Panama City, Florida CNN's senior national security editor, Thomas Lumley, was questioned in court Tuesday after internal messages showed he was highly skeptical of the “deeply flawed” report at the Center. High-profile libel trial.
Zachary Young, a US Navy veteran, alleged that CNN defamed him in a November 2021 report that first aired on “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” suggesting he illegally took advantage of people Desperate people trying to flee Afghanistan in the wake of the war. Biden administration Military withdrawal, meaning he became involved in “black market” dealings with his professional reputation destroyed as a result. The report was first shown on television and then turned into a print article for CNN's website.
Lumley, who has worked at CNN for more than six years, was called as a witness after internal messages showed he felt the report was “full of holes like Swiss cheese.”
CNN's senior national security editor, Thomas Lumley, was questioned in court on Tuesday after internal messages showed he was highly skeptical of the “deeply flawed” report at the heart of a high-profile libel trial. (Fox News Digital)
Jurors were shown a variety of emails and messages during Lumley's testimony, including one in which he suggested to reporter Alex Marquardt add information about whether people paying large sums for evacuation actually made it out of Afghanistan.
Lumley received a draft of the printed article written by Marquardt and replied: “There is one major thing that is not clear to me. Are any of the people who are paying these people actually going out of the country? I think we need a graph (paragraph) to explain. Is it absolutely hopeless?” ?”
A minute later, Lumley sent a message to a CNN editor in which he said he “didn't understand” a key question about the story, and was surprised that CNN's “trinity” of fact-checkers agreed with Marquardt's report.
Young had previously testified that he helped rescue at least 22 women from Afghanistan, but CNN never published that information, suggesting the network did not take Lumley's advice.
“I had a question I was interested in answering,” Lumley said when Young's lead attorney, Phil Friedman, asked him if he had questions about the report.
Thomas Lumley received a draft of the printed article written by Marquardt and responded: “There's one major thing that's not clear to me. Are any of the people paying these people actually going out of the country? I think we need a chart to find out.” Is it completely hopeless?”
Thomas Lumley, CNN's senior national security editor, was surprised that CNN's fact-checkers approved the story, according to messages he sent to colleagues.
The CNN editor then attempted to retract comments he had previously made to his colleagues.
“Those are my words on the page, but I actually think my question about the story was what I would call a storytelling question. It wasn't a question about the accuracy and fairness of this story, which is called 'The Trinity.' It's really concerning,” Lumley said.
“I said, 'I'm kind of surprised, but when I think about it,'” he continued. “That was a bit of an inaccurate idea.”
Friedman then asked Lumley if he had met with CNN's lawyers to prepare for his testimony.
“I had a very short meeting last night, maybe 45 minutes, and we had two meetings in Washington before the holiday… probably about four hours,” Lumley said.
Friedman then showed the jury another internal message when Lumley wrote, “It's actually a good story (except for the digital writing or TV script answering a basic question).”
Friedman then showed the jury Lumley's letters saying, “It's not clear to me whether Young has been robbed of everyone,” adding, “This is critical!”
In another letter, Lumley suggests “pausing” the report if Marquardt does not have answers to the key question.
“If he doesn't know the answer to this basic question, I'd say we really need to pause until we find out… I hope Alex does but I forgot to mention it,” Lumley wrote to a CNN colleague who responded, “Oi.”
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Thomas Lumley wrote, “It's actually a good story (except for the digital writing or TV script answering a basic question).”
Thomas Lumley, CNN's senior national security editor, suggested pausing the digital report until a key question was answered.
Lumley confirmed under oath that he sent those messages and that the report was broadcast on “The Lead with Jake Tapper” shortly afterward. Lumley then paused the print piece.
“We've paused it for digital (CNN's website). My original question has now been answered but on TV, it's less of an issue. The dramatic shadow interviews and come off less clearly. As writing, I think it works less well.” Lumley wrote to a colleague.
Friedman then showed the jury other emails in which Lumley criticized his network's reporting. Lumley described it as “not at all ready for prime time”, reiterated that “it's not clear from the story whether anyone paying these people will ever get out” and called the entire report “deeply flawed”.
Friedman noted that the report had already aired on CNN when Lumley noted that it was “not ready for prime time.” When pressed on the witness stand, Lumley insisted he was criticizing the print article because it was digital and not the TV report.
“I wasn't in charge of the TV segment, so I could have an opinion, but if I read the TV segment and thought there was a big problem with it, I would have said something,” Lumley testified.
“I think you said something,” Friedman responded.
US Navy SEAL Zachary Young testified Thursday that he successfully helped at least 22 women escape Afghanistan. (Jessica Costescu)
“The story is as full of holes as Swiss cheese,” Thomas Lumley wrote to his CNN colleague Megan Trimble, who responded: “I agree — the story is 80% emotion, 20% vague fact.”
Jurors were then shown more internal CNN messages, including Lumley's description of the report as “urgent on firing a TV package” and that Marquardt was “livid” over the criticism. “I think Alex's story is a mess,” he wrote in another message and said it may not be “easily fixable.”
Lumley testified that the message showed him “visibly frustrated,” and that he did not feel that the version that aired on CNN's “The Lead with Jake Tapper” should be running online.
“The story is as full of holes as Swiss cheese,” Lumley wrote to his CNN colleague Megan Trimble, who responded: “I agree — the story is 80% emotion, 20% thinly veiled truth.”
Thomas Lumley, CNN's senior national security editor, said in an internal message to colleagues that Alex Marquardt's report was “no poetry” and “half a good story.”
Thomas Lumley, CNN's senior national security editor, called the story about a high-stakes libel trial “deeply flawed.”
Friedman asked Lumley whether the “mysterious fact” was a “lie,” but the CNN editor found it difficult to answer.
“I honestly can't speak for Ms. Trimble,” he testified.
Friedman then noted that the report appeared on several other CNN programs after its initial broadcast on “The Lead with Jake Tapper.”
Lumley also admitted that the “fundamental question” he wanted answered could not be found in time to prepare the digital report. Despite all the criticism Lumley expressed in internal messages shown to jurors, he stood by the story when asked about it on the witness stand.
“From a storytelling perspective, it's not my favorite. But it's still a fair and accurate story,” Lumley testified.
Later, CNN lawyer David Axelrod (not to be confused with a CNN political commentator) questioned Lumley during questioning. When asked about the comment being “full of holes like Swiss cheese”, Lumley called it “imprecise language” and said the only “hole” he was primarily concerned with was what happened next to the Afghans.
“I will never publish a story that I believe is untrue or unfair,” he said.
The trial will resume on Wednesday and will be broadcast live Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital's Nicholas Lannom contributed to this report.
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