‘We Gonna Nail This Zachary Young MF**ker’: CNN Reporter’s Text Read Aloud In Court

CNN reporter Alex Marquardt took the stand on Monday, marking the sixth day of the network’s Florida defamation trial, brought by U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young over a report about his efforts to aid in the evacuation of Afghan citizens.

Marquardt stated on the stand that he had pitched a story to the network about desperate Afghans fleeing the Taliban — which resulted in a piece that went to air with claims that Young had “preyed” on the people and “exploited” their desperation to make a quick buck.

During Young’s testimony late last week, the Navy veteran explained that he had only worked with Afghans who had corporate sponsors who were able to pay the costs associated with the evacuations — which were often complicated and dangerous — but Marquardt still went ahead with a story that suggested he was essentially extorting individual citizens.

Despite Young’s insistence that he only did corporate-sponsored evacuations, Marquardt testified that “the story was not about Bloomberg and Audible. The corporate evacuations were not something I was interested in.”

Marquardt made Young the face of the story after getting the go-ahead from “top brass” within the network. Young’s attorney, Devin Freedman, shared internal messages from CNN, including one from Marquardt stating, “We gonna nail this Zachary Young mf**ker.”

Marquardt is confronted fronted with his message about how he was going to "mail this Zachary Young mfucker."
Marquardt doubles down. pic.twitter.com/XeSGakfTRZ

— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) January 13, 2025

Marquardt also admitted during testimony that he had found reports of Afghans being scammed as they attempted to flee the country but that he had not included them in the story about Young. He also admitted that he did not have direct evidence of Young exploiting any Afghan citizen.

Marquardt admits he had "no evidence" of Mr. Young taking advantage of an Afghan.

— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) January 13, 2025

Judge William Scott Henry, who has already ruled that Young did not exploit any Afghan citizens during his time working to coordinate evacuations, read one of the juror’s questions aloud to Marquardt to clarify some of his comments.

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“Why, after several examples of Mr. Young cut off communication with people without [corporate] funds, did you still feel as if he was still exploiting Afghans? … Do you and your colleagues believe that Mr. Young should have evacuated anyone who requested help without charging? … How do you feel knowing that Mr. Young can no longer work in the space that he is trained in as a result of your piece?”

Throughout his testimony, Marquardt repeated that he was “proud” of his story and said he did not believe CNN should apologize to Young.