CNN defamation trial: Judge scolds CNN’s general counsel, orders prosecutor to apologize: ‘This is not kindergarten’
Judge William Henry censured CNN’s lead attorney in the case libel trial pending on Wednesday, ordering him to apologize to prosecutor Zachary Young for repeatedly calling him a “liar” and telling the powerful attorney that he had lost all credibility in the courtroom.
“This is not kindergarten. You all graduated from kindergarten a long, long time ago,” Judge Henry said.
Young, a Navy veteran, claims CNN smeared him by suggesting he made illegal money helping people flee Afghanistan on the “black market” during Biden administration military withdrawal from the country in 2021. Young believes CNN “ruined his reputation and his business” by labeling him an illegal profiteer who exploited “desperate Afghans” during a November 2021 segment.
Young’s lead attorney, Vel Freedman, informed Judge Henry on Wednesday that his client had just learned he had lost his security clearance, which had previously been renewed immediately after the CNN report aired. CNN’s legal team previously suggested that Young’s retention of security clearance was evidence that he lied about being able to work on the CNN segment.
Freedman said Young checked his security clearance status after testifying and discovered he had actually lost it in 2022. As a result, Freedman tried to add a witness from Helios Global, the company that held Young’s now-defunct security clearance, to tell jurors that the relationship “broke” in 2022.
CNN general counsel David Axelrod, who shares a name with the CNN political commentator, opposed the last-minute effort. However, Freedman insisted that “the jury should not be misled” and said Bay County jurors were left with the impression that Young still had a security clearance to this day.
Axelrod insisted he did not mislead the jury, but Judge Henry condemned the “blatant misrepresentation” by CNN’s legal team by implying the security clearance document was an employment contract.
Judge Henry read aloud a transcript of Axelrod’s comments from last week, in which he called the lawsuit a “fraud” and insisted Young was “lying” about making money after the CNN report.
“You called him a liar more than once there,” Judge Henry said.
Judge Henry seemed angry that Axelrod used the security clearance document to insist that Young was a “liar,” but then objected to a witness who could explain that Young did not actually have a license. Freedman told the judge that CNN “knew” that Young no longer had a security clearance, but did not tell the court.
They knew it wasn’t true, Freedman said. “CNN knew that the relationship was over, knew that Mr. Young didn’t know that the relationship was over, had proof of that, failed to disclose it to the other party, and then put an expert on the witness stand to say that he still always has.”
Much like last week when similar chaos broke out, Judge Henry then asked for a recess as he wanted to go back to his chambers and think it over. He returned and immediately scolded Axelrod.
“I think throughout this case I’ve been making comments about how the lawyers have been acting, how everything was a surprise, a last-minute thing…I think it’s rich that we have discovery being done at the same time and the motion being filed reversal, arguing that prosecutors are breaking the rules by sending subpoenas to trial while the defense is doing the exact same thing,” Judge Henry said.
“We have claims to the court that we were just accidental … it wasn’t accidental, you were just doing the same thing prosecutors were doing, subpoenaing documents without notifying the other party,” he said. he continued, adding that CNN’s legal team misrepresented the importance of the security clearance document.
Judge Henry said it was clear that CNN’s legal team had tried to use the document to show that Young had not made money in his industry following the CNN segment and that there was “no way” he would have admitted it if he had known it was a revelation. carried out after the deadline.
“Mr. Axelrod, I don’t know how many times in this transcript, I didn’t bring the paper with me, how many times you called Mr. Young a liar. But yet, in his deposition, he admitted that he had his insurance held by Helios Global, which is exactly what which he testified to,” Judge Henry said.
“I think your apology is clearly in order to Mr. Young for the number of times before this court, which has been streamed around the world, that you have called Mr. Young a liar,” the judge continued.
Judge Henry reminded Axelrod that he had previously said he would not decide a case based on “who can throw the most mud” or who can make the other side look worse.
Judge Henry then ruled that a representative of Helios Global was allowed to testify.
“I’m sick of this. I’m too concerned about the level of professionalism, or the lack of it,” Judge Henry said, adding that both sides were at fault.
Judge Henry noted that Axelrod had previously implied that the document was the “shotgun” in the case, but later contradicted himself to satisfy his claim.
“Right now, your credibility with me, Mr. Axelrod, is next to none,” Judge Henry said.
Axelrod then apologized.
“I apologize and if you feel that I misled you, that was certainly not my intention,” Axelrod said.