Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin testified Monday that it was devastating to read a New York Times editorial falsely tying her to a mass shooting — quipping “it just kicks the oomph right out of ya.”
The onetime Republican vice presidential candidate — sporting a shimmering silver-blue sequined blazer — told jurors at her Manhattan libel retrial that she received death threats in the wake of the 2017 article linking her campaign rhetoric to an assassination attempt on an Arizona congresswoman.
“This was the game changer. This was the attack on my reputation that created a helpless feeling,” Palin, 61, told the jury.
“To have the loudest voice in the room just making things up … it just kicks the oomph right out of ya,” she said.
Palin, who testified at the first trial in 2022, addressed a range of topics, describing key moments in her life during her second go-around on the stand — including Tina Fey’s infamous 2008 impression of her on “Saturday Night Live.”
“She was hilarious and I thought she nailed it,” Palin told the jury, adding, “She got famous for, some would say mocking me, but for the caricature of me that she created.”
Palin alleges that the Grey Lady libeled her by alleging a “clear link” between the 2011 shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and Palin’s political action committee publishing a map with a target over Giffords’ district days earlier.
There is no evidence that the shooter was motivated by the map, and the Times corrected the editorial the morning after it ran.
The newspaper argues that it made an honest error and that it should not be held liable for libel because Palin has not met the high bar of showing that the outlet displayed “actual malice” against her.
Closing arguments are slated for Tuesday morning.
“I’m optimistic that the press will be held accountable,” Palin, flashing a fist pump, told reporters as she left court for the day.
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