Navy veteran who beat CNN accuses federal judge of ‘bias’ in AP defamation appeal filing

The U.S. Navy veteran who successfully sued CNN for defamation earlier this year has filed an appeal for his defamation suit against the Associated Press, accusing the judge of a “lack of judicial decorum” that shows bias. 

Zachary Young believes he was defamed when AP media reporter David Bauder wrote that “Young’s business helped smuggle people out of Afghanistan” when covering the CNN trial in a January 2025 article. 

Judge William Henry of Florida’s 14th Judicial Circuit, who also presided over Young’s CNN trial, dismissed his lawsuit against the AP in September. The judge compared Young’s follow-up lawsuit to movie sequels that “should not be made.” 

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“In an order that inappropriately compares the criminal accusation of human smuggling to sneaking candy into a movie theater and flippantly refers to the lawsuit as a bad sequel that never should have been made, the court incorrectly determined AP’s accusation that ‘Young’s business helped smuggle people out of Afghanistan’ was not defamatory,” Young’s appellate counsel Lisa Paige Glass wrote in the filing. 

Young’s legal team also accused the court of “jumbling” the three distinct and sequential stages of defamation analysis and requested a new judge, suggesting Judge Henry has “disdain” for the case. 

“Reassignment is warranted to ensure a fair proceeding and maintain the appearance of justice,” Glass wrote. 

Henry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Henry was seen as tough but fair throughout the CNN trial and regularly scolded CNN lead counsel David Axelrod — not to be confused with the CNN commentator of the same name — throughout. 

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“The circuit court reduced a false felony accusation to a candy bar analogy. Human smuggling is a federal and international crime. It is not a joke, and it is not a figure of speech. Florida law requires courts to take those words as they are written, and we are confident the First District will restore that basic principle,” Young’s appellate counsel Lisa Paige Glass told Fox News Digital. 

In January, a Florida jury found that CNN defamed Young by implying he illegally profited when helping people flee Afghanistan on the “black market” during the Biden administration’s military withdrawal from the country in 2021. 

Young was awarded $4 million in lost earnings, $1 million in personal damages, and the jury found that punitive damages were also warranted against CNN. A settlement was reached before punitive damages were decided by the jury. 

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While Henry suggested Young’s claims against the AP are “an attempt to repackage the CNN storyline against a different opponent,” Young’s legal team remains confident. 

“This case is about accountability. When a major news organization tells the world that someone ‘smuggled people,’ it is making a direct criminal accusation. The law does not allow that to be brushed aside or reinterpreted after the fact. We are confident the First District will correct the error and allow a jury to decide the meaning of those words,” Daniel Lustig, a partner at Pike & Lustig, told Fox News Digital. 

The AP, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the appeal, has defended its reporting throughout the process. 

“AP’s story was a factual and accurate report on the jury verdict finding in Zachary Young’s favor. We will vigorously defend our reporting against this frivolous lawsuit,” an AP spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital.