Former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin sounded unmoved by a former New York Times opinion editor’s emotional apology during a libel hearing.
James Bennet issued a tearful apology to Palin on the witness stand Thursday at a libel hearing over a 2017 editorial in the newspaper, The New York Times reported.
Palin sued the newspaper in 2017 over the editorial, which erroneously linked her political action committee to a mass shooting that critically wounded Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., and killed six other people.
The Times has acknowledged the editorial was inaccurate but said it quickly corrected the “honest mistake.”
“I blew it, you know,” Bennet said on the stand while choking up with emotion. “I made a mistake.”
Palin, who is scheduled to testify next week, did not seem impressed. She shrugged off the apology as she left the courthouse, questioning how much time had passed since the editorial was published.
“Let’s see, how many years ago was the untruth?” she asked before declining further comment. She then got in a car to head to the airport.
Palin’s lawyer faulted the Times on Tuesday for failing to apologize to the former Alaskan governor for false statements in the editorial.
“They just couldn’t bring themselves to say, ‘Governor Palin, we’re sorry, we made this mistake about you,'” attorney Shane Vogt said.
Before a lunch break Thursday, Judge Jed S. Rakoff told lawyers that Bennet had offered a “heartfelt” and “moving” apology to Palin.
In February 2022, a jury found against Palin’s libel claims, but the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan last year revived the case, citing errors made by Rakoff.
Palin, 61, sued the Times for unspecified damages in 2017, saying it damaged her reputation and career as a political commentator with the editorial about gun control published after U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., was wounded when a man with a history of anti-GOP activity opened fire on a congressional baseball team practice in Washington.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.
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