Well, it appears that the left finally got what it wanted: O'Keefe on a silver platter: "O'Keefe resigned Monday morning from his position leading Project Veritas, the conservative group he founded, after clashing for weeks with his board," The Daily Beast reported.
Exclusive: @JamesOKeefeIII, my friend and former boss at @Project_Veritas, just read his resignation letter to his former team and board members at their Mamaroneck, N.Y. headquarters. James will make his own way—as he always has before. @OANN pic.twitter.com/knOqtFTw7e
— ReporterMcCabe (@NeilWMcCabe2) February 20, 2023
O'Keefe, who gained popularity among conservative audiences for his undercover video exposés on journalists and liberal organizations, was put on paid leave earlier this month due to a disagreement with the nonprofit's board. The board had overruled O'Keefe's termination of two senior executives, and also received a lengthy memo from employees expressing their dissatisfaction with O'Keefe's reportedly "overtly cruel" behavior, the outlet continued.
A video of O'Keefe announcing his resignation has been uploaded to the video-sharing platform Vimeo:
The recent news about O'Keefe being removed from the organization he founded sparked fury among the right-wing community, with many conservative commentators tweeting that Project Veritas would lose its significance without him. Project Veritas's board and remaining executives attempted to bridge the divide, releasing a bizarre tweet last week under the organization's name that confirmed O'Keefe was "alive and well." Just days before his resignation, the board issued a statement reiterating that they all had a deep affection for him, the report continued.
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As of now, neither O'Keefe nor the board have commented on the matter.
Neil McCabe, a journalist at conservative TV network One America News, first announced O'Keefe's resignation on Twitter. McCabe informed The Daily Beast that O'Keefe had stepped down from the organization without securing a severance agreement with the board.
“He just resigns and walks out the door to start a new life,” McCabe said. “Now we’ll see: does the organization he created survive?”
In November, O'Keefe disclosed troubling information about an FBI search of his residence, citing similarities to the harsh and punitive arrest of former Trump political advisor Roger Stone. During a conversation with Sean Hannity, O'Keefe detailed how ten FBI agents arrived at his home on a Saturday morning with a battering ram, handcuffed him, and proceeded to search his house for several hours.
The FBI search at O'Keefe's residence is reportedly linked to the publication of a diary allegedly belonging to Ashley Biden, in which the president's daughter expressed her grievances towards Hunter Biden and father Joe Biden. Project Veritas is believed to have obtained the diary, and excerpts from it were subsequently published by conservative website National File.
O'Keefe claimed that during the FBI search, agents sifted through his home for over two hours, looking for documents and materials related to other investigations that could implicate Biden and the federal government in wrongdoing.
James O’Keefe says they spent two hours in his home and took two iPhones that contained a lot of source information. He’s calling on all journalist to stand up against this. If this can happen to me it can happen to any journalist. pic.twitter.com/66pLT9eIb2
— The Dirty Truth (Josh) (@AKA_RealDirty) November 9, 2021
According to journalists involved in the diary's publication, it was discovered, not stolen. Allegedly, Ashley Biden reported to the FBI that the diary had been stolen before the 2020 presidential election.
The FBI's targeting of Veritas and O'Keefe appears to confirm the document's authenticity. While journalists can be held accountable for theft like anyone else, the reporters linked to the diary deny any direct involvement in what Ashley Biden asserts was a theft. Instead, they argue that the diary was discovered at a location where Ashley Biden had stayed. Established First Amendment principles prohibit journalists from being prosecuted for disseminating information associated with stolen content.
Sources include: