Sarah Palin took the stand on Wednesday in her libel case against the New York Times. Her testimony was mostly about what her life is like now.
Tom Hays reports at the Associated Press:
Palin takes witness stand in libel case vs. New York TimesFormer Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin took the witness stand on Wednesday in her defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, giving the jury a folksy overview of her family life in Alaska and ascent in Republican politics.Palin testified for only about 20 minutes at the end of the day at a civil trial in Manhattan federal court after a Times editor named as a defendant in the suit testified at length.She is to return to court Thursday for a chance to get into the crux of the case — her claim that the newspaper damaged her reputation with an editorial linking her campaign rhetoric to a mass shooting. Closing arguments are set for Friday.Palin, 57, described herself for jurors as a single mother and grandmother who “holds down the fort” for her family in Alaska when not advising candidates about “the good, bad and ugly” of politics. She also recalled the surprise over her emergence as a vice-presidential candidate in 2008, saying, “I don’t think they were prepared for me.”
Former NY Times editor James Bennet was back on the stand briefly as well. Everything that I have read about his testimony so far indicates that the NY Times knows it made a huge mistake here.
Josh Gerstein wrote at Politico:
Former NYT editor: Concern over false-equivalence critique prompted flaw in Palin editorialAs the trial entered its fifth day on Wednesday, former Times editorial editor James Bennet testified that he was trying to avoid just those sorts of pitfalls when he inserted language in a 2017 editorial that many readers saw as asserting a direct link between the former Alaska governor’s political action committee and a deadly 2011 mass shooting in Arizona.In his second and final day on the witness stand in a federal courtroom in Manhattan, Bennet said the passages Palin’s lawyers have seized on were inspired by his desire to avoid a specious “both sides” claim that extreme political rhetoric is as prevalent in America on the left as on the right.Bennet indicated that controversy over the erroneous claim about a connection to Palin’s PAC was particularly galling to him because, after taking over the Times’ opinion pages a year earlier, he was trying to allay perceptions that those pages were unfair to Republicans.“It was a mistake … that made it look like we were being partisan,” Bennet said.
Newsflash for Mr. Bennet: The NY Times is partisan, and it’s obvious to everyone. This is why I recently said that the NY Times is relying on a benefit of the doubt that they do not deserve.
Bennet is basically trying to take the fall for the Times.
Ben Feuerherd reports at the New York Post:
Ex-New York Times editor takes blame for Sarah Palin error at defamation trialJames Bennet, the former New York Times editorial page editor, said Tuesday that he was at fault for writing language into a 2017 piece falsely asserting a connection between a map circulated by Sarah Palin’s political action committee and a mass shooting that wounded US Rep. Gabby Giffords.Bennet took responsibility for the error while testifying at the Manhattan federal court trial in the defamation suit Palin brought against the newspaper over the editorial.“This is my fault, right. I wrote those sentences,” Bennet said while responding to questioning by Palin’s attorney, Shane Vogt.
Times opinion columnist Ross Douthat also took the stand:
Previous reports:
Featured image via YouTube.
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