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James Edward O'Keefe III (born June 28, 1984) is an American political activist who founded Project Veritas, a
far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...
activistActivist... * * * * * * * group that uses deceptively edited videos and information gathering techniques to attack
mainstream media In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large Mass media, mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Noam Chomsky, Choms ...
organizations and progressive groups. Both O'Keefe and Project Veritas have produced secretly recorded undercover audio and video encounters in academic, governmental, and
social service Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...
organizations, purporting to show abusive or illegal behavior by representatives of those organizations; the recordings are often selectively edited to misrepresent the context of the conversations and the subjects' responses. O'Keefe served as chairman until he was fired from the organization in February 2023. O'Keefe first gained national attention for his selectively edited video recordings of workers at
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is a left-wing community-based organization that advocates for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable hou ...
(ACORN) offices in 2009, his arrest and misdemeanor guilty plea in 2010 for entering the federal office of then-U.S. senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) under false pretenses, and the release of misleading videos of conversations with two high-ranking, now former, NPR executives in 2011. When his videos – heavily edited to portray ACORN workers seemingly aiding a couple in criminal planning – were publicized, the
U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...
voted to freeze funds for the non-profit. The national controversy resulted in the non-profit also losing most of its private funding before investigations of the videos concluded no illegal activity occurred. In March 2010, ACORN was close to bankruptcy and had to close or rename most of its offices. Shortly thereafter, the California State Attorney General's Office and the US
Government Accountability Office The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan government agency within the legislative branch that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the s ...
(GAO) released their related investigative reports. The Attorney General's Office found that O'Keefe had misrepresented the actions of ACORN workers in California and that the workers had not broken any laws. A preliminary probe by the
GAO Gao (or Gawgaw/Kawkaw) is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley. For much of its history Gao was an imp ...
found that ACORN had managed its federal funds appropriately. One of the fired ACORN workers sued O'Keefe for
invasion of privacy The right to privacy is an element of various legal traditions that intends to restrain governmental and private actions that threaten the privacy of individuals. Over 185 national constitutions mention the right to privacy. Since the global ...
; O'Keefe issued an apology and agreed to pay $100,000 in a settlement. O'Keefe has gained support from right-wing and conservative media and interest groups, as well as from the far right. In 2009, Andrew Breitbart commissioned him for the option to publish new videos exclusively on BigGovernment. The Project Veritas board removed O'Keefe from leadership positions in February 2023 for what it said was financial malfeasance with donor money. On March 15, 2023, O'Keefe launched a new organization called O'Keefe Media Group. Project Veritas subsequently sued O'Keefe and two others, alleging that they had created the competing O'Keefe Media Group while still employees, approaching PV's donors and using company funds for this purpose. O'Keefe was also alleged to have improperly spent company funds on himself.


Early life and education

James Edward O'Keefe III was born in
Bergen County, New Jersey Bergen County is the List of counties in New Jersey, most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.materials engineer, and Deborah O'Keefe, a
physical therapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease prevention ...
. He has a younger sister. O'Keefe grew up in Westwood, New Jersey. His home was politically "conservative but not rigidly so", according to his father. He graduated from Westwood High School, where he showed an early interest in the arts, theater and
journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...
. He attained Eagle Scout, the highest rank in the
Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...
. O'Keefe started at
Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
in 2002 and majored in philosophy. Beginning in his sophomore year, he wrote a bi-weekly opinion column for ''
The Daily Targum ''The Daily Targum'' is the official student newspaper of Rutgers University. Founded in 1867, it is the second-oldest collegiate newspaper in the United States. The ''Daily Targum'' is student written and managed, and boasts a circulation of ...
'', the university's student paper. He left the ''Targum'' and founded the '' Rutgers Centurion'', a conservative student paper supported by a $500 "Balance in the Media" grant from The Leadership Institute. For his first video, he and other ''Centurion'' writers met with Rutgers dining staff to demand the banning of the cereal Lucky Charms from dining halls because of its offense to
Irish American Irish Americans () are Irish ethnics who live within in the United States, whether immigrants from Ireland or Americans with full or partial Irish ancestry. Irish immigration to the United States From the 17th century to the mid-19th c ...
s. O'Keefe said the leprechaun mascot presented a stereotype. He intended to have officials lose either way: to appear insensitive to an
ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
, or to look silly by agreeing to ban Lucky Charms. They expected to be thrown out of school, but the Rutgers official was courteous, took notes, and said their concerns would be considered. Rutgers staff say the cereal was never taken off the menu.


Career

After graduating from Rutgers, O'Keefe worked for a year at the Leadership Institute (LI) in
Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...
, under media specialist Ben Wetmore, whom O'Keefe calls his mentor. The institute sent him to colleges to train students to start conservative independent newspapers, but, after a year LI officials asked him to leave. According to LI president and founder Morton Blackwell, O'Keefe was "very effective and very enthusiastic" but after a year he was asked to leave because officials felt his activist work threatened the group's nonprofit status by trying to influence legislation. O'Keefe has produced and distributed secretly recorded and misleadingly edited videos and audio files made during staged encounters with targeted entities or individuals. His work takes the form of undercover stings targeted at liberal groups and politicians. He sought to "embarrass" and "damage" his targets, such as Landrieu and
ACORN The acorn is the nut (fruit), nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'', ''Notholithocarpus'' and ''Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains a seedling surrounded by two cotyledons (seedling leaves), en ...
. He has sought to maximize publicity by releasing secretly recorded videos over several days or months, often in relation to funding authorizations or significant political actions related to the subject organization. Many videos received widespread media coverage sparking significant reactions, most notably videos of ACORN that resulted in the Congress quickly freezing funds, two executive agencies canceling contracts, and several ACORN workers being fired, and videos of National Public Radio ( NPR) executives that led to the resignation of CEO Vivian Schiller, shortly before Congressional funding hearings involving NPR. In January 2010, O'Keefe began a column on ''
Breitbart ''Breitbart News Network'' (; known commonly as ''Breitbart News'', ''Breitbart'', or ''Breitbart.com'') is an Radical right (United States), American far-rightMultiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * syndicated news, opinion, and commentar ...
''s website, BigGovernment. Andrew Breitbart stated in an interview that he paid O'Keefe a salary for his " life rights" to gain release of O'Keefe's videos first on his website. In 2010, O'Keefe formed a new organization, Project Veritas, whose stated mission is "to investigate and expose corruption, dishonesty, self-dealing, waste, fraud, and other misconduct in both public and private institutions in order to achieve a more ethical and transparent society." Much of the funding for Project Veritas comes from anonymous donations through Donors Trust, a conservative, American nonprofit donor-advised fund, which according to its promotional materials, says that it will "keep your charitable giving private, especially gifts funding sensitive or controversial issues." Prominent donors include the
Trump Foundation The Donald J. Trump Foundation was a New York–based tax-exempt private foundation formed in 1988 by Donald Trump and dissolved by court order in 2018 after various legal violations came to light. The foundation was created to receive royal ...
, which, in May 2015, donated $10,000. O'Keefe is a
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
activist with mainstream conservative pro-market and anti-government views, although he has described himself as a "progressive radical", because he wants to change things, "not conserve them". He considers himself a
muckraker The muckrakers were reform-minded journalists, writers, and photographers in the Progressive Era in the United States (1890s–1920s) who claimed to expose corruption and wrongdoing in established institutions, often through sensationalist publ ...
. O'Keefe has expressed admiration for the philosophy of G. K. Chesterton and for a free press.


Major activities


Planned Parenthood recordings (2008)

In 2006, O'Keefe met Lila Rose, the founder of an
anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...
group on the
University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...
(UCLA) campus. They secretly recorded encounters in
Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is an American nonprofit organization
clinics in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
and
Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
, in which Rose posed as a 15-year-old girl impregnated by a 23-year-old male. Rose and O'Keefe made two videos incorporating heavily edited versions of the recordings and released them on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
. the video omitted the portions of the full conversation in which a Planned Parenthood employee asked Rose to consult her mother about the pregnancy and another employee told Rose, "We have to follow the laws". Rose took down the videos after Planned Parenthood sent her a
cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the oth ...
letter in May 2007 asserting that the videos violated California's voice recording laws, which required consent from all recorded parties. In 2007, O'Keefe phoned several Planned Parenthood clinics and secretly recorded the conversations. He posed as a donor, asking if his donations would be applied to needs of minority women, accompanied by race-related remarks such as "there's way too many black people in Ohio". The recordings portrayed Planned Parenthood clinic workers in six states agreeing to accept his donation under his conditions. After the release of the recordings, African-American leaders called for withdrawal of public financing of the organization. The Idaho clinic responded with an apology for "the manner in which this offensive call was handled". Planned Parenthood issued an official statement emphasizing that "97 percent of its services are focused on providing contraceptives, breast and cervical cancer screenings and sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment — not abortions".


ACORN videos (2009)

In September 2009, O'Keefe and his associate, Hannah Giles, published edited hidden camera recordings in which Giles posed as a
prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...
and O'Keefe as her boyfriend, a law student, in an attempt to elicit damaging responses from employees of the
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is a left-wing community-based organization that advocates for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable hou ...
(ACORN), an advocacy organization for people of low and moderate income. ''
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' correspondents Darryl Fears and Carol D. Leonnig reported that O'Keefe "said he targeted ACORN for the same reasons that the political right does: its massive voter registration drives" and that " liticians are getting elected single-handedly due to this organization." According to ''The Washington Post'', ACORN registered people mostly from the Latino and
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
groups. The videos were recorded during the summer of 2009 and appeared to show low-level ACORN employees in six cities providing advice to Giles and O'Keefe on how to avoid detection by authorities of
tax evasion Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to red ...
, human smuggling and
child prostitution Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent. In most jurisdictions, child ...
. He framed the undercover recordings with a preface of him dressed in a "pimp" outfit, which he also wore in TV media interviews. This gave viewers, including the media, the impression that he had dressed that way when speaking to ACORN workers. However, he actually entered the ACORN offices in conservative street clothes (the sleeve of his dress shirt is visible on camera). ACORN employees at two of the six offices visited by O'Keefe and Giles reported his activities to the police after he left. O'Keefe selectively edited and manipulated his recordings of ACORN employees,Public Sociology
Philip Nyden, Leslie Hossfeld, Gwendolyn Nyden.
SAGE Publications Sage Publishing, formerly SAGE Publications, is an American independent academic publishing company, founded in 1965 in New York City by Sara Miller McCune and now based in the Newbury Park neighborhood of Thousand Oaks, California. Sage ...
, 2011 and distorted the chronology of events. Several journalists and media outlets have expressed regret for not properly scrutinizing and vetting his work.


Reception and lawsuit

After the videos were released through the fall of 2009, the
U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...
quickly voted to freeze federal funding to ACORN. The
Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...
and the
IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...
terminated their contract relationships with ACORN. By December 2009, an external investigation of ACORN was published which cleared the organization of any illegality, while noting that its poor management practices contributed to unprofessional actions by some low-level employees. In March 2010, ACORN announced it would dissolve due to loss of funding from government and especially private sources. On March 1, 2010, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes found there was no criminal wrongdoing by the ACORN staff in New York. The
California Attorney General The attorney general of California is the state attorney general of the government of California. The officer must ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" (Constitution of California, Article V, Section 13). The ...
's Office granted O'Keefe and Giles limited immunity from prosecution in exchange for providing the full, unedited videotapes related to ACORN offices in California. On the basis of the edited videotape which O'Keefe released, Vera appeared to be a willing participant in helping with O'Keefe's plan to smuggle young women into the United States illegally. However, authorities confirmed that Vera immediately contacted them about O'Keefe and that he had also encouraged O'Keefe to share as much information as possible about his scheme and gather further evidence of O'Keefe's purported illegal activities, which could then be used by prosecutors to bring charges against O'Keefe for attempted
human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...
. Due to O'Keefe's release of the dubiously edited video, intentionally designed to "prove" that ACORN employees were ready and willing to engage in illicit activities, Vera lost his job and was falsely accused of being engaged in human trafficking. O'Keefe said that he "regrets any pain" caused by his actions, though O'Keefe's lawyer dismissed any claimed injury incurred by Vera and stated that the payment was a "nuisance settlement". O'Keefe moved for
summary judgment In law, a summary judgment, also referred to as judgment as a matter of law or summary disposition, is a Judgment (law), judgment entered by a court for one party and against another party summarily, i.e., without a full Trial (law), trial. Summa ...
in his favor, arguing that the plaintiff had no reasonable expectation that the conversation would be private. In August 2012, the federal judge hearing the case denied O'Keefe's motion for
summary judgment In law, a summary judgment, also referred to as judgment as a matter of law or summary disposition, is a Judgment (law), judgment entered by a court for one party and against another party summarily, i.e., without a full Trial (law), trial. Summa ...
. The judge ruled that O'Keefe had "misled plaintiff to believe that the conversation would remain confidential by posing as a client seeking services from ACORN and asking whether their conversation was confidential." On March 5, 2013, O'Keefe agreed to pay $100,000 to former California ACORN employee Juan Carlos Vera for breaking state law prohibiting surreptitious recording, and acknowledged in the settlement that at the time he published his video he was unaware that Vera had notified the police about the incident. The settlement contained the following apology: "O'Keefe regrets any pain suffered by Mr. Vera or his family." On June 14, 2010, the U.S.
Government Accountability Office The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan government agency within the legislative branch that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the s ...
(GAO) published its report finding no evidence that ACORN, or any of its related organizations, had mishandled any of the $40 million in federal money which they had received in recent years.


Senator Mary Landrieu (2010)

O'Keefe and colleagues were arrested in the Hale Boggs Federal Complex in New Orleans in January 2010 and charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony, at the office of United States Senator Mary Landrieu, a Democrat. His three fellow activists, who were dressed as telephone repairmen when apprehended, included Robert Flanagan, the son of William Flanagan, acting U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of Louisiana."James O'Keefe charged in alleged phone tampering of Senator Mary Landrieu's office"
, ''The Washington Post'', January 27, 2011. The four men were charged with malicious intent to damage the phone system. O'Keefe stated that he had entered Landrieu's office to investigate complaints that she was ignoring phone calls from constituents during the debate over President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
's health care bill. The charges in the case were reduced from a felony to a single
misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than admi ...
count of entering a federal building under false pretenses. O'Keefe and the others pleaded guilty on May 26. O'Keefe was sentenced to three years'
probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...
, 100 hours of
community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community contributing to a noble cause. In many cases, people doing community service are compensated in other ways, such as gettin ...
and a $1,500 fine. The three other men received lesser sentences. Another consequence is that O'Keefe is barred from soliciting donations from
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
residents, because of state law applicable to people found guilty of fraud. In August 2013, O'Keefe revisited the incident by releasing a video entitled: "a confrontation with former U.S. Attorney Jim Letten on the campus of
Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...
". Letten is a former Republican U.S. Attorney who recused himself from the Landrieu incident because he knew the father of one of the men involved. The video shows Letten accusing O'Keefe of "terrorizing" Letten's wife at their home, of harassing him, and trespassing on the Tulane campus. He called O'Keefe a "coward" and a "spud", and referred to O'Keefe and his companions as "hobbits" and "scum".


NPR video (2011)

On March 8, 2011, shortly before the US Congress was to vote on funding for National Public Radio ( NPR), O'Keefe released a heavily edited video of a discussion with Ronald Schiller, NPR's senior vice president for
fundraising Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...
, and associate Betsy Liley. Raw content was secretly recorded by O'Keefe's partners Ken Larrey and Shaughn Adeleye. NPR responded by stating that Schiller's remarks were presented out of sequence and that he said that he would speak personally, and not for NPR. Schiller said some highly placed Republicans believed the Republican Party had been hijacked by a radical group (the Tea Party) that they characterized as " Islamophobic" and "seriously racist, racist people", and while Schiller did not disagree, according to NPR, O'Keefe's editing made it appear those were Schiller's opinions. Schiller then says that unlike establishment Republicans, the growing Tea Party movement in the party "is fanatically involved in people's personal lives and very fundamental Christian — I wouldn't even call it Christian. It's this weird evangelical kind of move." Later in the edited video, Schiller seems to say he believes NPR "would be better off in the long run without federal funding", explaining that removal of federal funding would allow NPR more independence and remove the widely held misconception that NPR is significantly funded by the public. But on the raw tape, Schiller also said that withdrawing federal funding would cause local stations to go under and that NPR is doing "everything we can" to keep it. In a statement released before analysis of the longer raw video, NPR said, "Schiller's comments are in direct conflict with NPR's official position ... The fraudulent organization represented in this video repeatedly pressed us to accept a $5 million check with no strings attached, which we repeatedly refused to accept." After reviewing the unedited video, Scott Baker, editor-in-chief of ''
TheBlaze Blaze Media is an American conservative media company. It was founded in 2018 as a result of a merger between TheBlaze and CRTV LLC. The company's leadership consists of Chief executive officer, CEO Tyler Cardon and president Gaston Mooney. ...
'', said the NPR executives "seem to be fairly balanced people." Journalists Ben Smith, James Poniewozik, and Dave Weigel have expressed regret for giving O'Keefe's NPR videos wider circulation without scrutinizing them for themselves.


Reception

Comparison of the raw video with the released one revealed editing that was characterized as "selective" and "deceptive" by
Michael Gerson Michael John Gerson (May 15, 1964 – November 17, 2022) was an American journalist and speechwriter. He was a neoconservative op-ed columnist for ''The Washington Post'', a Policy Fellow with One Campaign, a visiting fellow with the Center fo ...
, opinion writer for ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', who wrote, "O'Keefe did not merely leave a false impression; he manufactured an elaborate, alluring lie." ''Time'' magazine wrote that the video "transposed remarks from a different part of the meeting", was "manipulative" and "a partisan hit-job." The raw video shows Schiller told the two men "that donors cannot expect to influence news coverage." On the longer tape, he says, "There is such a big firewall between funding and reporting: Reporters will not be swayed in any way, shape or form." Broadcast journalist Al Tompkins, who now teaches at the
Poynter Institute The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a non-profit journalism school and research organization in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. The school is the owner of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' newspaper and the International Fact-Checking Netw ...
, noted that Ron Schiller was a fundraiser, not an official affecting the newsroom. He commented on the raw tape: "The message that he said most often—I counted six times: He told these two people that he had never met before that you cannot buy coverage", Tompkins said. "He says it over and over and over again." On March 17, Martha T. Moore of ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'' reported: "According to ''The Blaze'' analysis, Ron Schiller's most inflammatory remarks, that Tea Party members are 'seriously racist', were made as he was recounting the views of Republicans he has spoken with—although he does not appear to disagree. It also shows Schiller appearing to laugh about the potential spread of Islamic ''
sharia Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...
'' law, when the longer version shows he laughed in reaction to something completely different." Two days later, O'Keefe released a video in which Betsy Liley, senior director of institutional giving at NPR, appeared to have checked with senior management and said MEAC was cleared to make donations anonymously and NPR could help shield donations from government audits, but added that, in order to proceed, additional background information would be required, including an IRS
Form 990 Form 990 (officially, the "Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax") is a United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) form that provides the public with information about a nonprofit organization. It is also used by government agencies t ...
. Liley advised the caller that NPR executives would investigate them before accepting any large donation, examining tax records and checking out other organizations that have received donations from them. Liley raises the possibility of NPR's turning down substantial gifts and stresses the "firewall" between the revenue-generating part of NPR and its news operation. NPR put Liley on administrative leave. In emails released following the publication of the Liley video, NPR confirmed that the official had consulted appropriately with top management and notified the purported donors of problems with their desired method of donation. The video, which was released directly before a congressional vote on funding, caused immediate reaction from NPR critics in Congress. Ronald Schiller, who had already submitted his resignation in January so that he could join the Aspen Institute, moved up his resignation after the video release when NPR put him on administrative leave. NPR CEO Vivian Schiller (no relation to Ronald Schiller), who had not been implicated in the Project Veritas video, quickly resigned. Vivian Schiller's resignation, mutually decided with the NPR board, was in part an attempt to show Congressional funders that NPR could hold itself accountable.


U.S. presidential elections (2016)

A month before the launch of
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
's presidential campaign, the
Trump Foundation The Donald J. Trump Foundation was a New York–based tax-exempt private foundation formed in 1988 by Donald Trump and dissolved by court order in 2018 after various legal violations came to light. The foundation was created to receive royal ...
donated $10,000 to O'Keefe's Project Veritas. O'Keefe attended, as a guest of the Trump campaign, the final presidential debate, and was later available in the spin room following the Las Vegas event. On November 8, 2016 ( Election Day), O'Keefe spent some time following vans that were allegedly "bussing people around to polls in Philadelphia". On January 9, 2017, Project Veritas operative Allison Maass was filmed attempting to bribe members of Americans Take Action into inciting a riot at Trump's inauguration. On January 16, 2017, Project Veritas uploaded a video showing DC Antifascist Coalition members of Disrupt J20 plotting to use "
stink bomb A stink bomb, sometimes called a stinkpot, is a device designed to create an unpleasant smell. They range in effectiveness from being used as simple pranks to military grade malodorants or riot control chemical agents. History A stink bomb ...
s" at the DeploraBall. After the video's release, Disrupt J20 denied the statements, saying that the members deliberately gave false information to Veritas. The video led to the arrest of one man allegedly involved in the plan, as well as two associates. All three individuals pleaded guilty.


Americans United for Change videos

On October 18, 2016, O'Keefe released a series of videos on Project Veritas'
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
channel titled "Rigging the Election" that apparently showed former national field director Scott Foval of Americans United for Change discussing ensuring that they have people at the front of the rope lines at rallies in order to ask questions, a common practice known as "bird dogging". The accuracy of the videos has been questioned for possibly omitting context, and the unedited raw footage has not been made available. The Republican Attorney General of Wisconsin, Brad Schimel, investigated the claims made in the video twice, both times finding no evidence that Foval broke any voting laws. Scott Foval was fired by Americans United for Change after the first video was released. Foval later said he had been set up. Robert Creamer, a DNC consultant and husband of U.S. Representative
Jan Schakowsky Janice Schakowsky ( ; née Danoff; born May 26, 1944) is an American politician who has served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from since 1999, and she previously served as a member of the Illinois House of Re ...
, D-IL, said, "We regret the unprofessional and careless hypothetical conversations that were captured on hidden cameras of a regional contractor for our firm, and he is no longer working with us," he said. "While none of the schemes described in the conversations ever took place, these conversations do not at all reflect the values of Democracy Partners." Shortly afterwards, Creamer, who was also featured in the video, said he would end his consulting arrangement with the DNC to avoid becoming a "distraction". Following the publication of his videos, O'Keefe filed a complaint with the
Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent agency of the United States government that enforces U.S. campaign finance laws and oversees U.S. federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Campaign ...
(FEC) against the presidential campaign of
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
and the DNC, alleging "a criminal conspiracy" involving the Clinton campaign, the DNC and three left-leaning super PACs. On June 1, 2017, Creamer's firm, Democracy Partners, filed a $1 million lawsuit against Project Veritas, claiming Project Veritas had lied to gain access to the firm and violating anti-wiretapping laws. In response to a third video, in which O'Keefe stated that Clinton was behind an illegal public relations gimmick to punish Trump for not releasing his tax returns, the Clinton campaign denied any wrongdoing. Independent campaign finance experts posited the video doesn't support O'Keefe's claims. Clinton said she was aware of the activists dressed as
Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. Donald is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit, sailor shirt and cap with ...
, who were following Trump while asking about his tax returns, and said she was amused. On October 26, 2016, O'Keefe posted a fourth video on his Project Veritas Action YouTube channel. The video alleged that liberal groups supporting Hillary Clinton were illegally taking foreign money. The targeted group, Americans United for Change foundation, is a 501(c)4 organization and is allowed to legally accept foreign contributions. However, AUC returned the money shortly after the video was released. The group's chief stated, "We returned the money because the last thing we want to be associated with is a character like O'Keefe who has been convicted and successfully sued for his illegal tactics and fraudulent activities." In 2019, a federal judge dismissed a slander lawsuit involving the Foval videos, ruling that the videos taken of Scott Foval over several months showed that there was not a preconceived story line and that the videos were protected by the First Amendment.


Other activities


Abbie Boudreau (2010)

In August 2010, O'Keefe planned a staged encounter with
CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
correspondent Abbie Boudreau, who was working on a documentary on the young conservative movement. He set up an appointment at his office in Maryland to discuss a video shoot. Izzy Santa, executive director of Project Veritas, warned Boudreau that O'Keefe was planning to "punk" her on the boat by trying to seduce her—which he would film on hidden cameras. Boudreau did not board the boat and soon left the area. CNN later published a 13-page plan written by O'Keefe mentor Ben Wetmore. It listed props for the boat scheme, including pornography, sexual aids, condoms, a blindfold and "fuzzy" handcuffs. When questioned by CNN, O'Keefe denied he was going to follow the Wetmore plan, as he found parts of it inappropriate. Boudreau commented "that does not appear to be true, according to a series of emails we obtained from Izzy Santa, who says the e-mails reveal James' true intentions." Following the Boudreau incident, Project Veritas paid Izzy Santa a five-figure settlement after she threatened to sue, which included a
non-disclosure agreement A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also known as a confidentiality agreement (CA), confidential disclosure agreement (CDA), proprietary information agreement (PIA), or secrecy agreement (SA), is a legal contract or part of a contract between at le ...
.
Kenneth P. Vogel, "James O'Keefe's plans derailed by infighting, lack of funding", Politico, November 17, 2011; accessed December 24, 2011. Funding decreased from conservative political organizations following this CNN incident.


New Jersey Teachers' Union video (2010)

Starting October 25, 2010, O'Keefe posted a series of videos on the Internet entitled ''Teachers Unions Gone Wild.'' At the time, the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) was in negotiations with
Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician and former United States Attorney, federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party (United States) ...
, the New Jersey governor, over teacher pay benefits and tenure. O'Keefe obtained one video from recordings made by "citizen journalists", whom he recruited to attend the NJEA's leadership conference. They secretly recorded meetings and conversations with teacher participants. It featured teachers discussing the difficulty of firing a tenured teacher. A second video featured a staged phone conversation by O'Keefe with Lawrence E. Everett, assistant superintendent of the
Passaic, New Jersey Passaic ( or ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was List of municipalities in New Jersey, the state's 16th-most-populous ...
city schools, in which Everett refused to commit to firing a teacher based upon the purported claim by a parent that the teacher had used the "
n-word In the English language, ''nigger'' is a racial slur directed at black people. Starting in the 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been increasingly replaced by the euphemistic contraction , notably in cases where ''nigger'' is Use–menti ...
" with his child. The third video (October 26, 2010) featured audio of a voice, identified as NJEA Associate Director Wayne Dibofsky, who alleged voter fraud during the 1997 Jersey City mayoral election. The voice of Robert Byrne, Jersey City municipal clerk, was recorded on the same video; he noted that the election was monitored by lawyers for both candidates. New Jersey's Republican Governor
Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician and former United States Attorney, federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party (United States) ...
stated at the time that nothing on the videos surprised him. NJEA spokesman Steve Wollmer said the union and its attorneys were discussing their options regarding possible legal action, although no action was ever taken. Wollmer called the videos "a calculated attack on this organization and its members", and described O'Keefe as "flat-out sleazy".


Medicaid videos (2011)

In the summer of 2011, O'Keefe released videos of his colleagues' staged encounters purportedly showing Medicaid fraud in offices in six states, including Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Virginia. Following his previous strategy, he sent the releases to conservative outlets over a period of weeks. In July 2011, two conservative groups released a secretly recorded video of an encounter in Maine's Department of Health and Human Services. In the video, an actor attempted to apply for benefits while hinting that he was a drug smuggler.
Americans for Prosperity Americans for Prosperity (AFP), founded in 2004, is a Libertarian conservatism, libertarian conservative political advocacy group in the United States affiliated with brothers Charles Koch and the late David Koch. As the Koch family's primary pol ...
and O'Keefe said he had similar recorded videos from offices in Ohio, Virginia and South Carolina, and believed that there was a systemic problem. In Maine, Governor Paul LePage concluded upon further examination of the videos that there was no fraud or intent to commit fraud.Rebekah Metzle
"'Sting' Video Stirs Fraud Debate"
, ''Portland Press Herald'', August 12, 2011; accessed September 15, 2011.Ken Christian
"Undercover video hints at potential for welfare fraud"
, wcsh6.com, August 11, 2011.
Quote by Gov. Paul LePage regarding the video: "The video in its entirety does not show a person willfully helping someone defraud the welfare system." A similar O'Keefe video posted on the Project Veritas web site purported to show workers at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services assisting actors posing as drug dealers in applying for benefits. His fourth Medicaid video, apparently filmed in
Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...
, was released in July 2011. ''The New York Times'' reported: " s 'Sean Murphy' dressed in the same regalia he wore on the New Jersey shoot, 'Keefepresented himself to a Medicaid worker in
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...
, as an Irish drug importer and Irish Republican Army member who wanted coverage for 25 wounded comrades who entered the U.S. illegally. The kindly worker spent time photocopying applications and dealing with this improbable applicant." She explained to him that only U.S. citizens are eligible for Medicaid and informed him she was not making any promises that the 25 purported IRA members would qualify. She said he had to abide by the law and told him that she didn't want to know details, because federal law protects patient privacy: "Like I said, someone would have to come here and subpoena our information in order for us to divulge any information, because like I said there's something called the Health Insurance Accountability and Affordability Act—or portability—and anyway it went into effect several years ago, and that's what we follow. It is federal law, and they do threaten high fines—which they don't pay me as much per year as they threaten to fine me—so it is definitely not in my own best interest to divulge anything to anyone because I cannot afford it, I do not want to go to jail."Ryan J. Reilly
James O'Keefe's Latest 'Terrorist' Medicaid Sting Goes After Woman For Following Law
, talkingpointsmemo.com, July 20, 2011.


Reception

The videos received less media attention than earlier O'Keefe efforts. Generally, the state officials and representatives acknowledged potential problems but also took a measured tone in response, to allow time to fully investigate and evaluate the incidents. After viewing the video, Governor LePage thanked the individual who took the video and noted: "The video in its entirety does not show a person willfully helping someone de-fraud the welfare system. It does show a need for further job knowledge and continuous and improved staff training." He also stated that "we would be six months further along in fixing the problem" if he had received the video when it was filmed. LePage directed his agency director to work on correcting the problem. Ohio media initially reported that "a Franklin County Jobs and Family Service worker was placed on administrative leave and at least one other person was out of work" as a result of the video's release. Ben Johnson of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services noted that benefits were never granted in the case, and that the made-up story would have been caught if the application process had proceeded. He said his office would use the video to strengthen staff training.
Mike DeWine Richard Michael DeWine ( ; born January 5, 1947) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 70th List of governors of Ohio, governor of Ohio since 2019. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served a ...
, Attorney General of Ohio, described the Ohio video as "outrageous" and intended to instruct his state's Medicaid fraud unit to look into the incident. The director of the
Ohio Department of Job and Family Services The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) is the administrative department of the government of Ohio, Ohio state government responsible for supervising the state's public assistance, workforce development, unemployment compensation, ...
, Michael Colbert, notified county leaders of a mandatory retraining, "to ensure they can identify people trying to defraud the government". Upon investigation by state officials, the Medicaid worker who coached O'Keefe's operative seeking Medicaid for his father and claimed to own a yacht as well as a helipad, on how to hide their (also claimed) ownership of an $800,000 automobile had been placed on paid administrative leave. Chafets, Zev
"Stinger: James O'Keefe's Greatest Hits"
, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', July 27, 2011; accessed August 3, 2011. "O'Keefe grew up in Westwood, N.J., and still lives with his parents." A spokesman for Virginia governor
Bob McDonnell Robert Francis McDonnell (born June 15, 1954) is an American politician, attorney, businessman, academic administrator, and former military officer who served as the 71st governor of Virginia from 2010 to 2014. He is a member of the Republica ...
said that he had asked state police to review the video and take whatever actions are appropriate. In Charleston, South Carolina, the director of that state's Department of Health and Human Services, Anthony Kreck, said the video filmed in his state "raises concerns about how well trained and supported our staff are to handle outrageous situations." He also expressed concern for the safety of the state employee with the figure Sean Murphy"in the video "who could be interpreted as intimidating" and questioned why security wasn't called.


New Hampshire primary video (2012)

In January 2012, O'Keefe released a video of associates obtaining a number of ballots for the New Hampshire Primary by using the names of recently deceased voters. He stated that the video showed "the integrity of the elections process is severely comprised ." His team culled names from published obituaries, which were checked against public voter roll information. O'Keefe said his team broke no laws, as they did not pretend to be the deceased persons when they asked for the ballots, and they did not cast votes after receiving ballots. One of his associates' attempts was caught by a voting supervisor at the polling station who recognized that the name he gave was of a deceased individual; the associate in question left before police arrived.


Reception

Sarah Parnass of
ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...
reported that the video "either exposes why voting laws are too lax or comes close to itself being voter fraud (or both)". One media account referred to it as a stunt. New Hampshire Governor John Lynch said, "I think it is outrageous that we have out-of-staters coming into New Hampshire, coming into our polling places and misrepresenting themselves to the election officials, and I hope that they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, if in fact they're found guilty of some criminal act." The New Hampshire Attorney General and the US Attorney's Office announced investigations into the video."Group Says It Got Primary Ballots With Dead People's Names; Governor Says Group's Actions Should Be Investigated"
, WMUR.com, January 12, 2012. New Hampshire Associate
Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
Richard Head said he would investigate the possible weaknesses in the voting system, but noted the state did not have a history of known fraud related to person seeking ballot in the name of a dead person or persons. Head announced he would investigate the possibility that the filmmakers committed crimes while producing the videos.
Hamline University Hamline University ( ) is a private university in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1854, Hamline is the oldest university in Minnesota, the first coeducational university in the state, and is one of five Associated Colleges of th ...
law professor David Schultz said, "If they 'Keefe's groupwere intentionally going in and trying to fraudulently obtain a ballot, they violated the law", referring to Title 42, which prohibits procuring ballots fraudulently. The New Hampshire Attorney General's office later dropped its investigation of O'Keefe for potential voter fraud in 2013.


Patrick Moran (2012)

On October 24, 2012, a video was released showing Patrick Moran, son of then-U.S. Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA), and a field director with his father's campaign, discussing a plan to cast fraudulent ballots, which was proposed to him by someone who posed as a fervent supporter of the campaign. The person he was speaking with was a conservative activist with O'Keefe's Project Veritas, and was secretly recording the conversation. Patrick Moran resigned from the campaign, saying he did not want to be a distraction during the election, stating:
no point have I, or will I ever endorse any sort of illegal or unethical behavior. At no point did I take this person seriously. He struck me as being unstable and joking, and for only that reason did I humor him. In hindsight, I should have immediately walked away, making it clear that there is no place in the electoral process for even the suggestion of illegal behavior, joking or not.
The
Arlington County, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...
Police Department was made aware of the video and opened a criminal investigation into "every component" of the matter. On January 31, 2013, Arlington County announced that the investigation, by its police department in collaboration with the Offices of the Virginia Attorney General and the Arlington County Commonwealth's Attorney, had concluded and that no charges would be brought. The County stated: "Patrick Moran and the Jim Moran for Congress campaign provided full cooperation throughout the investigation. Despite repeated attempts to involve the party responsible for producing the video, they failed to provide any assistance."


US–Mexico border-crossing (2014)

In August 2014, O'Keefe dressed up as
Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...
(who had died 3 years previously) and crossed the US–Mexico border in Texas in both directions to "show that our elected officials were lying to the American people" about border security. The incident was cited by U.S. Senator
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...
in Congressional hearings.


Colorado mail-in ballots (2014)

In October 2014 in Colorado, O'Keefe and collaborators from Project Veritas in disguise, approached numerous Democratic campaigns and political organizations in Colorado to mishandle or fraudulently cast mail-in ballots. A 2013 state law had mandated that all voters receive mail-in ballots. A number of targeted individuals resisted the bait, some of them having identified the imposters. Staffers from progressive organization New Era Colorado began photographing O'Keefe's group and later claimed to have contacted police. PV video shows a few individuals agreeing with the illegal activities and offering suggestions. No evidence of illegal activity was shown.


Attempted sting of Open Society Foundations (2016)

On March 16, 2016, O'Keefe attempted to call
Open Society Foundations Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is an American grantmaking network founded by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the world, with the s ...
under the assumed name of "Victor Kesh", describing himself as attached to "a, uh, foundation" seeking to "get involved with you and aid what you do in fighting for, um, European values." O'Keefe forgot to hang up after recording the voicemail, and several more minutes of audio were recorded, revealing that he was attached to Discover the Networks and planning a series of attempts to create embarrassing videos or other recordings of targeted groups.


CNN undercover videos (2017)

On June 26, 2017, O'Keefe released a video on the YouTube channel of Project Veritas that showed John Bonifield, a producer of health and medical stories for CNN, saying CNN's coverage of the Russia investigation was "Because it's ratings" and that the coverage was "mostly bullshit". The video identified Bonifield as a supervising producer for CNN but not specifically for CNN Health. CNN said it was standing by "our medical producer John Bonifield. Diversity of personal opinion is what makes CNN strong". During a White House press briefing, deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said of the video "whether it's accurate or not, I don't know, but I would encourage everybody... across the country to take a look at it". On June 28, 2017, O'Keefe released the second part of the series of undercover videos, by then dubbed "American Pravda". In the video, CNN anchor
Van Jones Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones (born September 20, 1968) is an American political analyst, media personality, lawyer, author, and civil rights advocate. He is a three-time ''New York Times'' bestselling author, a CNN host and contributor, and an Emm ...
said, "The Russia thing is just a big nothingburger." When asked about the video in an email, CNN responded "lol". During that same day, the videos were posted on Donald Trump's
Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
account. Jones said that O'Keefe had deceptively edited the video to take his remarks out of context and was attempting to "pull off a hoax." Jones added that he believed that there probably was collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. On June 30, 2017, O'Keefe released the third part of the undercover videos. Part 3 of the series showed CNN associate producer Jimmy Carr saying that Trump is "fucking crazy" and that "on the inside, we all recognize he is a clown, that he is hilariously unqualified for this, he's really bad at this, and that he does not have America's best interests". Carr also said "This is a man who's not actually a Republican, he just adopted that because that was the party he thought he could win in. He doesn't believe anything that these people believe." Additionally, he said American voters are "stupid as shit." He also made comments about Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, calling her an "awful woman" and stating that she "looks like she got hit with a shovel". In a fourth video published by Project Veritas on July 5, Carr criticized CNN co-anchor Chris Cuomo.


Failed attempt to sting ''The Washington Post'' (2017)

Starting in July 2017, Project Veritas operative Jaime Phillips attempted to infiltrate ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' and other media outlets by joining networking groups related to journalism and left-leaning politics. She and a male companion attended events related to the ''Post'', and their conversations with journalists were sometimes covertly recorded. In November 2017, ''The Washington Post'' reported that several women accused Republican Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore of pursuing them while they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. Later that same month, Jaime Phillips approached ''The Washington Post'' and falsely claimed that Moore had impregnated her as a teenager and that she had an abortion. In conducting its usual fact-checking, the ''Post'' discovered multiple red flags in her story. They found a
GoFundMe GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the ...
page in her name that said, "I've accepted a job to work in the conservative media movement to combat the lies and deceipt of the liberal MSM." After a ''Post'' reporter confronted her with the inconsistencies during a video-recorded interview, Phillips denied that she was working with an organization that targets journalists, and said that she no longer wanted to do the story. She was seen outside Project Veritas' office in
Mamaroneck, New York Mamaroneck ( ), is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 31,758 at the 2020 United States census over 29,156 at the 2 ...
, with her car remaining at the office's parking lot for more than an hour. O'Keefe declined to comment about the woman's apparent connection to Project Veritas. Instead of running a story about Phillips' supposed pregnancy, the ''Post'' published an article about the attempted sting operation. The ''Post'' decided to disclose Phillips' original discussions made off the record, saying they were not obligated to keep them confidential because she had deceived them. Hours after the ''Post'' published this story, O'Keefe released a video which he claimed exposed the newspaper's liberal bias. The video includes undercover footage of conversations with two ''Post'' employees, national security reporter Dan Lamothe and product director Joey Marburger. These employees explained to undercover Project Veritas operatives the difference between the news reporting of ''The Washington Post'' (which calls out the Trump administration's missteps while giving "him credit where there's credit" due) and the ''Post'''s opinion editorials; O'Keefe said that this exposed the ''Washington Post'''s "hidden agenda." Rod Dreher of '' The American Conservative'' praised the ''Washington Post'' and called on conservative donors to stop giving money to O'Keefe's outfit. Dan McLaughlin of the conservative ''
National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief is Rich L ...
'' said that O'Keefe's sting was an "
own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...
" and that O'Keefe was doing a disservice to the conservative movement; Jim Geraghty of the ''National Review'' made a similar assessment. Byron York of '' The Washington Examiner'' said that O'Keefe's "idiocy" was "beyond boneheaded," and that "O'Keefe really ought to hang it up."
Ben Shapiro Benjamin Aaron Shapiro (born January 15, 1984) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator, media host, and attorney. He writes columns for Creators Syndicate, ''Newsweek'', and ''Ami Magazine'', an ...
, the conservative editor in chief of '' The Daily Wire'', said that the botched sting was "horrible, both morally and effectively." Conor Friedersdorf of ''The Atlantic'' wrote, "If James O'Keefe respected the right-wing populists who make up the audience of Project Veritas ... he would tell them the truth about all of the organizations that he targets. Instead, Project Veritas operates in bad faith, an attribute it demonstrated again this week in the aftermath of its bungled attempt to trick ''The Washington Post''." Noah Rothman of the conservative magazine '' Commentary'' chastised O'Keefe for being exploitative of his audience: "No longer are institutions like Veritas dedicated to combating ignorance in their audience. They're actively courting it."
Jonathan Chait Jonathan Chait () is an American pundit and writer for ''The Atlantic''. He was previously a senior editor at ''The New Republic'' and an assistant editor of ''The American Prospect'' and wrote for '' New York'' magazine. He writes a periodic c ...
of '' New York'' magazine said that O'Keefe, having set out prove that the ''Post'' was fake news, ended up disproving it. O'Keefe's plot collapsed because it was premised on a ludicrously false worldview, wrote Chait. "''The Washington Post'' does not, in fact, publish unverified accusations just because they're against Republicans." O'Keefe's attempts to prove rampant voter fraud have failed "because voter fraud is not rampant."


New Jersey Education Association videos (2018)

On May 2, 2018, Project Veritas posted on YouTube a video allegedly showing a union administrator from the New Jersey Education Association, a teachers union, discussing a teacher alleged to have struck a student. The following day, O'Keefe released a second video allegedly showing another union administrator speaking to students about a different alleged incident of a teacher pushing and injuring a student. In the video, the administrator allegedly boasted of her effort to retain a pension for a teacher who allegedly had sex with a student. Both teachers were suspended pending an investigation, and resigned from their union roles after the release of the videos. During a
New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate is the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 232,225 (2020 figure ...
meeting on May 31, the New Jersey Education Association announced that a law firm would investigate the incidents.


Defamation against postmaster (2020)

In 2024 O'Keefe and Project Veritas settled a lawsuit against them for defamation, brought by the postmaster of
Erie, Pennsylvania Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pen ...
. O'Keefe and Project Veritas had alleged improprieties in Post Office handling of mail-in ballots during the November 2020 election. Subsequent investigation by the Postal Service Inspector General found no evidence to support the claim. Project Veritas continued to promote the claims of fraud after they had been discredited. The postmaster sued Project Veritas and O'Keefe for
defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...
in 2021. In the 2024 settlement, O'Keefe admitted in a statement that he was "aware of no evidence or other allegation that election fraud occurred in the Erie Post Office during the 2020 Presidential Election."


Twitter suspension (2021)

On April 15, 2021, O'Keefe was suspended from Twitter for "operating fake accounts". On April 19, he filed a lawsuit against Twitter in state court in
Westchester County, New York Westchester County is a County (United States), county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The c ...
, claiming that Twitter's reason for suspending him is "false and defamatory".


FBI search warrants and allegedly stolen Biden diary (2021)

On November 6, 2021, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
(FBI) executed an early morning court-ordered search of O'Keefe's apartment in
Mamaroneck Mamaroneck ( ), is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 31,758 at the 2020 United States census over 29,156 at the 2010 census. There are two villages contained within the town: Larchmont and the Villag ...
, New York two days after searching the homes of two of O'Keefe's associates in connection with the alleged theft of a diary belonging to President Biden's daughter, Ashley Biden, in 2020. Excerpts from the diary were posted two weeks before the 2020 US presidential election, which includes Ashley Biden stating that President Biden had inappropriate showers with her when she was a child. In a statement, the
Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The '' American Journalism ...
expressed concern that lacking "a clear link between members of Project Veritas and allegations of criminal activities" the FBI raids and seizure of evidence were a "dangerous precedent that could allow law enforcement to search and confiscate reporters' unpublished source material in vague attempts to identify whistleblowers."


Football team executive (2024)

A vice-president of the
Washington Commanders The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) East division ...
football team was fired after O'Keefe Media Group released recordings of disparaging remarks about the owner of the team, football players, and fans. O'Keefe said the team employee was recorded by a woman he met on a dating app during two dates. But the person he went out with was actually an undercover reporter for O'Keefe Media.


Reception

Project Veritas uses methods not employed by reputable journalists, including misrepresenting its operatives' identities. O'Keefe refers to himself as a "guerrilla journalist". Such methods have stirred debate about what it means to be a journalist and what constitutes good journalistic practice, especially with respect to undercover work. Tim Kenneally and Daniel Frankel reporting for ''
TheWrap ''TheWrap'' is an American online news organization that covers the business of entertainment and media. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman in 2009 and is based in Los Angeles. The site features original reporting, analysis, and editor ...
'' in 2011 noted that some of O'Keefe's supporters referred to him as the
right wing Right-wing politics is the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position b ...
's answer to a long line of left-leaning "hybrid troublemakers who get put on the cover of ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'', like
Paul Krassner Paul Krassner (April 9, 1932 – July 21, 2019) was an American writer and satirist. He was the founder, editor, and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine ''The Realist'', first published in 1958. Krassner became a key figure in t ...
and
Abbie Hoffman Abbot Howard Hoffman (November 30, 1936 – April 12, 1989) was an American political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ("Yippies") and was a member of the Chicago Seven. He was also a leading proponent of the ...
".Tim Kenneally & Daniel Franke
"James O'Keefe, NPR-Slayer, What Kind of Journalist is This?"
, thewrap.com, March 9, 2011. In that same 2011 report, Marty Kaplan, director of the Norman Lear Center at the
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, was quoted as saying: In reporting on allegations that O'Keefe had attempted in 2010 to tamper with United States Senator Mary Landrieu's office phone system, Jim Rutenberg and Campbell Robertson of the ''New York Times'' posited that O'Keefe practiced a kind of "gonzo journalism" and his tactic is to "caricature the political and social values of his enemies by carrying them to outlandish extremes." In a March 2011 interview with O'Keefe, NPR journalist Bob Garfield asked, referring to the ACORN videos, "If your journalistic technique is the lie, why should we believe anything you have to say?" O'Keefe responded that his techniques should be characterized as a form of guerrilla theater rather than "lying" – "you're posing as something you're not, in order to capture candid conversations from your subject. But I wouldn't characterize it as, as lying." In July 2011, Dean Mills, the dean of the
Missouri School of Journalism The Missouri School of Journalism, housed under the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, Columbia, is one of the oldest formal journalism schools in the world. The school provides academic education and practical training in of journalis ...
, compared O'Keefe to
Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Moore's work frequently addresses various Social issue, social, political, and economic topics. He first became publicly known for his award-winning debut ...
and said, "Some ethicists say it is never right for a journalist to deceive for any reason, but there are wrongs in the world that will never be exposed without some kind of subterfuge." ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...
'' journalist Conor Friedersdorf responded that O'Keefe's "mortal sin" wasn't that he misled his subjects, but that he misled his audience by presenting his videos to the public in "less than honest ways that go far beyond normal 'selectivity.'" On February 11, 2021, the
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
account for Project Veritas was "permanently suspended for repeated violations of Twitter's private information policy." At the same time, O'Keefe's account was "temporarily locked" for violating the policy pending the deletion of a tweet. On April 15, Twitter permanently suspended O'Keefe's personal account for violating the Twitter's policy against "platform manipulation and spam", which disallows the use of fake accounts to "artificially amplify or disrupt conversations". O'Keefe denied that he used fake Twitter accounts and said that he would sue Twitter in response. In December 2011 O'Keefe was listed in '' Forbes 30 Under 30'', a list of "rising stars in the media industry." The publication regretted the pick in 2023, placing O'Keefe on its Hall of Shame, featuring ten picks it wished it could take back.


Personal life

O'Keefe is in a relationship with Alexandra Rose, a
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
real estate agent and star of the reality series ''Selling the OC''.


Works

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References


External links


O'Keefe Media Group

Interview of O'Keefe
by NPR's '' On the Media'' (audio with transcript) {{DEFAULTSORT:OKeefe, James 1984 births Living people American activist journalists American alternative journalists American anti-abortion activists American conspiracy theorists American founders American people of Irish descent Far-right politics in the United States Filmmakers from New Jersey People from Westwood, New Jersey Rutgers University alumni Westwood Regional High School alumni Youth activists