Statement from James O’Keefe
by James O'KeefeThe government has now confirmed what has always been clear: No one tried to wiretap or bug Senator Landrieu’s office. Nor did we try to cut or shut down her phone lines. Reports to this effect over the past 48 hours are inaccurate and false.
As an investigative journalist, my goal is to expose corruption and lack of concern for citizens by government and other institutions, as I did last year when our investigations revealed the massive corruption and fraud perpetrated by ACORN. For decades, investigative journalists have used a variety of tactics to try to dig out and reveal the truth.
I learned from a number of sources that many of Senator Landrieu’s constituents were having trouble getting through to her office to tell her that they didn’t want her taking millions of federal dollars in exchange for her vote on the healthcare bill. When asked about this, Senator Landrieu’s explanation was that, “Our lines have been jammed for weeks.” I decided to investigate why a representative of the people would be out of touch with her constituents for “weeks” because her phones were broken. In investigating this matter, we decided to visit Senator Landrieu’s district office – the people’s office – to ask the staff if their phones were working.
On reflection, I could have used a different approach to this investigation, particularly given the sensitivities that people understandably have about security in a federal building. The sole intent of our investigation was to determine whether or not Senator Landrieu was purposely trying to avoid constituents who were calling to register their views to her as their Senator. We video taped the entire visit, the government has those tapes, and I’m eager for them to be released because they refute the false claims being repeated by much of the mainstream media.
It has been amazing to witness the journalistic malpractice committed by many of the organizations covering this story. MSNBC falsely claimed that I violated a non-existent “gag order.” The Associated Press incorrectly reported that I “broke in” to an office which is open to the public. The Washington Post has now had to print corrections in two stories on me. And these are just a few examples of inaccurate and false reporting. The public will judge whether reporters who can’t get their facts straight have the credibility to question my integrity as a journalist.
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869 Comments
And yet they claim you're the one unqualified to call himself a journalist. Bully on Mr. O'Keefe.
The question is, if you were successful in your endeavor and the facts supported the Senator's remarks, would you have gone public with your findings?
This is an all out witch hunt and the left would like to see Mr O'Keefe on a funeral pyre. IT stinks to bloody hell.
I really hope he sues anyone possible for slander/liable.
James, I've been really miffed at the MSM for constantly referring to you as a "conservative activist." You should always insist on your rightful job title, which is investigative journalist. Most of the MSM's journalists could easily be tagged liberal activists, yet they never call them that. You have just as much right to the title as any of them. Keep up the good fight!
That's not really "the" question Frankie. I'll grant you that it is a fair question though, but probably best suited for a different topic than whether or not the media has lied and misreported about this incident. It's not really applicable as a reply to what James has said above. It's a different topic altogether.
Don't mean to nitpick, I think you mean "libel".
Amazing how silent the MSM was during the ACORN findings, but how quick they are to talk about this topic.
You are right. Point taken.
How much integrity do you have as a journalist when you dress up like the village people?
The Village People were extreme left liberal ideology.
I don't pray much for others… even though I'm a christian conservative… newly so, and thusly agro and angry that i was a brainwashed liberal commie atheist for 20 years. But pray for you, I do. Thanks for what you do.
Do you mean the tapes that showed the illegal activity of falsifying one's identity for the purpose of secretly recording and distributing conversations? Does anyone honestly think that ACORN's goal is to provide business advice to criminals? Don't you watch the Wire? That's what we have corrupt lawyers for.
You've got to shout this from the rooftops to counteract the damage already done to your reputation. MSM are now no better than nasty gossip rags when it comes to dragging someone they want rid of through the mud. Keep fighting the good fight. Heaven help you if you ever really do make ANY kind of misstep…
Pay your taxes. Don't drink and drive. Don't litter. No Bruno encounters. Clean your plate.
Give 'em hell! When they squil the loudest you know you are on the right track.
If I was Senator Landrieu, I would drop any charges. I would not want a trial where Mr. OKeefe – in order to prove his story – could mass huge numbers of people who will attest that they could not get through to Sen. Landrieu's office. I would also hate to have the tape of my staff reporting that everything is fine with the phones made public.
[...] …over at Big Hollywood. [...]
You mean the tapes showing duped ACORN employees happily giving criminal business advice?
Do you mean the tapes showing ACORN employees advocating the prostitution of underage girls from El Salvador? It might not be their goal to provide criminals with business advise, but they sure like doing it anyway…..
Seriously? Is that all you've got??
Of course he means Libel. Why be such a Leftist pig to bring attention to his unintentional mistake? For one hour there I forgot he was BLACK. You Leftists are so transparent!
You and the rest of your little group are gonna love prison. Call Gannon/Guckert – he can give you a few pointers on how to get by and earn a few packs of smokes along the way.
I'm impressed with your ability to fabricate your own version of reality when the real world becomes a bit too much to handle. A word of advice, however: don't list this special skill of yours on a resume.
No, ACORN's "goal" is to get Democrats elected. Fraudulently if need be. Their disgusting "business advice" is just a by-product.
James: You need to make a new tape as a re-enactment with actors to show exactly what happened. The Feds will not let you have those tapes until long after they are needed. Put something together to show us with people playing the parts.
James, I knew there was more to the story. I applaud your ingenuity. I just wish people knew there was no malice involved. Amazing that certain leftists can throw paint, BOMBS and even pies (gasp!) at their ideological opponents but you go into a senator's office armed with a cell phone and MSNBC and that moral authority Bertha Lewis can dismiss any of their own wrongdoing to vilify you. Wow. The MSM gave more deference to the skivvie bomber than they did you. What a bunch of jackasses. Ed Schultz? STFU.
PS – I'm going to point out that "jammed" can also mean "subject to a lot of calls, so many that the trunk can accept no more".
It can also mean that she's talking about her DC line.
Your lawyer needs to be telling you to shut up until your charges can be disposed of. If he's encouraging you to run your mouth, he's an idiot.
sorry man O'Keefe doesn't have a mustache
and to date I don't think he has made a statement on his singing ability
Joe & Frankie: I congratulate you both for being gentlemen.
It would be fun watching you eat those words in a few months when the charges are downgraded or dropped entirely. But as we all know, you won't have the courage to show your face by then.
If your lawyer hasn't yet told you the STFU he's even stupider than you. And that's saying something.
If it was so public why did you fake your way in with disguises and lie to guards about identification? Why did you demand access to the main lines for the building? Good thing you aren't muslim, or you would be waterboarded by now.
Why are you mocking the way ACORN "customers" dress? It looks like we now get to see your true feelings about the people that ACORN purports to serve.
You are a classic liberal…you despise the people you pretend to serve.
Buddy, Pal, Kiddo, nowhere does she say in her quote that her phones were "BROKEN". We all know what the expression 'my phones were jammed' means. It is akin to "ringing off the hook". I am on your side and feel that you are being tarnished unfairly but you really should re-state you purpose for doing what you did and then get as far away from this mess as possible. It was poorly thought out and clumsy. I support you, I really do, but this type of covert journalism is always going to be judged as biased if the target is consistently and exclusively on one side of the aisle.
Wow James, the trolls really hate you for exposing ACORN. If they had this much scorn for cop killers or an organization that advocates the prostitution of underage girls maybe we'd all be better off.
The fact that they were silent or even defending that behavior from ACORN and are now showing up to taunt you says tons about them.
Hope you are vindicated so we can give them all nice big shitburger to eat….and if you really did do something wrong, well, don't drop the soap….
If you knew me you would find it laughable that you call me 'a leftist pig'. I am so far from that description as one can be. That said, it was kind of douchey for me to point it out. I wanted to pull it back as soon as I hit 'enter'. Now, just 'cause you hit the wrong target, don't let that stop you from going after the real 'leftist pigs'.
"why did you fake your way in with disguises and lie to guards about identification"
A fair question. One explanation might be that he is too well known and would've been barred from her office because he's not a constituent.
"Why did you demand access to the main lines for the building"
Do you know for a fact that he did this?
"Good thing you aren't muslim, or you would be waterboarded by now."
oooh how clever…..
Go get 'em, O'Keefe!!!
When Buckley said that the Republican party was the party of ideas, I suppose he should have been more specific about the quality of the ideas he was looking for.
Hell yeah!
What you never heard of under cover journalism? The MSM does it all the time. Just look at the way the lefties at MSNBC, CNN, ABC and CBS dress. Like a bunch of real estate agents. Seriously, you don't have much and you actually took the bridge to no where with that question.
This is yet another example of the left viciously attacking innocent well-meaning conservatives without knowing the facts. This is eerily similar to the way the liberal media tore down George W. Bush, Trent Lott, Oliver North, Tom DeLay, Joe McCarthy, Duke Cunningham, and Richard Nixon!!
Mr. O'Keefe, you are a true American hero!!
Frankie,
It actually gives me the impression they were going in as phone workers as a way to mock her office on video and then show them… and the video would also show no phones ringing off the hook.
Sounds like a it would have been another great video report from O'Keefe!
Your post is so badly written that any claim you might try to make about being a serious journalist is self-refuting. You really should take a course or two on grammar and punctuation while you are in the Big House. You can work on prose style later when you get out and can't find a job. It's too bad you and your friends look like a geek squad. Good looking guys have better protection in the slammer
This is another opportunity for the hammer of truth to pound the holy crap out of the nest of lies that the leftie MSM always throws up. It proves alot about who the leftie slanderers really are and I think the American people are finally catching on. Keep up the excellent investigative journalism. We got your back, James.
Your alias is appropriate–you're so fraught with lies and condescending b.s. that it's not even funny. Go troll somewhere else.
Hmmm, you might be on to something though. Maybe we should just call them liberal activists instead of journalists?
Public Figure: "No, I will not be meeting with the liberal activists later"
Journalist: "You mean no press conference later?"
Public Figure: "No, I meant what I just said"
[...] [...]
I believe O'Keefe; however dressing up like telephone workers and getting into the phone closet is incredibly suspicious. No one from Big Hollywood would accept that – and rightly so.
It appears that the cops found no bugs on O'Keefe's crew. Who knows what sort of mischief a real criminal could wreak with closed access to phone bank wiring?
I like the reason for this caper even if it demonstrates more balls than brains. By that I mean that there was too much risk for too little potential return. If O'Keefe proved that Landrieu was using her phone wiring to dump calls (I am not absolutely sure that is what his crew were doing in the phone closet), possibly such a revelation would drive more folks out into the street with the Tea Partiers. More likely, it would become a footnote to a footnote to a footnote in the consciousness of the general public. I admit though as everyone in Hollywood knows nobody knows anything.
Nevertheless, I am still cheering for O'Keefe. All young people need time to learn their craft.
"Do you know for a fact that he did this? "
Are you suggesting federal agents committed perjury in the affidavit?
"
A fair question. One explanation might be that he is too well known and would've been barred from her office because he's not a constituent."
Even if it were true, it would still be massively illegal to lie about your identity to enter a federal building. This wasn't just an office, it also held other government agencies including the Secret Service. It's not a joke to suggest a Muslim would be tortured if they tried this, you conservatives have made it very clear you support that. Innocent until proven guilty is for Republicans caught red handed by the FBI, not brown people.
I'm a constituent of Senator Landrieu, and I'll attest that it has been impossible to get anything other than a busy signal at ANY of her offices. I've emailed, and all that's gotten me is put on her "I'm wonderful" spam list. I finally resorted to calling Senator Vitter, and asking someone in his office to relay my health care and phone concerns to Senator Landrieu.
Buddy Pal Kiddo, so you are letting Lying Senator Landrieu and her staff off on a technicality? Who do you think called the Feds over a simple question? Why would they do that unless they wanted to hide something and make a big deal over nothing to hurt the person who asked the question?? A kid with a camera is a threat? This is how you support James?? Why don't you see the larger truth here? Is it because you are stuck on stupid or did you just drink the Koolaid?
"no legal investigations found any wrongdoing"
This is laughable. ACORN investigated themselves, and surprise, surprise they found themselves innocent of any wrong-doing.
Are you saying that no one in those tapes from ACORN offered to help them with their prostitution business? Is that what you're saying??
Leave it to MSNBCs nostrilides David Schuster to run down to New Orleans and think he has a scoop. What a fool. Andrew gave him hell in that interview. It is amazing how the MM is hot to trot on this story , but mum on the ACORN story. Unbelievable! Good luck O'Keefe
"It is akin to "ringing off the hook". "
True, which is why video of you walking around the phone banks with no ringing phones is suspicious.
They probably just send the calls to a busy number and they don’t even ring in the office… or a message box that no one checks.
In the end, its sounds (to me) mostly a Mike Moore style stunt and/or 'street theater'… but James is guilty of doing it 'while conservative'… so they're try to hit him with a felony.
I get it, but, it seems a little sophomoric and only served to cheapen his good work thus far. If I were in his inner circle I would have voted for a less theatrical mode. More stealth and less jokey. I want him to do good work and cover all bases and patch any potential holes before doing something like this again because failure feeds his enemies exponentially.
I'm saying the extensive editing and overdubbing makes it entirely unclear what happened. Why the pants wetting fear from the "journalist" to release unedited tapes?
They did not investigate themselves, they were investigated by a former attorney general AND the congressional research service. There is simply zero evidence to support the claims of this "journalist" who edits and overdubs tapes and pretends they are real.
So where was all this outrage when ACORN employees were trying to help O'Keefe prositute underage girls?
You have what's called "selective outrage" If conservatives do something wrong then they shouold be hanged immediately. If anyone or anything connected to liberalism GETS CAUGHT ON TAPE, well then, they MUST be getting railroaded by conservatism.
And your policy seems to be innocent until proven guilty unless you're a conservative. Oh and tell me how many muslims were waterboarded exactly….
That's nice, James, but it doesn't really explain why you guys were trying to get access to the phone lines. There really aren't any "innocent" reasons for that. There are only a couple of things that might require that access, none of them good.
I'm perfectly willing to listen to explanations, but this one just doesn't cut it. Indignation at being caught does not equal innocence.
Probably because O'Keefe was caught committing a felony red handed by the FBI and the only reason anyone suspected ACORN was edited and overdubbed tapes?
ACORN provides many different services, including tax and housing assistance. That's why they were able to advise on how to cheat the process.
I'm sorry, I missed which newspaper you said you work for. Or was it MSNBC? Gotta be one of the MSM liberal-biased ignorant outlets. You couldn't be THAT stupid.
Edited and overdubbed tapes that proved nothing, from a "journalist" who lied about things like claiming no one tossed him out and called the police. There is no evidence of any wrong doing, as two independent investigations showed. No outrage, yeah, I'll wait for proof. Some unedited tapes would be a good start.
Your hypocrisy is mind numbing, as you STILL pretend there is any real evidence against ACORN while crying like a baby that people judge someone guilty who was caught red handed by the FBI.
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! Former AG Scott Harshbarger was commisioned by…..drum roll please……ACORN to investigate themselves……
And hang a sec, congressional research service. You mean a service to the democrat controlled congress? The service with absolutely no legal power? yeah that's a grand investigation alright….
It's funny, you claim the tapes are fake, yet there they are. ACORN employees sitting there giving business advise to people trying to break the law.
But It's true. Good looking young guys hook up with huge, bulked up protectors who keep other guys away from them. Skinny guys like O'Keefe with big noses and zits get to do the tough work of providing "services" for the ordinary murderers and old guys without partners. But, looking on the bright side, maybe he can do some "Investigative Journalism' on this hard fact of prison life. And, still, he'll have to learn how to be a better writer.
bahiabobandweave, buddy, pal, kiddo, there's only two ways to engage a person as quick on the trigger as you. One is to completely ignore, and, two is to slap him down for using such unoriginal insults like 'stuck on stupid' or worse 'drink the Koolaid'. I have stated that I support what the kid is doing but am not as comfortable with his approach as you are (obviously). Now, why don't you climb back on your Harley and GFY.
Do you have any evidence that they were not impartial? Nope, just slander. What facts in the investigations were wrong? None, of course, but you just have to believe your edited, overdubbed tapes instead of professional investigators. The fantasy world you people erect for yourselves is scary. In this world you can't trust the FBI, Attorney Generals, or non-partisan congressional investigations…if you trust THEM you are biased and jumping to conclusions. The only thing you can trust is edited, overdubbed videos from a 25 year old baby who lives with his parents and refuses to release unedited versions. WHY NOT? If there is nothing to hide, why only release the altered tapes?
I think I'll stick with trusting professional investigators and law enforcement officials.
This is literally the most unbelievable excuse O'Keefe could have come up with: Landrieu says she hasn't been responding to all of her phone calls because she's been receiving too many so O'Keefe assumes that her lines must be broken and decides to investigate that… which includes a van full of listening devices?
"There is no evidence of any wrong doing"
You mean besides the tapes showing them in the middle of wrong-doing….
Who's crying like a baby, I'm just waiting on the whole story. If he did something wrong then he should be punished, you're the one carrying on like O'Keefe was a terrorist or something. get over yourself….
You don't mean "Leftist pig", comrade. Excuse me and please do not assume that I think myself in any way more equal than or superior to you, but I believe you meant to say "intellectual", or perhaps even "anti-revolutionary bourgeouis running dog". If Frankie is corecting others he obviously is an intellectual and must be made to grease the wheels of the Glorious Revolution with his running dog blood! I am happy to see that you are pointing him out for the People's Guard to address! Commendable work, Comrade!
Now, do you know if anyone will be selling bread this week, and if so, who?
It's a good thing nobody takes you seriously, or statements like "that video and audio evidence of wrongdoing means nothing" would just be laughable. Thanks for dropping by, Bertha.
…the edited and overdubbed tapes. Where are the real unedited tapes? Why are they still unreleased to this day? How can you make a judgment on edited and overdubbed tapes but pretend other people are leaping to conclusions when multiple FBI agents sign sworn affidavits?
You see, there's the bonus of registering. You get to edit or delete comments after the fact.
How and why exactly does one use their phone wiring to dump calls when it's infinitely easier just to hit ignore or leave the phone off the hook? Why do you accept as truth the idea that O'Keefe would take Landrieu's excuse that her lines were jammed (colloquial term for "inundated with phone calls) to mean that her lines were broken or somehow tampered with? This excuse makes zero sense.
"The only thing you can trust is edited, overdubbed videos from a 25 year old baby who lives with his parents and refuses to release unedited versions"
Wow, just look at that venom! the truth is that you can't take it when a liberal institution is exposed for the corrupt pile of crap that it is and that someone who's 25 did it. I can just picture you purple-faced with spittle all over the computer screen….
And since you brought up the whole "nothing to hide" mantra. Why won't your hero Obama release a real birth certificate?
There was a "pimp" in the Village People?
You lose "Pop Culture Referendum", and there is no consolation prize, so…. go home to your depressing basement apartment and eat the last of your Ramens.
"even though I'm a christian conservative… newly so, and thusly agro and angry that i was a brainwashed liberal commie atheist for 20 years."
You are not alone; there are many of us just like you that woke up and saw the light one day.
Maybe we can help convert some other lost souls to the joy known as conservativism.
Wow, your name shouldn't be ABC it should be MSNBC, Mr. Chris Matthews. Did that tingle your leg?
The Federal agent said he "believed" that their intent was to interfere with the phone lines. There was no proof to back up that assertion. There is also no accusation that O'Keefe lied to anyone in the office. So "George" it seems that you are the one who struggles with the truth. But that's OK, an internet troll who posts anonymously then runs and hides doesn't have to worry about being honest. You've picked the perfect occupation for yourself.
BTW, since only 3 people have been waterboarded (or "tortured" as you so naively suggested), and that was for the murder of over 3000 people. So to suggest that someone would be waterboarded for asking to see the phone system of a minor Senator is indeed quite the joke, it just turns out that the punchline is you're an idiot.
[...] James O’Keefe who gained fame by exposing ACORN, released a statement on Big Government about his involvement in the Senator Landrieu incident in an attempt to set the record straight. [...]
How much integrity did Kennedy have after leaving a woman to die?
Says the voice of experience. Do you need a hug, fraught?
"Good looking guys have better protection in the slammer "
I'm sorry that you had no protection in the slammer, and that your gerbil-jammer got crammed.
I cut-n-pasted the entire O'Keefe article into a MSWord document and then ran spellcheck and the grammar editors on it.. It came out CLEAN as a whistle. Seems to me that what is "poor" here is the vaildity of your criticism of O'Keefe's writing skills.
Your criticism sounds like the same verbal turds coming out of the mouths of those trying to write off Climategate as mere tomfoolery rather than utter scientific fraud. I becthca "fraught" is a Goreophile too.
When the Fourth Estate refuses to vet a presidential candidate to the extent they go out of their way to hide the truth from the public, then works with that new administration on the stories they will report and those they will ignore for their benefit, then we have neglected our sworn duty as citizens to prosecute flagrant traitorous scum.
Where was he thrown out of? The criminal complaint was fake.
George, why don't you and Ellie Light just go home to your parents basement.
Their intent wasn't to report, it was to destroy any voice that reports what they want to hide from the public.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) the laws against libel for news media are toughter than the rest of us. You have to prove a willful distortion, nit just bias and incompetence
Um, except O'Keefe wasn't caught committing a felony (since you can't cite a statute he violated), whereas the ACORN people were (it is actually a felony to agree to commit felonious acts, just ask Brian Williams). Give it a rest with the "edited tapes" crap. Most of us have seen at least one of the tapes in full. They're long, boring, and completely back up the shorter versions which had to be used on TV.
Face it, you're just a hopeless troll, desperately hanging on to any shred of a story you can to support your failed ideology. It's really pathetic.
Thanks to Andrew Breitbart for essentially nullifying this lie – before the New Media the networks would have made their pronouncements, James would have been tarred and feathered, and they'd have moved on to the "next story".
Another fact-challenged Liberal. "A van full of listening devices?" Really? Or was it a guy down the street with a walkie-talkie (like a 12 year-old would have)? Seriously, the party of Barney Frank, William Jefferson and Charlie Rangel and you have to make up stuff to smear a 25 year-old guy who's trying to expose hypocrites?
Just sad. You really need a better hobby.
Link me to non-edited or overdubbed tapes? Oops, you can't since your "journalist" won't release them since they would show what a fraud he is.
Philly, for one, and other offices.
You know that this is the same Harshbarger who "found public prominence and political success by prosecuting cases in the day care sex abuse hysteria of the 1980s.". You know, the guy that sent innocents to prison for 15+ years to advance his career. Now that's integrity, ACORN style.
Why did they ask for access to the main telephone lines for the building? To look at them? For why?
How do we know he wasn't planning to blow up the building later? I think we need to torture him so we can get the truth, just because he SAYS he wasn't going to doesn't prove anything.
Welome home Ron
Exposed by edited and overdubbed video? Would that fly in a court of law? No, I'll wait for real proof. What's the problem with releasing the whole videos? What is there to hide in the whole truth?
LOL birther. No wonder you can't tell the difference between reality and edited, overdubbed tapes, you are a nutjob.
Are you brain-dead? The video explicitly shows a tax-payer funded organization's employees offering advice on how to skirt the law to obtain housing (you know, one of ACORN's services), taxes (another of ACORN's services), turning a blind eye to illegal activity including child prostitution and human trafficking, even offering to connect them to someone involved in human trafficking. Oh, and people were fired and, as I recall, one of the people claiming to have thrown them out turned up on a tape assisting them. I suppose the Census Bureau cut ties with ACORN because they did nothing wrong.
You have proven that liberalism is a mental disorder.
Does everyone get a free felony at 25 or just people you like for releasing edited, overdubbed tapes to strike at political enemies?
Probably to get the office staff to admit there was nothing wrong with them. Seriously, unless your IQ doesn't quite make it to room temperature it's pretty easy to understand.
We've never tortured anyone for questioning (although I'm personally not against it). If you think waterboarding is torture, then I understand you're confusion over the first part of my comment. When it's something radio DJs do as a stunt, it's pretty silly to consider it torture.
No, the full unedited or overdubbed tapes have NEVER been released. The fact that his propaganda worked so well on you is scary. Reality is far far away for you now.
He is charged with a felony by real law enforcement agents, while there was no wrongdoing found at ACORN despite the edited, overdubbed tapes. Who is the desperate clinger here, sounds like the people who think the FBI is on a political witch hunt, what a joke.
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