January 29, 2010

ACORN-Slaying O’Keefe Arrested

UPDATE: A couple of new and interesting allegations have surfaced in the case against O'Keefe. Andrew Breitbart, who publicized O'Keefe’s series of ACORN sting videos and made the young filmmaker the darling of conservatives, claimed in an interview that O'Keefe had been denied access to an attorney for 28 hours after his arrest, sitting in jail, while the U.S. Attorney for eastern Louisiana, Jim Letten, leaked information to the media in an effort to portray the case as “Watergate junior.” Letten recused himself from the case a day after the arrests, leaving his top assistant to handle the matter.

Having been released from custody, O'Keefe acknowledged that his investigative approach was flawed but reiterated his theory that Landrieu was intentionally leaving phones unanswered in the wake of the controversial “Louisiana Purchase” of her vote on the Senate health care bill.

***

Investigative journalist James O'Keefe, along with partner Hannah Giles, created the infamous series of videos last year that showed representatives of ACORN willingly advising the couple how to engage in illegal acts such as child prostitution, human trafficking and welfare fraud. For that, O'Keefe and Giles became the target of yet another lawsuit filed by an employee from ACORN’s Philadelphia office. Katherine Conway-Russell, the employee shown in the Philadelphia office video, filed suit against the pair alleging they disseminated the recordings “in a manner calculated to harm and injure” her.

The news doesn’t get any better, either. O'Keefe and three other men were arrested for posing as telephone company employees and gaining access to the telephone closet serving the New Orleans district office of Louisiana Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu. The four-page charging affidavit alleges the four entered the building “for the purpose of willfully and maliciously interfering with a telephone system operated and controlled by the United States of America.” However, the charging document doesn’t say anything about wiretapping or bugging the offices as indicated by some Leftmedia types all too thrilled to report on O'Keefe’s arrest. Their attorney claims they were just trying to catch Landrieu’s staff on video ignoring phone calls from constituents angry about her vote on health care.

Regardless of the outcome of the ACORN civil case, the criminal charges against O'Keefe and company for their actions in a federal building show there are some tactics which enterprising journalists would be well-advised to avoid. Asking tough questions is one thing, but this lame stunt shows that the ends don’t justify the means.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.