Panama City, Florida – CNN Senior National Security Editor Thomas Lumley after internal messages indicated he was highly skeptical of the “highly flawed” report that was at the center of a high-profile defamation trial. It was grilled in court on Tuesday.
U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young denigrated him in a report first aired by CNN on “The Read with Jake Tapper” in November 2021, saying he would flee Afghanistan after the Biden administration's military withdrawal. He suggested that he had been illegally profiting from desperate people who claimed to have committed the crime, and that he had implied that he was doing so. Involved in “black market” transactions and as a result ruined his professional reputation. The report was first aired on television and later in print on CNN's website.
Lumley, who has worked at CNN for more than six years, was called as a witness after receiving an internal message saying he felt the coverage was “as full of holes as Swiss cheese.”
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CNN Senior National Security Editor Thomas Lumley on Tuesday after an internal message indicated he was highly skeptical of a “highly flawed” report that was at the center of a high-profile defamation trial. was severely pursued in court. (Fox News Digital)
During Mr. Lumley's testimony, jurors were shown various emails and messages, including information about whether people who paid large sums of money to evacuate would actually be able to escape from Afghanistan. It also included a message suggesting that reporter Alex Marquardt should be added.
Lumley received a draft of Marquardt's printed article and replied, “I don't see one big thing: I don't know if any of the people who are paying these people are actually overseas.'' Is there anyone out there? I think we need one graph.” [paragraph] To explain. Totally hopeless? ”
A minute later, Lumley sent a message to a fellow CNN editor saying he “didn't understand” basic questions about the story and that CNN's fact-checking agency, Triad, had approved Marquardt's reporting. He was surprised.
Mr. Young had previously testified that he helped rescue at least 22 women from Afghanistan, but that information was not reported by CNN, indicating that the agency did not take Mr. Lumley's advice into account.
Asked by Young's lead attorney, Vel Friedman, if he had any questions about the report, Lumley said, “I had questions that I wanted to answer.”
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Thomas Lumley received a draft of the printed article written by Marquardt and replied, “There's one thing that's unclear to me. Is there anyone out of the country? Please explain, are you completely hopeless?”
CNN senior national security editor Thomas Lumley said in a message to colleagues that he was surprised that CNN's fact checkers approved the article.
CNN editors then attempted to retract comments they had previously made against their colleagues.
“These are my words on the page, but in reality, I think my question about this story was what I would call a storytelling question. It was about the accuracy and fairness of this story. The question wasn't about “triads.” I’m really concerned,” Lumley said.
“I said, 'I was a little surprised,' but now that I think about it,” he continued. “That was a bit of an inaccurate idea.”
Mr. Friedman then asked Mr. Lumley whether he had met with CNN's attorney in preparation for his testimony.
“We had a pretty short meeting last night, probably 45 minutes. We had a few meetings in Washington before the holidays…maybe about four hours,” Lumley said.
Mr. Friedman then told the jury another internal message when Mr. Lumley wrote, “This is actually a good story (except that neither the digital writing nor the TV script answers the fundamental question).” Shown in
Friedman then showed the jury Lumley's message to Young: “I don't know if we're all fooled,” adding: “That's pretty important!”
In another message, Mr. Lumley suggested that Mr. Marquardt put the report on “pause” if he did not have answers to important questions.
“If he doesn't know the answer to that fundamental question, I think he really needs to pause until he does…I hope Alex knows, but I just forgot to mention it. ” Lumley wrote to a colleague at CNN, who responded: Oi. ”
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Thomas Lumley wrote, “It would actually be a good story (save for the digital writing and television scripts not answering the fundamental questions).”
CNN Senior National Security Editor Thomas Lumley suggested a “pause” on digital coverage until fundamental questions are answered.
Lumley admitted under oath that he sent these messages and that the reports were aired on “The Lead with Jake Tapper” shortly afterward. Lumley then paused the printout.
“Temporarily suspended due to digitalization” [CNN’s website]. This solved my fundamental question, but it doesn't really matter on TV. The interview had a dramatic silhouette and went smoothly without being too dazzling. I don't think it's very effective as a piece of writing,” Lumley wrote to a colleague.
Mr. Friedman then showed the jury other emails in which Mr. Lumley criticized his network's reporting. Lumley called the report “not at all ready for prime time,” and reiterated that “it's not clear from the article whether the people who paid these people will actually be released from prison.” He said the book as a whole was “very flawed.”
Friedman noted that the report was already being aired on CNN when Lumley suggested it was “not ready for prime time.” When pressed on the witness stand, Lumley claimed he was criticizing the digital version of the print version, not the television coverage.
“I wasn't responsible for the TV production, so I can have an opinion, but if I had read the TV production and thought there was something seriously wrong with it, I would have said something,” Lumley said. testified.
Friedman retorted, “I think I said something.”
U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young testified Thursday that he helped at least 22 women escape Afghanistan. (Jessica Costescu)
“This story is as full of holes as Swiss cheese,” Thomas Lumley wrote to CNN colleague Megan Trimble, adding, “You're right — 80% of this story is emotion, 20% is hidden.” That's true (lol),” he replied.
Later, jurors were shown additional internal CNN messages, including one in which Mr. Lumley called the report “like a rush off a TV show,” and in which Mr. Marquardt said he was “offended” by the criticism. It was written, “There is.” In another message he wrote: “Alex's story is a mess,” he said, “and it may not be something that can be easily salvaged.”
Lumley said she was “visibly irritated” by the messages and felt the version aired on CNN's “The Read with Jake Tapper” should not be aired online. did.
“This story is as full of holes as Swiss cheese,” Lumley wrote to CNN colleague Megan Trimble, adding, “You're right. This story is 80% emotion and 20% hidden facts.” (laughs)” he replied.
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CNN senior national security editor Thomas Lumley said in an internal message to colleagues that Alex Marquardt's report was “not poetry” and “a half-good story.”
CNN senior national security editor Thomas Lumley said the article, which is at the center of a high-stakes libel trial, is “deeply flawed.”
Friedman asked Lumley if the “hidden facts” were “lies,” but the CNN editor-in-chief struggled to answer.
“Honestly, I cannot speak for Mrs. Trimble,” he testified.
Friedman later noted that the report was aired on several other CNN programs after it first aired on “The Read with Jake Tapper.”
Lumley also admitted that the “fundamental questions” he wanted answered were not completed in time for the digital report. Despite Mr. Lumley's full range of criticisms expressed in internal messages shown to jurors, he stood by the story when asked about the incident on the witness stand.
“From a storytelling standpoint, it's not my cup of tea, but it's still a fair and accurate story,” Lumley testified.
Later, CNN attorney David Axelrod (not to be confused with CNN's political commentator) asked Lumley questions on cross-examination. Asked about the “full of holes like Swiss cheese” comment, Lumley called it an “inaccurate term” and said the only “holes” he is primarily interested in are the Afghans' next Said what happens is what happens.
“I will never publish an article that I think is inaccurate or unfair,” he said.
The trial resumes Wednesday and will be streamed live on Fox News Digital.
Nikolas Lanum of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
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