Meanwhile from the script of '
The Lives of Others' movie depiction of living under East German Stasi control:
-------------------------------------------------
"Friday afternoon Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe announced that the homes of current and former Project Veritas journalists had been raided by FBI agents Thursday morning and that he had been served a Grand Jury subpoena with a cover letter requesting that he not make the existence of the subpoena known.
“The Government hereby requests that you voluntarily refrain from disclosing the existence of the subpoena to any third party. While you are under no obligation to comply with our request, we are requesting you not to make any disclosure in order to preserve the confidentiality of the investigation and because disclosure of the existence of this investigation might interfere with and impede the investigation.”
But while the Department of Justice requested us to not disclose the existence of the subpoena, something very unusual happened. Within an hour of one of our reporters’ homes being secretly raided by the FBI, The New York Times, who we are currently suing for defamation, contacted the Project Veritas reporter for comment. We do not know how The New York Times was aware of the execution of a search warrant at our reporter’s home, or the subject matter of the search warrant, as a Grand Jury investigation is secret.
O’Keefe revealed that Project Veritas’ legal team had already been in contact with the FBI about this matter and gave them information that should have negated any need for a search warrant. What was the FBI looking for? Who signed the search warrant?
The FBI took materials of current, and former, Veritas journalists despite the fact that our legal team previously contacted the Department of Justice and voluntarily conveyed unassailable facts that demonstrate Project Veritas’ lack of involvement in criminal activity and/or criminal intent. Like any reporter, we regularly deal with the receipt of source information and take steps to verify its authenticity, legality, and newsworthiness. Our efforts were the stuff of responsible, ethical, journalism and we are in no doubt that Project Veritas acted properly at each and every step.
Apparently, the raids had something to do with the publication of pages of a diary that allegedly belonged to Ashley Biden, the daughter of Joe and Jill Biden. The pages were published by
National File journalist Patrick Howley
in October 2020 and contained entries describing inappropriate showers with her father, among other things. O’Keefe says that Project Veritas was approached by people who claimed to have the diary and that ultimately Project Veritas turned the diary over to law enforcement authorities.
Late last year, we were approached by tipsters claiming they had a copy of Ashley Biden’s diary. We had never met or heard of the tipsters. The tipsters indicated that the diary had been abandoned in a room in which Ms. Biden stayed at the time, and in which the tipsters stayed in temporarily after Ms. Biden departed the room. The tipsters indicated that the diary included explosive allegations against then-candidate, Joe Biden. The tipsters indicated that they were negotiating with a different media outlet for the payment of monies for the diary. The tipsters were represented by attorneys who handled the negotiations with Project Veritas.
We investigated the claims provided to us, as journalists do. We took steps to corroborate the authenticity of the diary. At the end of the day, we made the ethical decision that because, in part, we could not determine if the diary was real, if the diary in fact belonged to Ashley Biden, or if the contents of the diary occurred, we could not publish the diary and any part thereof. We attempted to return the diary to an attorney representing Ms. Biden, but that attorney refused to authenticate it. Project Veritas gave the diary to law enforcement to ensure it could be returned to its rightful owner. We never published it.
So why is this now something the Department of Justice is involved in?
Oh, because now the diary was allegedly stolen.
Now, Ms. Biden’s Father’s Department of Justice, specifically the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, appears to be investigating the situation, claiming the diary was stolen. We don’t know if it was, but it begs the question:
in what world is the alleged theft of a diary investigated by the President’s FBI and his Department of Justice? A diary! This federal investigation smacks of politics. Project Veritas never threatened or engaged in any illegal conduct."
-------------------------------------------------------
Read the rest:
FBI Raids Project Veritas Journalists' Homes Looking for Ashley Biden's Diary
