Sarah Palin portrayed herself as a dedicated public servant in testimony in her defamation case against the New York Times, after a former editor who oversaw the 2017 editorial underlying her lawsuit on Wednesday denied trying to blame the prominent Republican for a 2011 mass shooting.
Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican U.S. vice presidential candidate, appeared only briefly on the witness stand in Manhattan federal court, and is expected to return on Thursday.
On the witness stand, Palin, 57, discussed her family, her background and being chosen by 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain as his running mate. The trial is a test of longstanding legal protections for U.S. media against defamation claims by public figures.meaning they knew the editorial was false or had reckless disregard for the truth.
It referred to Palin's political action committee having earlier circulated a map that put Giffords and 19 other Democrats under cross hairs. Bennet said he was "alarmed" when conservative Times columnist Ross Douthat emailed less than an hour after the editorial ran that it appeared to incorrectly link Palin to the Giffords shooting. Some readers also complained.
Palin's lawyer Shane Vogt questioned Bennet about why the correction omitted his role in crafting the editorial.