CNN Begs Judge to Block Military Veteran’s Bid to Depose Star Jake Tapper in Billion Dollar Defamation Battle — to Spare Him ‘Annoyance and Embarrassment’
The trial start date for the case still is January 6, 2025.
July 22 2024, Published 10:30 a.m. ET
A desperate CNN has asked a Florida judge to sensationally block Jake Tapper from being interrogated about his involvement in a controversial story the embattled network aired – which alleged a military veteran ran a black market of people smuggling after America’s botched withdrawal in Afghanistan.
According to court documents obtained exclusively by RadarOnline.com, lawyers for the supposed worldwide leader in news asked for a protective order to prevent Zachary Young, a decorated former U.S. Navy member, from deposing star anchor Tapper, the cable giant’s lead DC anchor and chief Washington correspondent.
Correspondent Alex Marquardt, who presented the story with Jake Tapper, allegedly referred to military veteran as 'f***ing Young' and said 'it’s your funeral bucko' in secret correspondence exposed as part of the case.
Tapper aired a segment in 2021 on his program The Lead With Jake Tapper linking Young to black market operations and the exploitation of individuals trapped in Afghanistan.
But CNN, whose ratings have hit a two decade low, told the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida there was “no basis” whatsoever “to depose Tapper” in a filing on July 17.
They said doing so would cause “annoyance and embarrassment” to Tapper while “providing little useful information.”
CNN's legal team also accused lawyers for Young and his security consultancy company, Nemex Enterprises Inc., of missing the deadline to interview 55-year-old Tapper as part of the lawsuit claiming CNN acted with malicious intent when it defamed both parties.
Young filed the lawsuit against CNN last month.
As RadarOnline.com reported, secret and expletive-laden correspondence between CNN staffers are at the center of the courtroom fight, with text messages revealing individuals called Young a “s---bag” and “a------” — while conceding the story was “very much not ready for prime time” and was “full of holes like Swiss cheese.”
Alex Marquardt even quipped to a colleague “it’s your funeral bucko” — a reference to Young — before the story went to air.
Lawyers for CNN said in a motion: “Plaintiffs did not attempt to depose Tapper during the fact-discovery period, which closed on January 15, 2024.
“The closest they came to doing so was in May 2023, roughly eight months before discovery closed, when their counsel briefly raised the issue of deposing Tapper. In response, counsel for CNN stated: ‘In that regard, please tell me the relevance of any testimony of [a former CNN employee] or Mr. Tapper as there is nothing in the record in this case to suggest that either has any information pertinent to this matter.’
“Plaintiffs did not pursue the issue of deposing Tapper any further during the fact-discovery period.
“More than a year later, on June 26, 2024, counsel for Plaintiffs suddenly emailed CNN’s counsel seeking dates for Tapper’s deposition, ostensibly in connection with financial-worth discovery.”
Lawyers for CNN argued Young's legal team did not attempt to depose Tapper before the fact-discovery period closed on January 15, 2024.
Young’s lawyers have not yet responded to the filing.
But in a case management conference held on July 1, those same lawyers told CNN's highly-paid team of lawyers: “We were not going to take Mr. Tapper’s deposition until punitive damages were in the case and we would be able to ask about financial issues about the Jake Tapper show and – other things.
The court case is a high stakes battle for CNN.
“They have refused to give us a deposition date on the premise that fact discovery is closed, notwithstanding the order keeping open the financial-related discovery.
“I’m not saying we wouldn’t ask a single question outside of financial-related issues to Mr. Tapper, but I’d say no more than an hour, hour-and-a-half max on something outside of that. Again, it just wasn’t worth it until we got a decision on whether or not financial discovery comes in.”
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CNN's lawyers argued deposing Tapper would cause “annoyance and embarrassment” to Tapper while “providing little useful information.”
The court case is a high stakes battle for CNN, which has faced a series of explosive challenges in recent years — including job cuts to save costs; chair shuffling in primetime slots; the ill-fated era of former boss Chris Licht that led to a staff revolt; other anchors’ firings including Chris Cuomo, Don Lemon and Brian Stelter; and an office romance between two top execs that cost one-time leader Jeff Zucker his plum job.
In April, the network’s latest chief executive, Mark Thompson, said the network faces an “existential crisis” because its viewers were cutting the cord.
The news network’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, has $44 billion in debt that it needs to reduce – leading to speculation that top boss David Zaslav could look to offload and sell CNN.
Last week, it was reported Zaslav was mulling a split of its digital streaming and studio businesses from its legacy television networks in order to boost its sinking share price.
In a sign of what is on the line for the network, lawyers for Young have predicted they could win up to a billion dollars if a court finds their client was defamed.
The cash-strapped and viewer-starved CNN is said to be worth $6 billion.
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CNN is said to be worth $6 billion but is said to be steeped in crisis.
For their part, CNN’s lawyers said Tapper’s “financial-worth” is irrelevant to the case nor does he have “articular knowledge as to CNN’s financial worth.”
CNN's lawyers said: “Any information Tapper has as to his own finances is wholly irrelevant, notwithstanding that he provides services to CNN."
They added: “A deposition of Tapper on the issue of CNN’s financial worth could serve no legitimate litigation purpose and would only serve to cause annoyance and embarrassment. It should not be permitted.”
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