Meanwhile, CNN anchor Jake Tapper claimed he doesn’t follow his show’s (pathetic) ratings.
The case involves a segment that ran on Tapper’s basement-rated The Lead back in 2021. In the aftermath of His Fraudulency Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, Biden’s allies at CNN were looking for some way to turn someone else into the villain. The fake news outlet settled on Zachary Young, whom they falsely accused of running a black market to exploit Afghans desperate to escape the country with outrageous.
Months later, CNN admitted the “black market” comment was a lie. What’s more, Young has credibly claimed that he never once negotiated a payout from an Afghan or even received money from one. He worked exclusively through third parties.
The crux of Young’s billion-dollar suit is that this fake segment was 1) malicious and defamatory and 2) so destroyed his reputation that he has been unable to find work since.
Get a load of this…
Last week, CNNLOL’s attorney, who is hilariously named David Axelrod (but a different David Axelrod) claimed he had a smoking gun document proving — proving! — Young was lying, that Young had found work post-CNN segment:
Mr. Young knew, when he filed this lawsuit that he had entered into a new consulting agreement with a government contractor one month after CNN’s publication. This entire lawsuit was a fraud on this court. It was a fraud on CNN. This man knew it. I don’t know what they know. But when his came up in discovery, CNN’s counsel asked Mr. Young about the Helios connection, and he completely lied in his deposition. Over and over again, he made up some incredible ruse that Helios just had his security clearance because it was a company that held security clearances. It makes no sense. He knew at that time that he had a consulting agreement with Helios Global and he didn’t disclose it. It was an outright lie. This document should have been produced.
…
Mr. Young perpetrated a fraud on this court and lied in his lawsuit where he claimed his reputation and his business was destroyed by CNN. He knew, fundamentally, that was a false allegation.
Now that is a serious allegation.
Except…
The document the CNN attorney waved around was nothing of the kind. All it showed was that Young had reapplied for a security clearance after losing it in 2022 — something he was unaware of until recently.
At this point, the judge had had enough and tore into CNN’s attorney:
Mr. Axelrod, I don’t know how many times in this transcript, I didn’t bring the paper back with me, how many times you called Mr. Young a liar. But yet, in his deposition, he acknowledged having his security being held by Helios Global. Which is exactly what that document is and exactly what he testified to.
I think an apology from you is clearly in order to Mr. Young for the number of times in front of this court, and streamed around the world, that you called Mr. Young a liar.
Judge Henry then added this: “Right now, your credibility with me, Mr. Axelrod, is about none.”
Then there’s the news that while under oath, Jake Tapper claimed he doesn’t pay attention to his ratings.
“Mr. Tapper, can you give an overview of viewership numbers for your show The Lead?” asked Young’s attorney.
“I cannot,” answered Tapper.
“You have no idea how many people watch The Lead on an average basis?”
“I do not pay attention to ratings,” Tapper said.
Except…
As recently as March, Tapper publicly bragged about his ratings.
“Ratings go up and ratings go down, but UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL had the highest ratings in the key demo in cable news on Sunday … and was the most watched show on CNN!” he xweeted.
Come on, y’all… This is obviously a guy who looks VERY closely at his numbers. He looks at the numbers so closely, that he formulated a desperate win out of this: “highest ratings” and “key demo” and “Sunday.”
Additionally, Fox News Digital discovered “more than a dozen examples of social media posts showing Tapper either touting his show’s ratings or highlighting others, contradicting and undermining his own sworn testimony.”
By all accounts of those observing the trial, things are not going well for CNNLOL. I would, though, urge caution on that. Juries are their own things. They see things in their own way, and once deliberations begin (hopefully later today or tomorrow), it’s an anything-can-happen situation.
Like all decent people, I hope this jury sticks a wooden stake in the vampire that is CNN’s heart and awards whatever is left to Alex Jones.
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