In a declaration he submitted to a Florida court as part of the network’s legal stoush with a former U.S. military veteran, Tapper claimed he did not know the financial performance of the network where he works or his show The Lead With Jake Tapper .
Zachary Young, a former member of the U.S. Navy , is locked in a high-stakes fight with CNN over a Nov. 2021 report in which CNN accused him of being a war profiteer through illegal evacuations of refugees it said he sold on the black market in Afghanistan.
The ratings-challenged network, whose viewership has hit a two-decade low, claimed there was “no basis” whatsoever “to depose Tapper ” in a filing on July 17.
CNN said doing so would cause “annoyance and embarrassment” to Tapper, who bills himself as “your friendly neighborhood anchorman” on social media, while “providing little useful information,” according to their lawyer.