Aclu Project Veritas - James O'Keefe meets supporters at Conservative Political Action Conference in Port National on February 28, 2020. Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty
A group suing reporters and Democrats for undercover operations is arguing that prosecutors misled federal courts and created unnecessary conspiracy during the federal investigation into the gang's ties to the theft of the memoirs of President Joe Biden's daughter Ashley.
Aclu Project Veritas
In November, the FBI raided the home of Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe and the homes of two other individuals working with the group. Agents executed a warrant that allowed them to seize phones and computers as evidence of cross-country smuggling.
Saved By The Amendment
The attack has caused controversy in some circles because Project Veritas defines itself as a news organization and because the use of search warrants against journalists and publishers is rare due to Justice Department policies and a federal law passed in 1980 to limit such investigative measures.
After the attack, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres granted the group's request to Create a special officer to review the information on the seized equipment to ensure that Prosecutors cannot access emails, messages and other documents. Should receive attorney-client privilege or other legal protections.
However, in a letter sent on Tuesday to the federal judge who oversees the nature of the investigation, lawyers for Project Veritas said they recently learned that the gag order was used to silence other steps taken by prosecutors in the diary investigation almost a year after the attack last November. A grand jury order and seizure of all emails of O'Keefe and several colleagues held in separate accounts over a three-month period in 2020.
Prosecutors obtained a warrant to seize all emails from the accounts of unnamed individuals, which lawyers for the group called "Project Veritas reporters," spanning more than a year from 2020 to 2021, the letter said.
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In some cases, prosecutors obtain a nondisclosure order — often called a gag order — that prohibits account users from revealing the truth of the search. Although the lawyers for the Veritas project and the prosecutor put their views on the special master to deal with the information seized in the November attack by the FBI, the prosecutor complained in a letter to Torres that the prosecutor has similar information and may have similar information from the group from the previous order. That fact has not been revealed, and gag orders related to those searches continue to be updated.
"The government's failure to disclose other invasions of special powers makes a mockery of these actions," Project Veritas attorney Paul Calley and other attorneys wrote in a 12-page letter to Torres on Tuesday.
Cali complained that the special master review set up by Torres was effectively waived because the prosecution had access to the group's records through other means.
"The government has mechanisms in place to circumvent these protections and attack Project Veritas' First Amendment and attorney privilege, which prosecutors have hidden from lawyers for Project Veritas and reporters and, we believe, from the courts. He wrote.
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A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan, which is overseeing the investigation, declined to comment on Project Veritas' allegations.
Most of the email searches appeared to be directed at Microsoft, although prosecutors sought records from Uber about individuals who worked with the group, Calley said.
Callie specifically opposed the renewal of the prosecutor's gag order to search emails after the group and the public had knowledge of the 2020 investigation into how the group obtained Ashley Biden's notebook. According to The New York Times, prosecutors are investigating whether people working on Project Veritas asked others to obtain other effects of Ashley Biden as the group tries to confirm whether the diary is authentic.
O'Keefe said he told his team that the president's daughter had left a note. and other things left behind when she moved out of her temporary home in Florida.
Defending Speech We Hate
More than a month after Torres established a special original mechanism, the non-disclosure order against Microsoft was renewed for several years in January 2022, according to the group's letter sent to Torres.
"We cannot understand how the government has persuaded so many judges to extend nondisclosure orders for extensive public investigation and reporting," he wrote. "Project Veritas has a right to know about these government violations.... The government's intrusion into journalists' communications undermines the rule of law."
Project Veritas received support Tuesday from the American Civil Liberties Union, which expressed dismay at the conservative group's tactics but expressed deep concern about the government's search and tactics.
"We condemn Project Veritas' deception and we do not have the full picture of the government's investigation. But we are concerned that the precedent set will have serious consequences for freedom of the press," said ACLU's Brian House. "We are deeply troubled by reports that the Justice Department obtained a secret electronic surveillance order seeking broad disclosure of 'all content' of communications related to Project Veritas email accounts, including attorney-client communications."
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"Adding to these concerns, the government suppressed information about the existence of the electronic surveillance order even after the investigation became public knowledge, and the district court appointed a special master to oversee access to sensitive materials of Project Veritas," the ACLU attorney said. . statement. "The government must immediately suspend review of the materials obtained under its electronic surveillance order and fully disclose the scope of its activities so that the court can consider appropriate relief."
Project Veritas' claims about the protections afforded the media when tactics are used to target journalists have divided First Amendment advocates. Project Veritas makes these claims even as the New York Times continues to fight for similar regulations.
In November, a New York state judge ordered the Times not to report privileged attorney-client documents obtained by the newspaper from Project Veritas. The Times appealed the restriction of its First Amendment rights, but spent months fighting in court to overturn the special order. An appeals court judge lifted the temporary injunction last month, but the issue is still pending.
Meanwhile, Project Veritas and the Times are disappointed. Earlier this month, the group released hidden camera footage showing Times reporter Matthew Rosenberg insulting others at the paper. Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, the Times hit back Sunday with another article about a conservative group accusing it of trying to "trick" Ashley Biden into confirming that the memo was hers.
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The latest Times report mentions the group's lawsuit against the publisher over the story, but does not mention the group's new brutal video intended to incite division within the newspaper's ranks.
Earlier this month, Times managing editor Dean Baquet told reporters in his Washington bureau that Project Veritas "is trying to blow our minds." According to the Washington Post, Baquet called the group "horrible" and "disgusting". 'Jesse Waters Primetime' host examines why the entire national security apparatus is working to prevent the diaries from becoming public.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is lobbying for the Justice Department's action against Project Veritas.
Project Veritas has been swept up in an ongoing federal investigation for allegedly "stealing" records of President Biden's daughter Ashley Biden during the 2020 presidential election. The right-wing guerrilla news agency on Tuesday accused the DOJ of secretly monitoring its communications despite a court order in December for third parties to review materials and documents obtained by investigators.
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"We condemn the deception of Project Veritas, and we do not have a complete picture of the government's investigation. But we are concerned that the series of previous cases will have serious consequences for the freedom of the press," said Brian House, spokesperson for the ACLU for privacy. and technology projects, said in a press release. "We are deeply concerned by reports that the Department of Justice has obtained a secret electronic surveillance order that requires broad disclosure of the 'entire content' of communications related to Project Veritas email accounts, including attorney-client communications."
"Adding to these concerns, the government suppressed information about the existence of the electronic surveillance order even after the investigation became public, and the district court appointed a special master to oversee access to the sensitive materials of the Veritas project of the prosecutor. The government should suspend it immediately. Review the documents obtained according to the electronic surveillance order and determine the scope of its operation.
Washington, DC - July 12, 2017: The United States Department of Justice signs in Washington, DC on July 12, 2017 (iStock)
According to documents obtained by Project Veritas, the DOJ sued Microsoft for the communications of eight Project Veritas employees, including founder James O'Keefe, even after District Court Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York ordered a "special master." will be appointed to supervise
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