Conflict with the Project Veritas board has forced James O’Keefe to resign from the organization that he built single-handedly into one of the last bastions of actual journalism in the country. What was Apple Computers without Steve Jobs? And what is next for this remarkable man? Bill, who knows him, speculates with Scott and Steve about his next move.
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30 replies on “Project O’Keefe”
Before I contributed to PV, I checked Charity Navigator (showing 2 year old data) and it showed O’Keefe earning about $500K — a little high, perhaps, but not excessive for a CEO living and operating in NYC.
My contact there has indicated they have a core of 60 folks dedicated to the PV transparency mission, so they are concerned about the potential of donors abandoning the organization if James is really fired. But I also understand from her that James was “suspended” but not formally or actually fired. Unless more recent news has come to light that I have missed? Last that I understood was that some sort of audit was in progress to bring facts to light, and in fact James was demanding no change in his authority (as CEO) and that the board should resign, perhaps en masse.
Interesting times, but my donations will probably follow him rather than the organization, per se, especially if it is clear he is rebuilding there or elsewhere.
And Bill’s final comments about reputation and good will leads me to wonder “just who “owns” the PV material?” Can the original PV organization retain control over the Pfizer video (granting that it is already public) or other PV “assets”? If James starts over elsewhere, he might have to create new material rather than having past files and videos to grow from? At least there are a lot of eyeballs on what happens next.
two things to look for. Does PV start bleeding employees as people head for the exits knowing the end is near. And where these board members land when PV goes paws up.
I do not know what really happened and I hate to get too bogged down in conspiracies, but it does seem odd to me how soon after Steven Crowder was taken out, temperately I hope, that James Okeefe is pushed out. Both are voices that are necessary for our nation.
I suspect Pfizer will pick up the tab and turn them into a gonzo news organization with the attitude of MSNBC.
I wonder how much Pfizer “donated” to PV to get the board to roll over.
O’keefe in his early years, seemed the leaner (literally), gutsey’er and sneaky’er and perhaps a lot more meaner version of Andrew Breitbart. Andrew did his work as a self professed goofy happy warrior. James O’keefe seemed a lot more vicious , not a lot of goofy in that young James. It may have been the case that he got a little more of everything as he aged. But I don’t know him. I only know of his on screen persona and his results. For all I know, he could be the most easy going goofball since AB.
Bill knew Andrew and he knows O’keefe.
James O’Keefe is the King of hidden cameras. I’m waiting for the video to come out of his “meeting” with the board!
And seeing the smug bastards lie and smear him to his face and tell him there was nothing he could do about it!
Then, wait for the fall-out.
I can’t find the article but I did read that because of their basic structure, nonprofits (as opposed to for profit corporations with ownership, shareholders, a paid board of directors, etc.) are a recipe for what seems in this case to be a political mugging.
From what I understand, PV is, and always has been, a non-profit. Which was how he was able to even get donors, not new share holders. As such, he was required to have a board of directors. So these guys were there for all these years, and just now decide to kick him out. Something stinks, and it ain’t yesterday’s fish.
I’m starting to think that the whole non-profit thing is a trap. There are so many strings attached (like having a board of directors), that I don’t know if it’s really worth it. Maybe “The Veritas Project” can be built on a different model that gives James more control over his own mission.
The board of directors is in many ways necessary when you are talking about millions of dollars like was the case with Project Veritas. There is no reason to be hostile to a board, or for somebody like O’Keefe to be honest with how money is spent. Fiscal responsibility is actually a part of that job and so far we really don’t know how true the accusations actually were.
In terms of whatever new organization might be created, what I would expect is to increase transparency and try to set up an organizational structure that would put his actions above reproach. Even the appearance of malfeasance ought to be avoided.
While the law requires a board, with the next organization he needs to make sure that he has allies and friends on the new board he may want to create and watch his back.
One way that a board can be corrupted is if a major donor insists that they be put onto that board too, or somebody that is on that board they insist should be there. O’Keefe may want to be careful when that happens and hopefully is able to turn down such requests in the future.
If somehow Pfizer threatened the board or engaged in some sort of blackmail, I hope some evidence for that can eventually be brought forward and criminal charges pressed. Getting that proof may be difficult, but know that is not necessarily a weakness of simply having a board and is in fact a felony if such an action took place.
James’ next expose will be on PV.
I agree with Tim Pool, his next company should be a “for profit” organization so he can do what he wants with the money and doesn’t have to answer to a board. Donors donate because James delivers. If he stops delivering, the donations stop. But this whole answering to a board and getting kicked out of your own organization after breaking one of your biggest stories is really dumb
O’Keefe is not dead …. YET …. so, he will undoubtedly rise again, but the “force” that has just recently ousted him may well be what he most needs to expose next!!! Pfizer, Deep-State, Cabal of all interested in working against him and what he has managed to reveal?!?! O’Keefe may well make time tell all.
I look forward to James’ first revealing video when he gets some idiot at PV drunk and admitting what they did to him. He’s the king of that sort of reveal.
Like the 2020 election stuff, we are seeing the big boys showing people what happens when they have the cajones to take them on. Like a harbor blockade, they sink any ship that dares to sail that direction. And Pfizer is certainly the biggest of the big boys- capable so far of sinking anything that disparages them- even the HUGE rulings against them for their past heroin- oops opioids- pushing- oops marketing.
I wonder if James was foolish enough to allow a non-compete agreement to bind him.
Boy would that be poetic. *grabs popcorn*
Gentlemen, none of you spoke of the “woke” or “Gen Z” factor. Given that the vast majority of so-called “journalism schools” are nothing more than wokester/proglodyte producers, what James O’Keefe seems to have run in to are a few, perhaps a dozen, of these snowflakes who are upset about O’Keefe not kissing their butts every other day. I’ve run into this myself, increasingly to the point that I retired from my civilian job after 25 years because my active duty military job of 20 years REQUIRED me to follow up, ask probing questions, and otherwise BE INVOLVED with those who were accomplishing the mission.
Some of those had issues with HOW I was asking those probing questions and otherwise – dare I say – questioning their personal and professional integrity by doing so.
Nonsense, of course. Most driven leaders intent on accomplishing the assigned mission (as you’ll find in the military) don’t give a rip about your second cousin’s baptism, couldn’t care less about your best man’s boutonnière choice, and really just want you to respond to the question. And get the job done without a load of crap.
But this is today’s working world. The snowflakes have overrun HR and threatened HR (and the company that HR represents) with lawsuits for “creating a hostile work environment.” Consequently, the Board – fearing said lawsuits – make it easy by just culling the manager right out of the herd.
If it happened to James O’Keefe, it can happen to you.
The after action hard-eyed analysis and the “What we learned from our mistakes” stance is an indispensable means not only of achieving victory in military conflict but also accomplishing the mission goals with minimum loss of American lives and limbs.
It is such a tried and true successful methodology that anything that undermines it puts the precious lives of the American Volunteer Happy Warrior at risk needlessly.
General Mark Milley is doing this and he’s a backstabber too. He backstabbed Trump all the way to telling our adversary China that he would let them know the intentions of the Commander in Chief prior to implementation of his orders.
That’s not only moronic, it’s treason and an attitude of treason that puts American lives at risk.
Yet somehow inexplicably he remains Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
I’d posit that Milley isn’t there “inexplicably.” He’s there for a purpose. To destroy the military. It’s intentional. He was selected because yes, he’s a backstabber and he’s a political flunky. Barry Soetoro did a great job of ousting those who might be opposed to his particular type of fascism and Milley survived the cut — because he was never suspected of being anything other than a yes-man.
I meant “inexplicably” as in Milley retaining his Chairman of the Joint Chiefs position is unexplainable in terms of what his position should be. Your explanation is sadly the only one that works and it should not but does.
Milley is not only a backstabber to his legal superiors. Milley has backstabbed all of us in doing the things he does. He’s a traitor plain and simple.
In the world of my dreams I’d like to see him stand Courts Martial. The civilian penalty for treason is a hefty prison sentence but being tried in/by the military is different. The military still has a death penalty for treason.
Milley is but a symptom and an irritant, sort of like an infection. The actual problem is the deliberate purging of military leaders who espouse those things that allegedly are taught at the US Military Academy – Duty, Honor, Country. Obama did a great job of ridding the military of many patriots who served because they believed in those qualities — and Milley, like the nagging cough that just won’t go away, is the type of officer who is left over. Multiply that times thousands when you include other senior officers and NCOs.
Milley is spineless and weak. General Carter Ham is anything but spineless and weak, and it cost him his job. Milley’s still around stealing oxygen.
“Proglodytes”. I like that.
Whether the reasons for O’Keefe’s ouster are political, personal or anything else — This is a backstabbing.
When you find the chief backstabber you’ll know the rest of the story.
If I had to guess I’d say there is a person on the board of directors, or aspiring to the board of directors, who sees a big, fat, profitable company that they want to head and James O’Keefe is in their way.
“Blind ambition” is the usual term applied in this sort of situation.
The way that works is the blindly ambitious person sees an opportunity to make himself a kingslayer and goes for it. Completely disregarding that without the king he means to slay there will be no big, fat, profitable company.
He only sees his own greedy ambition, he doesn’t see the consequences waiting for him down the road.
This is the same thing in politics known as a ‘coup’.
This is the nature of Backstabbers everywhere. Whether it’s taking over a company, assassinating someone’s or some other business’ character, betraying a valid trust, trapping friends and allies into constructed circumstances to build up your own and tear down theirs … Etc.
It’s all part and parcel of the same despicable, dastardly personality type. When you see a backstabbing you know all you need to about the backstabber. They’re all cut from the same bloody cloth.
The cure for the backstabber is honor. Not pride, honor. Because in order to become a backstabber that person has to abandon honor. He may make the conscious decision to abandon honor or he may rationalize his way around it but however he manages it, he does it.
Honor and backstabbing are mutually exclusive.
The only way someone can take the side of a backstabber is if he’s a backstabber too. You have to be one to condone backstabbing.
If you’re not a backstabber then you probably can’t understand how someone can be a backstabber. If you’re not a backstabber and you do understand how backstabbers work you certainly will never, ever find common cause to support a backstabber.
Another recent high profile example of backstabbing is what Steven Crowder did to Jeremy Boring. Premeditatedly manipulating and trapping a friend in a personal conversation into saying things that are not incriminating unless taken out of context is undeniable backstabbing. Up until Crowder did that he might have had a point, not a good point but a point that he could make nonetheless. When he choose backstabbing for his own personal gain over honor Crowder made himself an obvious backstabber.
People who side with, make excuses for or in any way support backstabbers are themselves backstabbers too. They might not have gotten the opportunity for a really good backstabbing yet but if it arises they’ll leap at it.
Beware of backstabbers, they’re easy to spot. By their fruits you shall know them.
If you’re correct – and I don’t at all discount that – that person is a complete moron. He/she didn’t count on the investors whose trust and support go with the guy – O’Keefe – who gets the job done. Certainly not with a grifting, backstabbing yahoo who is looking for his next 6-figure bonus.
Yeah, “moron’s” come in all shapes and sizes. People that would otherwise be considered intelligent blind themselves to the totality of their actions and just pursue their ambitions.
Not counting on (fill in the blank–_____) is a manifestation of blind ambition. They convince themselves that their goal is attainable without considering consequences.
That would be sort of like a military commander planning his operations without taking into account that the enemy gets a vote too. He wouldn’t be a military commander for very long if he did that.
I don’t know that this backstabbing I describe is what actually happened and the truth is — We may never know. We’re not privy to boardroom conversations observed over the relevant period of time.
That said, it has all the earmarks of a Class A Backstabbing.
I am not a person who believes in coincidences. It is awfully suspect that right after catching the Pfizer exec saying what he said. Sounds to me as if Big Pharma came down on the Board.
The Veritas Project…..
You guys came close, and must have missed what O’Keefe had to say about the high expenditures. He acknowledged them, and said that what the Board ignored was the return he got in donations for those outlays. Makes sense in context
Who ever, ultimately, made the decision and set into motion the steps to remove James from PV sorely underestimated the push back they would receive. I can only guess that one of the goals was to utterly destroy PV and they most assuredly have. Luckily the Phoenix will rise from this debacle stronger and more powerful than it was before. I only hope that James’ first target will be exposing who was behind this for all to see. If they can do this to him then where will they stop!
James O’Keefe took the heat. He took the risks. He did the unthinkable, taking on the powerful without the benefit of anything but his brash self-confidence. It was shocking what he accomplished.
If there was ever a reason to believe in “the deep state”, it was watching what happened when truth – VERITAS – was uncovered by his hidden cameras. You cannot argue that reasonable people did reasonable things to mute his power. It was so obviously a collective of big business/big government/big journalism marshalling all that they could to knock him off that you had to come to the conclusion that there is something powerful managing our country that is malevolent in nature.