Sarah Palin defamation trial: Ex-governor defines ‘don’t retreat, reload’ as trial prepares to close

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Sarah Palin testified for more than three hours in a trial stemming from her defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, which she has accused of damaging her reputation following a 2017 editorial that linked her political rhetoric to a mass shooting.

The newspaper’s legal team has appeared to argue that she has faced media scrutiny for years before she brought a legal challenge against the newspaper over an editorial that was corrected.

Ms Palin told the courtroom that “death threats” against her “ramped up” and felt like “orchestrated attacks” in the years before the editorial, and she said she felt “powerless” against the newspaper after the editorial was published.

“It was devastating to read, again, an accusation, false accusation, that I had anything to do with murdering innocent people,” she said from the witness stand in US District Court in Manhattan on 10 February.

Attorneys for the newspaper sought to undermine her claims of emotional and professional damage in the face of criticism, following her rhetoric and dozens of media appearances in her years in public office and on the Republican vice presidential ticket in 2008.

She also was questioned about her statement in the wake of a fatal 2011 shooting in Arizona, in which she wrote that “journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn.”

Under more questioning about her multiple media appearances, the former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate begrudgingly responded when asked about her performance on The Masked Singer. She said the appearance was the “most fun 90 seconds of my life” and “it paid some bills.”

She also was questioned about one of her slogans – “don’t retreat, reload” – that she also shared on social media following criticisms against her in 2011.

Closing arguments in the trial – the first libel case against the newspaper to make it to trial in nearly 20 years – will begin on Friday.

David Axelrod, an attorney for the newspaper, asked the judge to dismiss the case, arguing that Ms Palin failed to provide evidence that then-editorial editor James Bennet knowingly published false material or with animus toward her, or was intentionally reckless in doing so.

Judge Jed Rakoff said he will reserve judgment until both parties present their closing arguments on Friday.

Earlier, the judge ruled that he will not not allow punitive damages against the Times, saying that no reasonable juror would conclude that Mr Bennet sought to injure Ms Palin.

“The evidence frankly that Mr Bennet harboured ill will toward Ms Palin is quite modest indeed,” he said.

Follow live updates as they happened