Lawyers on both sides delivered impassioned closing arguments on Thursday as Zachary Young’s high-profile defamation lawsuit against CNN heads to the jury.

A Florida jury began deliberations this afternoon in a security consultant’s defamation lawsuit against CNN. Zachary Young sued the network following a report in 2021 that he sought exorbitant fees to evacuate Afghans in what amounted to a black market in the chaotic U.

CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt defended his story on Zachary Young, a security consultant who charged $14,000 or more to evacuate people from Afghanistan.