelrod.
“I think I made comments throughout the case about how the attorneys conducted themselves, how everything was surprising, the last-minute things… I found it very odd that we were filing a motion at the same time we were doing discovery. The enrichment court is moving to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the plaintiff violated the rules by issuing a trial subpoena and the defense is doing the same thing,” Judge Henry said.
“We submitted to the court that we were just an accident… This was not an accident, you were just doing the same thing as the plaintiffs, sending a trial subpoena requesting documents without notifying the other party,” he continued, adding that CNN’s legal team There has been a shift in the importance of security clearance documentation.
CNN libel trial: Editor says story ‘full of holes like Swiss cheese’ grilled on witness stand
U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young claims that CNN defamed him by suggesting that he made illegal profits by helping people flee Afghanistan through the “black market” during the 2021 Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. (Jessica Costescu)
Judge Henry said it was clear that CNN’s legal team was trying to use the document to prove that Yang was not making money in his industry after the CNN segment, and if he knew the discovery was made after CNN aired it, “he simply would not Might” acknowledge this deadline.
“Mr. Axelrod, I don’t know how many times in this transcript I didn’t bring the documents back, how many times you called Mr. Yang a liar. But, in his testimony, he admitted that he had Helios Global holds security and that is what the document says and that is what he testified to,” Judge Henry said.
The judge continued: “I think your apology is clearly an apology to Mr Young for having repeatedly called him a liar in court and around the world.”
Judge Henry reminded Axelrod that he had previously said he would not decide the case based on “who could put the most mud on” or who could make the other side look worse.
Judge Henry subsequently ruled to allow representatives of Helios Global to testify.
“I’m troubled by all this. I’m too worried about professionalism, or lack thereof,” Judge Henry said, adding that both sides were at fault.
Judge Henry noted that Axelrod had previously suggested the document was “ironclad evidence” in the case, but later contradicted it to suit his argument.
“Mr. Axelrod, I have almost zero trust in you right now,” Judge Henry said.
Axelrod later apologized.
“I’m sorry, but if you feel like I misled you, that was certainly not my intention,” Axelrod said.
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