NEW YORK—Elizabeth Williamson, the writer at The New York Times who penned the first draft of the editorial at the heart of Gov. Sarah Palin’s defamation trial against the newspaper, finished her testimony in federal court on Feb. 4. Combined with her testimony from the previous day, Williamson spent a total of five hours on the witness stand. Still under direct examination by Palin’s attorney Shane Vogt, Williamson repeatedly stated the purpose of the editorial was to call out “overheated rhetoric” by both Republicans and Democrats that was prevalent in the country at the time of two mass shootings. In addition to several other casualties, victims in the shootings included Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D) in 2011 and Congressman Steve Scalise (R) in 2017. The editorial was posted online the evening of the second shooting and printed in the newspaper the following day. Williamson testified it was her idea to include …
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