From the New York Times news section:
Project Veritas and the Line Between Journalism and Political Spying
Documents show how the conservative group worked with lawyers to gauge how far its deceptive reporting practices could go before running afoul of federal laws.
By Adam Goldman and Mark Mazzetti
Nov. 11, 2021WASHINGTON — Hours after F.B.I. agents searched the homes of two former Project Veritas operatives last week, James O’Keefe, the leader of the conservative group, took to YouTube to defend its work as “the stuff of responsible, ethical journalism.”
“We never break the law,” he said, railing against the F.B.I.’s investigation into members of his group for possible involvement in the reported theft of a diary kept by President Biden’s daughter, Ashley. “In fact, one of our ethical rules is to act as if there are 12 jurors on our shoulders all the time.”
Project Veritas has long occupied a gray area between investigative journalism and political spying, and internal documents
I.e., legally privileged lawyer-client communications.
obtained by The New York Times reveal the extent to which the group has worked with its lawyers to gauge how far its deceptive reporting practices can go before running afoul of federal laws.
The documents, a series of memos written by the group’s lawyer, detail ways for Project Veritas sting operations — which typically diverge from standard journalistic practice by employing people who mask their real identities or create fake ones to infiltrate target organizations — to avoid breaking federal statutes such as the law against lying to government officials.
Have you ever heard of anything more shocking? An organization hired a lawyer to make sure it didn’t break any laws! That’s proof right there of lawbreaking. Same with that Kyle Rittenhouse kid: if he were really innocent, would he have hired a lawyer?
Prosecution Scolded Again By The Judge In Rittenhouse Case
— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) November 11, 2021
“WHAT IS THE RELEVANCE OF THIS?!” pic.twitter.com/WveEVOqSt9
