Navy Veteran Who Won Defamation Case Against CNN Sues U.S. News & World Report and the AP

The Navy veteran who successfully sued CNN for defamation, Zachary Young, is not done with his effort to hold news outlets accountable for what he says is defamatory coverage of his efforts to evacuate desperate Afghans. In January, a Florida-based jury found that CNN defamed Mr. Young when it aired a segment on “The Lead With Jake Tapper” in 2021 that suggested he preyed on desperate Afghans seeking to flee their country by charging them “exorbitant fees.” The jurors awarded Mr. Young $4 million for lost earnings and $1 million for personal damages, such as pain and suffering. Before they could determine punitive damages, which could have been much larger, CNN reached a confidential settlement with Mr. Young.The trial, during which multiple CNN staff testified in a Florida courtroom, gave jurors an unflattering look behind the scenes at CNN, where editors criticized the story as flimsy and made pejorative comments about Mr. Young and their own colleagues. Mr. Young is believed to have received a seven or eight-figure settlement from CNN. Yet his efforts to clear his name from what he says is false press coverage are ongoing. On Wednesday, he filed a new defamation suit against U.S. News & World Report for republishing an Associated Press report about his CNN defamation trial. Mr. Young is already suing the A.P.The article at issue, written by the AP’s longtime press reporter, David Bauder, stated that Mr. Young’s “business helped smuggle people out of Afghanistan.” At the center of Mr. Young’s case is the word “smuggle;” he is suing the AP for defamation. Zachary Young says CNN defamed him with this report alleging he was operating a black market charging desperate Afghans huge prices to evacuate their country. CNNAfter the lawsuit against the AP was filed, U.S. News & World Report issued a retraction of the republished story and replaced it with a message explaining the move.“RETRACTION: U.S. News & World Report has removed the article previously available at this URL that had been published on January 17, 2025, entitled ‘Florida Jury Says CNN Defamed Navy Veteran in Story About Endangered Afghans,’” the message reads. “The article was reported and written by the Associated Press (AP). As an AP subscriber, U.S. News regularly republishes multiple AP articles on a daily basis.”It adds, “The AP article also stated that ‘Young’s business helped smuggle people out of Afghanistan.’ Mr. Young subsequently contacted U.S. News and objected to the word ‘smuggle’ as accusing him of engaging in criminal activity. In republishing the article, U.S. News had no intention to suggest that Mr. Young’s actions were unlawful. Nevertheless, to avoid any possible misunderstanding, U.S. News has removed and retracts the AP article.”U.S. News & World Report, once the third largest weekly news magazine after Time and Newsweek, no longer publishes a weekly print magazine and focuses largely on its college and hospital rankings services, which remain influential. It still publishes limited news coverage online, including, as it pointed out in its retraction, AP articles. U.S. News & World Report did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication. CNN’s chief national security correspondent, Alexander Marquardt, did not give Zachary Young sufficient time to respond to CNN’s allegations, Mr. Young claims. CNNMr. Young’s lawsuit, which was filed at Bay County, Florida, where his case against CNN was handled, states that the retraction did not go “far enough” in correcting the record.Mr. Young also filed his defamation case against the AP at Bay County. His complaint against the AP states that the suggestion he helped to smuggle people is “categorically false.”“At the time of publication, AP knew or recklessly disregarded that a Florida court had already ruled Plaintiff committed no crime in connection with the Afghanistan evacuations. Mr. Young never ‘smuggled’ anyone,” the complaint reads.A lawyer for the Navy veteran, Daniel Lustig, also said that the AP never reached out to his client for comment.Zachary Young says the CNN report destroyed his business. CNNThe AP has defended its story, saying it was a “factual and accurate report on the jury verdict finding in Zachary Young’s favor.”“We will vigorously defend our reporting against this frivolous lawsuit,” the outlet said in a statement. Mr. Young partnered with corporations, who would pay him, to help evacuate people from Afghanistan after America’s chaotic withdrawal. However, after CNN’s story implied he was working on the “black market” and preying on Afghans who could not pay the fees he charged companies, he sued several news outlets to refute the implication that he was engaged in illegal activities or taking advantage of people in their moment of desperation.Mr. Young is also suing Puck News for a line in one of its stories that reads, “Panicked locals turned to private contractors to help them flee the country. One such contractor was Zachary Young, a Navy Veteran whose firm was charging people hefty fees—sometimes tens of thousands of dollars—to escape the Taliban.”In a statement, a spokesman for Puck said, “Puck stands behind our reporting, and we are confident the facts will hold up to any scrutiny.”During Mr. Young’s trial against CNN, his lawyers shared several exchanges he had with Afghans who sought his services. He turned them away because his operation was exclusively focused on evacuating individuals who had corporate sponsors to pay for their evacuation.

Navy Veteran Who Won Defamation Case Against CNN Sues U.S. News & World Report and the AP

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