‘Brian Stelter is a liar. I know how to deal with liars,’ Sandmann’s attorney Lin Wood warned the CNN host.

Covington Catholic student Nicholas Sandmann’s lawyer, Lin Wood, accused CNN’s Brian Stelter of breaching a confidentiality agreement Friday after the host retweeted speculation on the settlement. The accusation comes hours after Sandmann settled a $250M lawsuit with the Washington Post.

Stelter retweeted a comment from attorney Mark S. Zaid commenting on Sandmann’s defamation case Thursday.

“Those with zero legal experience (as far as I can tell) should not be conjecturing on lawsuits they know nothing about. What kind of journalism is that?” Zaid asked. “I’ve litigated defamation cases. [Sandmann] was undoubtedly paid nuisance value settlement & nothing more.”

Sandmann’s lawyer Lin Wood responded publicly to the retweet on Friday, accusing Stelter of violating a confidentiality agreement by retweeting Zaid’s comment.

“This retweet by @brianstelter may have cost him his job at @CNN,” Wood wrote. “It is called breach of confidentiality agreement. Brian Stelter is a liar. I know how to deal with liars.”

Wood accused the “Reliable Sources” host of breaching his network’s own confidentiality agreement with his client.

The cash award for the CNN settlement was not made public.

Wood leveled a similar charge against Washington Post reporter Dan Zak, who suggested on Friday that the Post settled “for a small amount… in order to avoid a more expensive trial,” later adding that it’s the “American way,” according to Fox News.

Zak has since deleted the tweet, but he doubled down on the assertion, writing, “I delete about 30 percent of my tweets within 15 minutes. All are deleted within four months via Tweet Delete! Except really old tweets, which Tweet Delete doesn’t reach. But I stand by this theory! It’s the American way.”

Sandmann made headlines in 2019 after a story claiming he mocked Nathan Phillips, a Native American protester, began to fall apart following wide media coverage. In fact, Sandmann and the group of Covington students were being verbally harassed by protesters, according to further video footage.

 

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