According to reports, the feds have conducted searches at least in two locations linked to the right-wing outfit Project Veritas' amateur spy group Project Veritas. Sources speaking with The New York Times Friday said that the search was part of an investigation into how Project Veritas obtained Joe Bidens private diary before the 2020 election.
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The Times reported that two locations were searched by FBI agents and federal prosecutors. They were linked to James OKeefe and other people associated with the group.
One was in New York City and the other was Mamaroneck (New York), where Project Veritas offices are located.
Project Veritas claims it is a journalistic organization that exposes corruption. It could also be called a partisan operation, which makes claims about left-wing corruption and attempts infiltrate progressive organisations with the intention of secretly recording members speaking. This angers conservatives. Project Veritas then touts its findings as a major expose that is worthy of receiving donations. A federal judge recently ruled that Project Veritas can be called a political spying operation in court in a civil case between Democracy Partners and Project Veritas. The operative infiltrated the consultancy with a fake resume and name.
Consider their attempt to get into the U.S. offices in 2010. Project Veritas operatives were disguised as telecom workers by Senator Mary Landrieu, and OKeefe was convicted of a misdemeanor. Project Veritas launched many bumbling psyops against media organizations. They most famously floated fake accusations against Roy Moore, the Republican candidate for Senator of Alabama, to Washington Post reporters in 2017. Moore was accused of being a pedophile, sexual predator, and the Post did not bite. Moore lost the election. Project Veritas supported a whistleblower and Postal Service employee, who claimed he witnessed a Pennsylvania Postmaster plotting election fraud against Donald Trump. Postal investigators later confirmed that the man was a complete shithead.
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According to The Times, in October 2020, a representative from the Biden family told federal authorities that Ashley Biden's personal items, including his diary, were stolen during a burglary. Project Veritas did not publish the diary. Another right-wing website published pages from the diary, claiming that it was a whistleblower from another media company who refused to publish it. A separate right-wing website claimed that they knew the exact location of the diary and also claimed to have an audio recording of Ashley Biden, which would verify its authenticity.
These pages were published at the same moment that Donald Trump aggressively promoted claims Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden was involved with corrupt business deals. The Times stated that the leak was not being taken seriously by any other media outlets, even conservative ones.
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The Times reported that the Justice Department investigated the Bidens complaint to federal agents. This investigation is ongoing. Federal investigators requested location searches. A source also told the paper that federal investigators wanted to interview at least one Project Veritas employee. The address of the media company publishing the diary pages was shared with Richard Seddon (a former British spy) and another company previously linked to OKeefe.
Project Veritas used Richard Seddon, a former British spy, to train its operatives. He taught them techniques such as deception to obtain information from potential targets. Flyover Media, which owns the website where the diary pages were published, is registered at the same Sheridan address as Branch Six Consulting International, Mr. Seddon's company. Project Veritas founder, Mr. OKeefe was previously the president of a company later registered at the same address.
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The Times was informed by neighbors that the search at East 35th St. in Manhattan was not friendly. It involved FBI agents knocking on doors shouting "Open up!" and finally gaining access to the house. The Times found that Spencer Mead, a long-time Project Veritas operative, lives at this address.
Project Veritas previously sent Gizmodo a not very intimidating, poorly written legal threat for calling it a disinfo shop. They were particularly upset that we had reported on an operation where a young woman approached then-National Security Adviser HR McCMaster in a restaurant to secretly record him talking to Donald Trump. (This operation was apparently not carried out, so we updated our coverage to reflect Project Veritas' insistence that it was.
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The legal threat included mentions of sheep who were loyal to indoctrinating people with a narrative and a pattern of malice. It also contained accusations that Gizmodo had obviously triggered poor taste in writing and was recklessly [engaging] in journalistic journalism. The comment concluded that perhaps you and the management of Gizmodo would be able to enjoy the suffix, Defendants.
The FBI has raided all locations that are associated with the only party in this exchange, to the best of our knowledge, Friday afternoon. Project Veritas did not immediately respond to our request for comment, but we will keep you posted if we hear back.
