‘You can think whatever you want’: Tense exchange between Jake Tapper and Navy veteran’s lawyer during deposition shown to jurors in CNN defamation trial

Jake Tapper gesticulating during a deposition; inset against Zachary Young testifying in the underlying trial.

Inset: Jake Tapper during a deposition shown in a defamation trial on Jan. 14, 2025 (Law&Crime). Background: Zachary Young in court during his defamation trial against CNN on Jan. 8, 2025 (Law&Crime).

A Florida jury saw a tense exchange between one of CNN’s star anchors and an attorney representing a U.S. Navy veteran who claims the network defamed him during a broadcast on that anchor’s show.

Plaintiff Zachary Young, a security contractor who extracted people from Afghanistan, claims a November 2021 segment on “The Lead with Jake Tapper” falsely painted him as an “illegal profiteer” exploiting “desperate Afghans” with “exorbitant” fees amid the fallout of President Joe Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from the country.

The journalist who uttered the disputed words during the broadcast in question, Alex Marquardt, took the stand on Monday.

On Tuesday, Bay County jurors heard from Jake Tapper himself — by way of some key selections from a previously-recorded deposition. During the lengthy pretrial stage of the case, both CNN and Young agreed that Tapper would not take the stand during the trial.

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