The plaintiff at CNN ongoing defamation lawsuit accused CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt of making a phone call to him for “theater,” but the reporter insists the call was made and simply remade for television.
Zachary Young claims CNN smeared him in a November 2021 report that first aired on ‘The Lead with Jake Tapper,’ suggesting he illegally took advantage of desperate people trying to flee Afghanistan after the Biden administration military withdrawal, implying that he was involved in “black market” transactions that destroyed his professional reputation.
During the television segment at the heart of the trial, CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt claimed he called Young on air. But the Navy veteran insists he never received the call, and screenshots from his Signal account support the claim that Marquardt did not actually make the call.
However, Marquardt testified Monday that he called the number he thought belonged to Young, which jurors said could help determine who prevails in the high-stakes trial.
CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt allegedly tried to call Zachary Young in the segment at the center of the lawsuit.
Young’s lead attorney Vel Freedman showed jury footage of Marquardt allegedly calling using Signal, an encrypted messaging app popular with journalists. The number he dialed was saved on his iPhone as Zachary Young. No one answered.
“You make sure the cameraman has a clear view of Zachary Young, the contact, right?” Freedman asked.
“Yes, you can see his long Austrian number there,” Marquardt replied.
Freedman shot back, “We see a long Austrian song there, right?”
“But that’s the one (CNN reporter) Katie Bo Lillis texted him,” Marquardt responded.
Freedman said he couldn’t see the number, but Marquardt replied, “I’m sure it was the same number in my phone.”
“On the screen you’ll see that you’re calling a contact named Zachary Young, right?” Freedman asked.
“That’s right,” Marquardt said.
Freedman then reminded the CNN correspondent that he had taken an oath to tell the truth.
“Was that Mr. Young’s real phone number or just a friend’s phone number that you saved under Zachary Young’s name?” Freedman asked.
“That was the number that I thought was Mr. Young’s that I got from Katie Bo Lillis because she had been texting with him at that number,” Marquardt said.
Zachary Young claims CNN smeared him in a November 2021 report that first aired on “The Lead with Jake Tapper.” During the television segment at the heart of the trial, CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt claimed he called Young on air.
The prosecution’s legal team showed jurors side-by-side images of Alex Marquardt and Zachary Young’s phone, highlighting where Signal shows missed calls between the parties.
Freedman then showed the jury side-by-side images of Marquardt and Young’s phone, highlighting the place where Signal showed missed calls between the parties. Neither Signal account showed any phone conversation between Marquardt and Young.
“Signal shows call messages in chat history, right,” Freedman said.
“That’s right, yes,” Marquardt replied.
Freedman explained that the text message conversation between Marquardt and Young began on November 10, 2021, and that the phone call was said to have taken place on November 3, 2021.
“There’s no missed call in Mr. Young’s chat history, right?” Freedman said.
Marquardt replied, “I don’t see it there.”
“There is no outgoing call in your message history with Mr. Young, correct?” Freedman asked.
“That’s right,” Marquardt said.
“Was that Zachary Young filed under that phone number?” Freedman asked.
‘Yes, that was it. It was the same number that Katie Bo Lillis gave me that he used,” Marquardt said.
Freedman then showed the jury behind-the-scenes footage of Marquardt making a call and a producer could be heard instructing him to step back from the camera.
Marquardt said he let the phone ring “quite a few times” before hanging up because no one answered. He admitted that a cameraman told him to hold the phone and pretend to listen.
“You’re pretending to call Mr. Young, right?” Freedman said.
“I don’t know what I was doing at the time, it looks like I was on the phone,” Marquardt said.
Alex Marquardt testified Monday that he called the number he thought belonged to Zachary Young.
Marquardt admitted that no ringing was heard on the video.
“You pretended to call him, didn’t you?” Freedman asked after pausing the video.
“I don’t know,” Marquardt said.
Freedman asked if he was willing to admit that he “pretended” to call Young after the video did not show any rings and Signal did not show any missed calls.
“I was holding my phone as if I was on a phone call after I made the phone call. What you’re talking about is a very basic TV production,” Marquardt said. “We get photos that we want to edit into the piece.”
“Theatre, right,” Freedman said, referring to something seen on the video.
“This is a very standard practice,” Marquardt said.
“That very standard practice of a fake phone call ends up in the final production video, right?” Freedman said.
“You saw the actual phone call I tried to make to Mr. Young, and I wish he had answered so he could explain what he was doing. There was definitely a phone call made to Mr. Young that day,” Marquardt said.
Freedman shot back, “Sir, I saw you call someone you called Zachary Young…that’s all I saw.”
“I can tell you, Mr. Freedman, that I used the phone number given to me by my colleague who had been texting with Mr. Young. As far as I knew, that phone number belonged to Mr. Young because she had been successful texting with him,” Marquardt said.
“Mind you, the same phone number I used to text him a week later and he responded,” Marquardt added. “As far as I knew that was his phone number. I called him, he didn’t answer the phone.”
Marquardt then said the video the jury was shown was called a “pick-up shot,” which would be edited into the final story.
“This is a very standard production,” Marquardt said.
“That shot of you pretending to call Mr. Young ends up in the last part, right?” Freedman asked.
“Yes,” Marquardt said.
“That theater makes it to the last part, right?” Freedman asked.
“No, that shot is,” Marquardt replied.
Freedman then asked the court to resume the paused behind-the-scenes video of Marquardt allegedly making the phone call. When the video resumed, Marquardt was seen waving his hands and saying the word “theatre” to his CNN colleagues in an exaggerated British accent.
“Sir, that theater makes it to the last shot, right?” Freedman asked.
CNN host Jake Tapper and correspondent Alex Marquardt during the 2021 segment were at the center of a defamation lawsuit. (CNN/screenshot)
“That was the call,” Marquardt replied.
“You can’t even say it, can you?” Freedman said. “’Theatre,’ it made it to the last shot, right?”
Marquardt insisted that he “did not fake” a phone call, prompting Freedman to remind the CNN correspondent that he had just explained that faking the phone call was standard TV production.
“That theater made it to the final video segment, right?” Freedman said, imitating the voice Marquardt used to say the word “theatre” in the video.
“The pickup shot did, yes,” Marquardt said as Young flashed a rare smile in the courtroom.
“I appreciate you trying to portray this as some kind of scandal. I can explain what’s going on here,” Marquardt said.
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Freedman then reminded Marquardt that he had previously testified that what he considered “theater” was not used in the report.
“You lied to the jury, didn’t you?” Freedman asked.
“I didn’t do that,” Marquardt said.
Marquardt later insisted that his “theater joke” in the behind-the-scenes video was a reference to an old Jon Lovitz sketch on “Saturday Night Live.”
The trial will be broadcast live Fox News digital.
