Something shady and alarming is going on with the hyper–politicized, disgraced, and discredited FBI. On Saturday, the FBI raided the home of James O’Keefe, the founder of Project Veritas, reportedly regarding the alleged diary of Biden’s daughter, Ashley Biden.
This is a diary that Project Veritas has said it was unable to authenticate, did not publish, and turned over to authorities (after first trying unsuccessfully to give it back to Ashley).
Given this set of claims, what on earth was the FBI doing raiding a journalist’s home? Why not just set up a meeting with O’Keefe and have a nice chat? And why raid the homes of at least two other persons associated with Project Veritas earlier in the week? And how on earth did the New York Times know about the raids within the hour of the first one occurring?
The Federal Bureau of Investigation searched through the home of Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe two days after they searched the homes of his associates in the Southern District of New York’s inquiry into the theft of Ashley Biden’s diary.As detailed by the New York Times on Friday, the FBI raided the homes of two people linked to Project Veritas. Sources told the Times that the search warrants were executed on Thursday at one location on East 25th Street and another on Mamaroneck.On Saturday, the FBI searched the home of James O’Keefe, according to witnesses who spoke to the New York Times. O’Keefe had acknowledged that Project Veritas was under investigation by the Justice Department in connection to the diary.The Times reported that neighbors who interacted with the FBI were informed that the agents were interested in O’Keefe and searched his apartment while executing a search warrant.“I ran to the door and looked out the peep hole and clearly saw an F.B.I. raid,” said one of O’Keefe’s neighbors to the Times. “You saw the jackets. Literally, it was just out of a movie.”In a video statement on Friday, O’Keefe defended his group’s handling of the diary, which the group did not publish. He defended his actions and his colleagues, stating that they were operating as ethical journalists who turned the diary over to the authorities and sought to return it to a lawyer for Ashley Biden.“It appears the Southern District of New York now has journalists in their sights for the supposed crime of doing their jobs lawfully and honestly,” Mr. O’Keefe said in the video. “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.”
Watch O’Keefe’s video. Twice.
The Post Millennial provides background:
Last year, details of the diary of Joe Biden’s daughter Ashley surfaced on a website published under the byline of Patrick Howley, just a week and a half before Election Day. At the same time, the Biden campaign was also trying to downplay the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop, which were leaked to the New York Post.Howley’s website claimed that it had obtained the diary from a whistleblower for a media organization that refused to publish a story about it before the election. The website also claimed to know the whereabouts of the actual diary and that the whistleblower had a recording admitting the diary belonged to her.NYMag reported: “Dozens of handwritten pages from Ashley Biden’s journal were published on October 24, 2020 by a right-wing website under the byline of Patrick Howley, a reporter who has on at least two occasions been the first to reveal politically damaging information about Democratic politicians,” including former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and Cal Cunningham. “The posting claimed the diary had been obtained from a whistleblower at a media organization. The published diary pages were mostly ignored by both mainstream and right-wing media at the time.”
So we have a diary popping up and finding its way to Project Veritas. They attempted to confirm its authenticity, as is correct and proper, and were unable to do so. Rather than run with unconfirmed sources and rumors, as the Democrat media propagandists did for four years with the absolute lies in the thoroughly debunked Steele/Clinton dossier, Project Veritas declined to publish the diary or the story. Not only that, but they first tried to return the diary to Ashley before (again properly and correctly) turning it over to authorities.
In other words, Project Veritas acted with far more journalistic integrity than CNN, MSNBC, and etc. did with the phony, lie-filled and unverified (unverifiable given that it’s all lies), fantasist Steele/Clinton dossier.
So of course it’s Project Veritas’ journalists being attacked by the hyper-partisan Biden FBI.
Jonathan Turley has penned a compelling piece about the FBI raid (which, he parenthetically notes, rather substantiates the diary’s authenticity).
There is a curious story out this weekend on reported FBI raids of writers or associates of Project Veritas, the conservative investigative journalism outfit. Project Veritas has been described variously as “Gonzo” or “guerilla” journalism and some insist it is more of a political than a press organization. However, it fits the definition of journalism, in my view, and that makes the raids troubling. All the more troubling is the cause: the missing diary of President Biden’s daughter Ashley.The New York Times reported that the FBI searched two locations in New York in search of the “stolen” diary that went missing days before the 2020 presidential election. Project founder James O’Keefe questioned how the Times received the story within an hour of the first raid.. . . . The use of the FBI is also reminiscent of the still unexplained use of the FBI when Joe Biden was Vice President to search for a gun discarded by Hunter Biden behind a restaurant.Project Veritas decided not to run the story because it could not verify that the diary belonged to Biden. (The FBI may have just offered that confirmation). Instead, it alerted the police, according to O’Keefe: “Project Veritas gave the diary to law enforcement to ensure it could be returned to its rightful owner. We never published it.”So why the raids? Since when does the FBI conducted raids over missing diaries?
Turley posits five questions that encompass the seeming (and willing) weaponization of the FBI against Biden critics in the media and the unconstitutional targeting of journalists by the federal government.
There are a host of unanswered questions. Here are five to start with:1. What was the context for the diary’s loss? (Did Ashley Biden leave the diary in a room or was it stolen?)2. What is the alleged federal crime (and what is the precedent for a major federal investigation over such an alleged theft)?3. What precautions were taken by the Biden Administration in light of the claimed media status of the targeted individuals?4. Why was there a delay in this action being taken if the alleged theft occurred a year ago?5. Has this matter been under investigation for a year and did the White House request the intervention of the FBI?
Turley concludes:
Regardless of how one feels about Project Veritas, there should be calls from media outlets for some answers to these basic questions. Likewise, Congress should be seeking such answers as part of its oversight responsibilities.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY