James O'Keefe
| James O'Keefe | |
|---|---|
O'Keefe at the 2016 Conservative Political Action Conference.
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| Born |
James Edward O'Keefe III June 28, 1984 Bergen County, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Residence | Westwood, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Education | B.A. in Philosophy (2006) |
| Alma mater | Rutgers University |
| Occupation | Conservative filmmaker, lecturer, and activist |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Organization | Project Veritas |
| Known for | Activism, videography |
| Notable work | Hidden camera videos of ACORN workers (2009), NPR videos (2011), Presidential Election videos (2016) |
| Website | www |
James Edward O'Keefe III (born June 28, 1984) is an American conservative political activist. He produces secretly recorded undercover audio and video encounters with figures and workers in academic, governmental and social service organizations, purporting to show abusive or allegedly illegal behavior by employees and/or representatives of those organizations. He has received criticism for editing videos to misrepresent persons as having said things they did not say. He gained national attention for his video recordings of workers at ACORN offices in 2009, his arrest and 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 videos of conversations with two high-ranking, now former, NPR executives in 2011.
When his videos portraying ACORN workers seemingly aiding a couple in criminal planning hit the 24-hour cable news cycle, the U.S. Congress quickly 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 after, the California State Attorney General's Office and the US Government Accountability Office 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 found that ACORN had managed its federal funds appropriately. One of the fired ACORN workers sued O'Keefe for invasion of privacy; O'Keefe issued an apology and agreed to pay $100,000 in a settlement.
O'Keefe gained support from conservative media and interest groups. In 2009, Andrew Breitbart commissioned him for the option to publish new videos exclusively on BigGovernment.com. In June 2010, O'Keefe formed a 501(c)(3) organization, Project Veritas, with the stated mission to "investigate and expose corruption, dishonesty, self-dealing, waste, fraud and other misconduct."
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