The Lead

Something unique about the Florida judicial system is, baring objection of counsels and the court, jurors get to ask questions of the witnesses. These questions could be used as possible insight into a jury’s temperament and possible mindset as a trial unfolds. In the case of the $1 billion defamation trial against CNN, the tea leaves seemed to indicate on Wedndesday that they weren’t looking…

In lieu of adding more in-person witnesses to a trial with a hard deadline, Tuesday’s proceedings in the $1 billion defamation trial against CNN featured the sworn deposition videos of five CNN employees who had their fingerprints on the offending report. One of the more eyebrow-raising testimonies of the bunch came from CNN anchor Jake Tapper who’s show - The Lead - the report…

Week Two of the $1 billion defamation trial against CNN kicked off Monday with the testimony of CNN chief national security correspondent Alex Marquardt, the architect of the allegedly defamatory report. The key moments from this time on the witness stand were when he refused to apologize to Navy veteran and Plaintiff Zachary Young, doubled down on the false assertions that Young was…

In addition to CNN’s defamation lawyer smearing a decorated two-star general in open court during Friday’s proceedings, it was the first time someone from CNN was called to testify in the $1 billion defamation trial against the network. Senior editor and fact-checker Fuzz Hogan was on the witness stand where he was belligerent with plaintiff’s counsel, oozed arrogance, defended CNN’s editorial…

CNN’s lead counsel in the $1 billion defamation trial against them, David Axelrod (not to be confused with the CNN commentator of the same name) had yet another angry outburst at a witness on the stand, on Friday. After going berserk on Navy veteran and Plaintiff Zachary Young the previous day, decorated Army Major General James V. Young (no relation to the plaintiff) was in Axelrod’s sights;…

U.S. Navy veteran and Plaintiff Zachary Young continued his testimony Wednesday in the $1 billion defamation trial against CNN. The morning’s testimony featured the jurors being shown fairly damaging messages between Young and CNN reporters Katie Bo Lillis and Alex Marquardt. The messages showed Young was lied to about the nature of CNN’s reporting and Young warning them what they were about…

Tuesday was Day Two, the $1 billion defamation trial against CNN and it was an eventful one. Opening arguments took up most of the morning, testimony from Navy veteran and Plaintiff Zachary Young took the rest of the day, and repeated objections from CNN resulting in several asides with Judge William Scott Henry disrupted the flow often. But still, the jurors seemed receptive to what Young and…

After two years of litigation, days worth of time spent in a litany of hearings and deposition testimonies, and boat loads of money spent on lawyers, the trial in the $1 billion defamation suit against CNN is set to begin this Monday, January 6. A lot has happened over the last several months as arguments shifted, witnesses axed, and rulings were made by Judge Williams Scott Henry. So now’s…

Well, it turns out we were right when, a year ago to the day in our 2023 most-read blogs list, we said
“2024 is bound to be not only one of the most monumental years in American history.” In 2024, you, our loyal NewsBusters readers, ate up our studies showing the liberal media’s propaganda campaign to save the Biden presidency then Harris’s candidacy and bury any chance of a Trump…

Starting with Wednesday’s The Lead and continuing through Saturday night, CNN gave a massive 56 minutes (56:29) to repeated airings and subsequent fawnings over a supposed exclusive trip inside a Damascus, Syria prison by chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward that resulted in what they billed as the discovery and release of someone who insisted he had been stuck inside a…

The people who watch CNN know why they are watching CNN. They hate Donald Trump, and they love to hear him compared to Hitler, or perhaps murderous dinosaurs. On Thursday's The Lead, host Jake Tapper fed the CNN base by bringing up a recent "progressive" Trump insult, comparing his second term to the velociraptors in Jurassic Park figuring out how to terrify the humans.

On Monday, Scott Jennings, Shermichael Singleton, and Brad Todd — three of the four actual, bona fide conservative commentators on CNN’s payroll — took to the airwaves to react to President Joe Biden’s blanket pardon of son Hunter for any and all crimes committed in the last 10 years and, in addition to standing their ground, went postal on this “trash” “facade” created by a bunch of “liars…

According to a court filing exclusively obtained by NewsBusters, CNN’s Jake Tapper refused to answer basic questions about his show’s finances, including his salary, during a sworn deposition on Wednesday. The legal team for Plaintiff and Navy veteran Zachary Young was now requesting Florida’s 14 Circuit Court to step in and force him to answer the questions.

So desperate was CNN to make something stick against former President Trump in the last few days of the election, they spent much of their Friday newscasts peddling the false claims that he threated Liz Cheney with a firing squad. Host Jake Tapper got more than he bargained for on The Lead, when Tennessee Republican Senator Bill Hagerty confronted him over his network’s “distortion”…