This article was significantly updated Jan. 9 based on new information from Project Veritas.
Project Veritas, a right-wing group that promised to expose the truth about liberal groups through undercover operations, secret videos, misinformation and conspiracy theories, saw its new CEO step dow two weeks before Christmas after years of controversy and a year of turmoil.
Hannah Giles, the group’s CEO since June, resigned Dec. 11, saying, “I stepped into an unsalvageable mess” that included “evidence of past illegality and past financial improprieties.” She said she presented evidence to law enforcement.
Baptist News Global previously reported Project Veritas had closed when Giles resigned, but Benjamin Wetmore, president of the group’s board, said that’s false.
“We’re not shuttered, and that’s not the truth,” said Wetmore, who also objected to other claims in the BNG article.
Founded by James O’Keefe in 2010, Project Veritas targeted Planned Parenthood, Democratic leaders, public school teachers, postal workers, environmentalists, Pfizer’s COVID vaccines, and media outlets including CNN and NPR by creating undercover videos edited to frame ideological opponents with claims that were misleading or false.
Wetmore denies the claim, saying, “We don’t use misinformation and conspiracy theories to expose the truth. We record powerful people’s truthful statements and release that to the public.”
Its reports often light up the conservative media ecosystem, from Fox News to Focus on the Family, which continues to promote Project Veritas’ false claims of election fraud.
Groups that previously published Project Veritas’ work — including Focus, its sister organization the Family Research Council, National Religious Broadcasters and the Heritage Foundation — have failed to report on its recent challenges.
The Associated Press reported that O’Keefe was fired from the $22 million organization in February after years of allegedly abusing both staff and donor funds, which he spent on luxuries for himself and a girlfriend, and which he used to launch a competing business. The organization sued O’Keefe in May.
Wetmore disagrees with the AP report, saying, “James O’Keefe was not fired. O’Keefe did not leave in February.” Wetmore did not explain O’Keefe’s absence or the lawsuit against him.
Employees called O’Keefe a “power-drunk tyrant” who oversaw a “highly sexualized” workplace that was home to “rampant” drug use.
The group claims its work is journalism. “I don’t think any reasonable person thinks that Project Veritas aren’t a team of journalists,” Wetmore responded.
Journalism groups disagree, and Project Veritas’ work has led to lawsuits, cash settlements, restraining orders and a Pulitzer Prize for The Washington Post, which reported on efforts by Project Veritas to infiltrate its newsroom and promote fake stories.
The group paid $40,000 to acquire a diary belonging to Ashley Biden, President Biden’s daughter, claiming that, too, was journalism, but in December a judge disagreed, and a criminal case against the group continues. Other courts have ruled that the group’s work is journalism.
In 2010, four young “activist journalists” working for Project Veritas were arrested after breaking into the office of Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu.
In 2021, the group bought a house in D.C. to target FBI agents and other perceived “enemies” of Donald Trump, including Trump’s own national security adviser, according to The New York Times.
Wetmore commented on the Times’ report, saying, “I’ve never heard of this.”
Trump has provided funding to the group, as has Donors Trust, a donor-advised fund supported by the Koch brothers.
Project Veritas has a long history of working with conservative Christian organizations to aid Republicans and hurt Democrats. In 2018, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins introduced O’Keefe to the Council for National Policy, a powerful conservative gathering, where O’Keefe promised Project Veritas would deliver ambush videos targeting Democratic candidates in upcoming 2018 races.
O’Keefe spoke about his group’s hidden-camera investigations at Family Research Council’s 2019 Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C.
Focus on the Family, which calls Project Veritas “a group of undercover journalists,” has published more than a dozen articles promoting the group’s work, including three articles promoting the group’s debunked claims of 2020 election fraud:
- “Breaking News: Project Veritas Releases Videos Alleging Voter Fraud in Texas”
- “Minneapolis Police Investigating After Videos Reveal Evidence of Voter Fraud Operation”
- “Election Lawsuits Expand: More States, More Cases”
The latter article relied on false claims from Project Veritas: “The Trump campaign is seeking to gain ‘meaningful access’ to the ballot-counting process in Michigan, but has additionally added claims of ‘ballot counting misconduct’ in a Detroit-area counting facility,” reported Focus’s Daily Citizen.
“Additionally, there are claims being reported by Project Veritas of a post office official in Traverse City telling workers to backdate and postmark any late ballots received on November 4, to November 3, Election Day. That claim, if verified, could also end up in a lawsuit in Michigan.”
Trump supporters filed and lost more than 60 election lawsuits based on these and other similar false claims.
“The idea that we are promoting ‘false claims of election fraud’ is false,” Wetmore said.