“TRUTH” HURTS: Right-wing Project Veritas laying off staff after big loss to Dems
It’s going to be a rather rough Christmas for employees at James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas.
Instead of bonuses, several of them will be getting pink slips as the beleaguered business built on conspiracy theories and selectively edited “undercover” sting footage trims down its staff list following a lawsuit loss to Democrats and the disappointing Republican trickle in the midterms.
As originally reported by Will Sommer of The Daily Beast, Veritas will cut around a half a dozen people from an already small staff (45 people according to 2019 tax filings).
A statement issued to the DB attributed the firings to…Wait for it…Waaait for iiiiittt…
Quality control.
Yes, really.
Because we all know Veritas only subscribes to the highest standards of journalistic ethics.
“As a part of our annual review process,” the statement said, “we assess the performance of our organization and manage headcount to focus on attracting, maintaining and hiring the best talent available. We’re always looking to hire the best people to carry out the gold standard of investigative journalism.”
Let’s review some highlights of that “gold standard” over the years:
· In 2008, O’Keefe broke onto the scene with his first Planned Parenthood “sting.” The heavily edited video that was posted on YouTube made it appear that the staff there was ignoring the law and telling a thirteen-year-old not to report a rape. But the unedited version showed that the staff did in fact encourage her to report it.
· In 2009, the same type of editing led to misrepresentations about ACORN, a now-defunct voter registration group.
· In 2010 O’Keefe received a sentence of 3 years’ probation and 100 community service hours for entering a federal office on false pretenses and attempting to tamper with the phone of Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu.
· Another heavily edited video – from 2011 – made it appear that NPR’s chief fundraiser, Ron Schiller, was telling the undercover video makers that organizations could buy favorable political coverage on the public radio station, when he wasn’t – at all.
· In 2017, Veritas infamously spent many hours wasting the time of Washington Post reporters by trying to plant false stories.
· In 2018, the group attempted to “expose” Donald Trump’s “deep state” enemies by showing that his national security advisor, H.R. McMaster, and the entire FBI was somehow really biased against Dirty Donald.
· During Covid, Veritas routinely made anti-vaccine videos promoting completely false information.
· Last year O’Keefe’s residence was raided by the FBI after Ashley Biden, the president’s daughter, had her diary stolen. It had been given to Veritas by an outside source.
· Veritas has also repeatedly spread false information about supposed voter fraud.
Just a reminder that James O’Keefe is a disreputable liar who has been busted repeatedly manipulating/deceptively editing videos.
— Angelo Carusone (@GoAngelo) October 13, 2019
This past September, Veritas was ordered to pay $120,000 to Democracy Partners and Strategic Consulting Group, after it sent one of its “undercovers” to infiltrate the group supporting Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.
A jury found that Veritas had engaged in “fraudulent misrepresentation.”
Fraudulent misrepresentation, of course, seems to be Veritas’s bread and butter.
Project Veritas and James O'Keefe – the phone tampering fabulist who committed a federal crime involving dishonesty – just lost a $120,000 judgment for fraudulent misrepresentation and wiretapping with tortious purpose for sending a fake intern to progressive Democracy Partners.
— Grant Stern (@grantstern) September 22, 2022
Veritas is also suffering in other significant ways as well.
A former employee, Patrice Thibodeau, who has also gone by the name “Jean Jacque the Cock” for his hopeful porn career (you can’t make this up) has gone on grudge match against his old employer, revealing Veritas’s methods and several of its agents.
Another former employee, Antoinetta Zappier, is suing PV and has accused it of being a sex-driven business where drugs run rampant.
If true, what a surprise THAT would be! Maybe someone should do an undercover sting on it.
Speaking of stings, James O’Keefe probably isn’t happy with the sting Ross just gave him. But you can show Ross some love by following him on Twitter! @RossRosenfeld
