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 Department of Justice forced both Apple and Google to provide data belonging to Project Veritas and its associates as part of its probe into the whereabouts of Ashley Biden's missing diary, founder James O'Keefe said.
O'Keefe announced that both tech giants came forward revealing they were hit with "nine secret subpoenas" to monitor "professional and private accounts" including the group's security detail after it was previously revealed that Microsoft also received such orders from the feds. O'Keefe stressed that the data being collected by the DOJ includes "everything" from texts and emails to private photos as well as "information of our sources."
O'Keefe also asserted that communications with sources "that have nothing to do with [the] Ashley Biden diary" were seized, saying it has a "chilling effect" on the ability of sources and whistleblowers of coming forward without government retaliation.
"This is not just about Project Veritas. Thousands of these secret orders [are] issued every year. Ours are just a fraction of that," O'Keefe said in a video released Wednesday, citing Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., from a congressional hearing last week.
File photo - The Google logo is displayed at the Google headquarters on September 2, 2015 in Mountain View, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The subpoenas were issued by U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss from the Southern District of New York from November 2020 to March 2021 and were "shopped" the orders to nine different magistrate judges.
Project Veritas, a right-wing group known for its "sting" operations on subjects it's investigating, has since filed a petition demanding the DOJ hand over the seized data.
A spokesperson for Google told Fox News, "In order to protect user privacy, we don't comment on specific cases, but we’re firmly committed to protecting user data and we have a long history of pushing to notify people using our services about legal requests that relate to their data."
Neither the DOJ nor Apple immediately responded to Fox News' requests for comment.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) previously sounded the alarm on the DOJ seizing Project Veritas' data through Microsoft, saying, "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."
In December, 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."
Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference CPAC held at the Hilton Anatole on July 09, 2021 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) ( (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images))
O'Keefe alleged last month the Microsoft 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.
O'Keefe previously explained that "tipsters" approached his group in late 2020 alleging to have Ashley Biden's diary containing "explosive allegations" about her father, then the Democratic nominee, and the diary was allegedly abandoned in a room that she had stayed at and that they stayed after.
Ashley Biden speaks by video feed during the 4th and final night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, as participants from across the country are hosted over video links from the originally planned site of the convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. August 20, 2020. 2020 Democratic National Convention/Pool via REUTERS
The "tipsters," who O'Keefe said he had never met before, 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?"
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 from The New York Times alleged 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.