James Bennet is taking the witness stand now in Sarah Palin's defamation lawsuit against the New York Times.
He's the one who wrote the 2017 editorial at issue.
Background from opening statements: lawandcrime.com/high-profile/t…
He's the one who wrote the 2017 editorial at issue.
Background from opening statements: lawandcrime.com/high-profile/t…
Out the gate, Palin's attorney Shane Vogt asks Bennet if it would surprise him for readers to interpret the word "incitement" to mean its dictionary definition.
"It wouldn't surprise me," he replies.
"It wouldn't surprise me," he replies.
Vogt presses Bennet of any evidence of rhetoric on the left that could be tied to the 2017 congressional baseball shooting by James Hodgkinson.
After a back and forth, Bennet ultimately agrees they didn't find any.
After a back and forth, Bennet ultimately agrees they didn't find any.
Q: Is gun control also an issue that's important to you personally?
A: Yes.
He notes that he moderated an event at the Atlantic that dealt with gun control and also policing.
A: Yes.
He notes that he moderated an event at the Atlantic that dealt with gun control and also policing.
Vogt quotes Bennet as having said:
"Nobody is 100% right. So a writer must listen carefully, must question everybody’s assumptions, including his own."
Q: Is that a way you aspire to practice journalism?
A: That’s certainly the way I aspire to practice journalism.
"Nobody is 100% right. So a writer must listen carefully, must question everybody’s assumptions, including his own."
Q: Is that a way you aspire to practice journalism?
A: That’s certainly the way I aspire to practice journalism.
Judge Rakoff interjects: There is an exception that federal judges are 100% right.
(laughter)
Vogt: I’ve learned that the the hard way, your honor.
(laughter)
Vogt: I’ve learned that the the hard way, your honor.
Vogt reads an exchange between Bennet and Douthat, who criticized the editorial for suggesting a link between Palin and the Loughner shooting.
Bennet promised to "get to the bottom" of it in the morning.
"I see your point it sounds like political score-keeping," he wrote.
Bennet promised to "get to the bottom" of it in the morning.
"I see your point it sounds like political score-keeping," he wrote.
Asked if he was every disciplined, Bennet replies: "No, there was no disciplinary action."
"I appeared before the board of directors to take responsibility for the mistake and apologized," Bennet says, adding he wasn't asked to do that.
"I appeared before the board of directors to take responsibility for the mistake and apologized," Bennet says, adding he wasn't asked to do that.
He says he doesn't know whether that qualifies as a reprimand, "but it felt like one."
Q: Did you ever apologize to Gov. Palin?
A: My hope is as a consequence of this process, now I have.
Q: Did you ever apologize to Gov. Palin?
A: My hope is as a consequence of this process, now I have.
Roundup of the first day of Bennet's testimony, which continues tomorrow. lawandcrime.com/high-profile/f…
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