Thread by @innercitypress

OK - now in Sarah Palin v. NYT trial, Palin herself on the witness stand @SDNYLIVE Inner City Press is covering the trial innercitypress.com/sdnytrial1pali…
and will live tweet, thread below

https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/1490009705422495749

Palin: I was defending Bernie Sanders because there would be some who would try to link him to the shooting [at the baseball practice]. I did not want to see more untruths printed, trying to score political points by capitalizing on horrific violence.

Palin: The NYT had already run a kneejerk piece, trying to score political points.
Palin's lawyer: What were people calling to tell you?
NYT lawyer: Objection!
Judge Rakoff: Not for the truth, but for impact on her?
Palin's lawyer: Yes.
Judge Rakoff: Overruled.

Palin: I don't like to complaint. I have a T-shirt that says, "Suck It Up, Cupcake."
Palin's lawyer: So this was hard to deal with?
Palin: Yes, I was up in Wasilla, with my Number 2 pencil, facing off with NYT which buys ink by the barrel.
No further questions.

NYT lawyer: Fair to say that in the run up to the 2008 election, you took some shots, right?
Palin: Like what?
NYT lawyer: Lot of people said you were unprepared?
Palin's lawyer: Objection.
Judge Rakoff: Plaintiff's counsel can't have it both ways. Overruled.

NYT lawyer: Unprepared to be one heartbeat away from the Presidency, based on what you'd done in Alaska.
Palin: I didn't have time or desire to read everything written about me.

NYT lawyer: But you knew there was a lot of attention paid to your record, right?
Palin: The problem was, my record wasn't being reported.

NYT lawyer: You're written a number of books?
Palin: Four.
NYT lawyer: Four or five?
Palin: Four.
NYT lawyer: American by Heart, Sarah Palin Uncut? Bring up DX 218

Palin: Had I written that, I would not have chosen that cover shot.
NYT lawyer: You've been a Fox News commentator?
Palin: And and off.
NYT lawyer: You were on Fox News yesterday, right?
Judge Rakoff: Relevance?
[NYT focused on showing lack of damages?]

NYT lawyer: You were on Teen Mom OG?
Palin: With my daughter, yes.
NYT lawyer: And on The Masked Singer?
Palin: Objection
NYT lawyer: Governor Palin, what's the objection?
Palin: I just thought it was funny.

NYT lawyer: Are you with American Prosperity?
Palin: Yes.
NYT lawyer: Isn't that a financial company? Are you being paid?
Palin: I did one video.
NYT lawyer: You were a pitchwoman?
Palin: A pit woman?!?
NYT lawyer: Pitch.

NYT lawyer: You knew there was criticism of your PAC's map, right?
Palin: It was no call to violence.
Judge Rakoff: Let's take our mid-morning break.
Thread will continue.

And they're back.
NYT lawyer: You said that journalists manufactured a blood libel --
Sarah Palin: I said, they SHOULD not. It's an admonition.
NYT lawyer: You thought pundits had already done it.
Sarah Palin: You're reading into it. You need to read it literally.

NYT lawyer: And you had no problem with your team running that Breitbart story, did you?
Palin: I'm not sure if they ran it by me. But they are generally pretty discerning on what goes on that website.

NYT lawyer: Did you ask the Times for a retraction?
Palin: They had just accused me of inciting murder. So I didn't think I would get one.
NYT lawyer: So you didn't ask for a retraction before filing your lawsuit?
Palin: My lawyers did. But I didn't, personally

NYT lawyer: Governor Palin, did you speak to any of your family members about the editorial about the 2017 shooting?
Palin: What time frame are you asking about?
NYT lawyer: I'm going to move on.
[Then Judge Rakoff reads out loud from the underlying deposition]

NYT lawyer: Can you name a name of someone who thought less of you because of the editorial?
Palin: I got a lot of communications. But not as I sit here now.
[Lack of proof of damages a big focus for NYT]

NYT lawyer: So you saw that when the Times was criticized on Twitter they corrected it, right?
Palin: They *said* they did.
NYT lawyer: You've talked about challenging a Senator in Alaska?
Palin: I don't know about running. But supporting someone to challenge her.

Re-direct:
Palin's 2d lawyer: This photo of her [Kathy Griffin] with the bloody fake head, you've seen it?
Palin: Yes.

Palin's lawyer: Do you know Alan Dershowitz personally?
Palin: No. I think he was on Fox at some point.
Judge Rakoff: Let's break for lunch now. story coming
[Note: many SDNY cases send up looping back to connect, see Guiffre v. Dershowitz: innercitypress.com/sdny36epsteinf…

And they're back, on re-cross:
NYT's lawyer: Isn't it true that in August 2021 you said you might run for Senate in Alaska in 2022?
Palin: If I was asked...
NYT's lawyer: How long after the editorial did you file your lawyer?
Palin: A few weeks.

NYT lawyer: Were you in politics in 2017?
Palin: I spoke out on politics and the media.
NYT lawyer: Did you support candidates?
Palin: Yes, in Georgia if I remember...
NYT: Here you said in September 14, 2017 you were on the trail.. Bring up DX 140, witness only

NYT lawyer: This is a post saying you would travel to Alabama to support Judge Roy Moore
[As noted, many SDNY cases end up connecting back, here Moore's case against Sacha Baron Cohen: innercitypress.com/sdny8mooreklay…

Next witness: Hanna Ingber, who worked in NYT reader response in 2017.
NYT's lawyer: You wrote to Mr. Bennet, Given that some of the response [to the editorial] is on Twitter, you could responded with threaded tweets. Could you explain what are threaded tweets?

Now, the slow reading into the record of a stipulation about how many people read the editorial. It's getting down to the small strokes, end game - so, closing arguments (two hours max each side) tomorrow, then the jury...

Judge Rakoff: Does the plaintiff rest its case?
Palin's lawyer: Yes.
Judge Rakoff: And defense?
NYT lawyer: I have to check 1 thing with my team
Judge Rakoff: Outside presence of the jury. Jurors, you may leave. You'll deliberate late Friday, and/or Monday morning

With jury gone, Judge Rakoff is reading out case law that punitive damages only available if the jury finds that the only motive of the speaker was to injure the plaintiff. Says a reasonable juror could not find that here. Morsette v The Final Call, 1st Dept, 2003

Judge Rakoff tells counsel about a case he had in which the lawyer making his closing argument got so close to the jury a juror later said, He spat on me. Advises against it. Now running down to try to catch / video Palin on way out. #FoleySquareFollies