CIA-trained Navy veteran details ‘very devastating’ impact CNN segment had on his life: ‘Being labeled a criminal’

Panama City, Florida U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young testified Tuesday that the CNN segment at the center of his defamation lawsuit against CNN had an “immediate and devastating” impact on his life.

Yang claimed that CNN defamed him by suggesting that he was illegally profiting from helping people flee Afghanistan through the “black market” during the Biden administration’s 2021 troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. reputation and business,” he exploited “desperate Afghans” in a Nov. 11, 2021 segment that first aired on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper.”

The high-stakes trial began with jury selection on Monday, with Yang becoming the first witness on Tuesday after opening statements from both sides. Young said that when “black market” is used to describe where he operates, “it’s hard to explain to people outside of my world how devastating that is.”

“You have been labeled a criminal all over the world,” Young said during questioning by lead attorney Vel Freedman.

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Young testified that he is interested in U.S. national security and hopes to pursue a career after retirement because the world is a “big place” and the government cannot do everything it can to keep the U.S. safe, so he believes private contractors are the best option. important.

“I’m not a mercenary, I don’t like that term,” Young said, explaining his job with Blackwater and other contractors after serving in the Navy.

14th Circuit Court Judge William S. Henry, who is presiding over the trial in Bay County, Florida, has ruled that Young “did not commit any illegal or criminal conduct” despite online reports. Judge Henry also announced that the court had found that Young “did not take money from Afghans.”

Tapper first teased the 2021 portion of the lawsuit, warning CNN viewers that “desperate Afghans are still trying to flee this country, and they are being preyed upon by those who are demanding they pay big bucks to leave.”

Later in the show, Tapper reminded viewers that the story of “desperate Afghans” being “plundered” would follow.

Tapper said that after the two-promoted show began, CNN reporter Alex Marquardt discovered that “Afghans trying to leave the country faced a black market full of promises, demanding exorbitant fees, And there are no guarantees of safety or success.

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U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young believes CNN ruined him by calling him an illegal profiteer who exploited desperate Afghans during a Nov. 11, 2021 episode of “Leadership with Jake Tapper.” His reputation and business”. (CNN/Screenshot)

Tapper referred questions to Marquardt, who said “desperate Afghans are being exploited” and need to pay “exorbitant and often impossible sums” to flee the country.

Marquardt then named Young, put a photo of his face on the screen, and said his company was demanding $75,000 to transport a car’s passengers to Pakistan, or $14,500 each to ultimately reach Arabia. United Emirates.

“The price is well beyond the reach of most Afghans,” Marquardt, who is expected to be a witness in the defamation trial, told the audience.

CNN later aired a report that Marquardt allegedly tried to call Yang, but Yang did not answer the call.

“He told CNN in a text message that Afghans trying to leave were expected to be paid by sponsors,” Marquardt said, adding that Young told the network that evacuation costs were “highly volatile and based on environmental realities.” .

Marquardt then said Young “repeatedly refused to detail the costs or reveal whether he made money,” before playing a clip of an anonymous sympathizer who couldn’t afford to evacuate his family from Afghanistan.

Marquardt returned to Young and said he had received another text message.

“In another message, Zachary Young, who provides evacuation services, wrote that ‘Availability is extremely limited and demand is high’… He went on to say, ‘Unfortunately, that’s the economics of How it works,'” Marquardt told the audience.

Tapper responded, “Unfortunately, yeah,” before thanking Marquardt for the report.

No other people or companies were named except Young.

Two different anonymous Afghans were interviewed in the clip. They worry about their families trapped in Afghanistan and the ability to evacuate them, but two people interviewed by CNN have any connection to Yang.

Young testified that he never interacted with the two men. It’s unclear why their concerns were conflated with Young’s report.

“This had an immediate and very devastating impact on my life,” Young testified.

CNN turns over internal documents as part of high-stakes defamation lawsuit

Attorney Kyle Roach of Zachary Young’s legal team delivered opening statements Tuesday. (Jessica Costescu)

CNN issued an on-air apology, which Judge Henry ruled was insufficient. During Tuesday’s trial, Friedman noted that Tapper never apologized to Young. CNN’s Pamela Brown replaced Tapper on the day she issued an on-air apology four months after the show aired.

During his testimony, Young detailed his extensive post-retirement experience, including his development of the SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) training program for U.S. allies in the United Arab Emirates. He said the program teaches the skills needed to get out of dangerous situations, such as in Afghanistan after the Biden administration’s botched military withdrawal in 2021.

He also testified that he was eventually hired by DynCorp in 2018 at an annual salary of approximately $361,000. The jury was shown his contract, which contained various ethical and legal clauses.

Among other things, it states that he cannot violate the host country’s “black market” laws, otherwise his contract will be terminated without severance pay. Jurors leaned in to take notes during testimony because CNN used the term “black market” at the center of the case.

Young, who received training from the CIA, outlined his extensive training in “brushing” and other sophisticated methods of exchanging sensitive information in hostile areas without detection. It appears his legal team is making sure the jury fully understands the special skills required to safely evacuate someone from a dangerous war zone as Taliban members search for people trying to flee.

CNN faces defamation lawsuit over Afghanistan withdrawal story: ‘Evidence of actual malice’

CNN host Jake Tapper and reporter Alex Marquardt on the show amid a defamation lawsuit. (CNN/Screenshot)

Young’s testimony then turned to a discussion of how difficult it is to evacuate people from Afghanistan, specifically likening it to a frog carefully jumping from lily pad to lily pad until reaching the “very stressful” border.

“It’s a very stressful environment,” he said.

Yang, who received funding from Audible and Bloomberg to evacuate “their people” from Afghanistan, explained that the cost of evacuating people from Afghanistan was so high that he had to operate as a private contractor to make a profit. He has repeatedly said he only wants to accept money from “sponsors,” which are essentially big companies like Amazon-owned Audible and Bloomberg, and doesn’t deal with ordinary citizens who scoff at his prices.

“I’m a businessman and I’m a patriot,” Yang said.

He advertises his services on LinkedIn and says his connections are primarily people in the security or military industries, admitting he either ignores or blocks people he knows he has no chance of helping.

Later Tuesday, jurors heard that Young exchanged information with a person who eventually became a CNN source. The woman was unhappy with the fees Young charged to help people evacuate.

CNN heads to court for high-stakes defamation trial over Afghanistan segment

“Sounds more like a retirement plan than a mission of mercy,” the final CNN source told Yang.

Yang began to explain his situation, eventually telling her to “fuck off.” After she kept messaging him, Young said he didn’t have to defend his price to “some mean person on LinkedIn” and blocked her.

The jury didn’t seem particularly perplexed by Yang’s vitriolic language in the messages he exchanged with the eventual CNN source, but he still expressed regret.

“I was a little rude and I said some things I shouldn’t have said,” Young testified.

Young’s testimony will continue Wednesday and will be broadcast live on the Fox News website.

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