DOJ allegedly accessed Project Veritas emails in Ashley Biden probe
'Jesse Watters Primetime' host examines why the entire national security apparatus seems to be working to stop the diary from going public.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is sounding the alarm on the actions the Justice Department has taken against Project Veritas.
Project Veritas has been swept up in an ongoing federal investigation into the alleged "theft" of a diary belonging to President Biden daughter, Ashley Biden, during the 2020 presidential election. The right-wing guerilla news organization alleged on Tuesday the DOJ had been secretly surveilling its communications despite a court order from December demanding a third party to sort through devices and documents obtained by investigators.
"We deplore Project Veritas’ deceptions, and we don't have a full picture of the government's investigation. But we're concerned that the precedent set by this case could have serious consequences for press freedom," Brian Hauss of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project said in a press release. "We're deeply troubled by reports that the Department of Justice obtained secret electronic surveillance orders requiring sweeping disclosure of 'all content' of communications associated with Project Veritas email accounts, including attorney-client communications."
"Compounding these concerns, the government suppressed information about the existence of the electronic surveillance orders even after the investigation became public knowledge and the district court appointed a special master to supervise prosecutors’ access to Project Veritas’ sensitive materials. The government must immediately suspend its review of the materials obtained pursuant to its electronic surveillance orders and fully disclose the extent of its actions, so that the court can consider appropriate relief," Hauss added.
Washington, DC - July 12, 2017: United States Department of Justice sign in Washington, DC on July 12, 2017 (iStock)
According to documents obtained by Project Veritas, the DOJ had subpoenaed Microsoft for communications of eight Project Veritas staffers, including its founder James O'Keefe, even after District Court Judge Analisa Torres from the Southern District of New York ordered a "special master" to be appointed to oversee the review of O'Keefe's devices, citing "potential First Amendment concerns." Microsoft was also issued a gag order to keep the subpoena under wraps.
"This is a fundamental, intolerable abridgment of the First Amendment by the Department of Justice," O'Keefe said in a video address released Tuesday. "Project Veritas is immediately filing a motion demanding that the federal government disclose if it engaged in covert spying of our journalists by secretly demanding production of our protective materials from any other businesses like Microsoft."
O'Keefe alleged the emails collected from Project Veritas date back to January 2020, "eight months before we even knew the diary existed." He also accused the federal government of misleading the court "by omission" since it had not disclosed "it had already obtained privileged records" prior to the FBI raids of O'Keefe and two Project Veritas associates in November 2021.
The investigation, which is being conducted by the Southern District of New York, surrounds a "stolen" diary belonging to Ashley Biden that went missing just days before the 2020 presidential election.
President Joe Biden's daughter Ashley Biden. 2020 Democratic National Convention/Pool via REUTERS
O'Keefe previously explained that "tipsters" approached his group late 2020 alleging to have Ashley Biden's diary containing "explosive allegations" about her father, then the Democratic nominee, and that the diary was allegedly abandoned in a room that she had stayed at and that they stayed after.
The "tipsters," who O'Keefe said he had never met prior, were apparently negotiating with media outlets to sell Biden's diary and that ultimately, Project Veritas did not publish the book's contents because his group was not able to independently verify its authenticity.
"Project Veritas gave the diary to law enforcement to ensure it could be returned to its rightful owner. We never published it," O'Keefe said. "Now, Ms. Biden's father's Department of Justice, specifically the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, appears to be investigating the situation, claiming the diary was stolen. We don't know if it was, but it begs the question: In what world is the alleged theft of a diary investigated by the President's FBI and his Department of Justice? A diary?"
Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) ( (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images))
O'Keefe went on to claim the investigation "smacks of politics" but that Project Veritas will "not back down."
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A report published last week by The New York Times alleging Ashley Biden "received a call" in October 2020 from a man who claimed to have had her diary but unbeknownst to her was working for Project Veritas, hoping to "trick Ms. Biden into confirming the authenticity of the diary, which Project Veritas was about to purchase from two intermediaries for $40,000." Project Veritas did not provide a comment in response to the Times' reporting.