Last week, FBI agents raided the homes of current and former journalists for Project Veritas for what James O’Keefe is calling the “'crime’ of doing their jobs lawfully and honestly.”
And while Biden's DOJ didn’t want O’Keefe to talk about it, curiously, The New York Times called one of their reporters for comment within an hour of it happening.
“We do not know how The New York Times was aware of the execution of a search warrant at our reporter’s home, or the subject matter of the search warrant, as a Grand Jury investigation is secret,” said O’Keefe, whose New York apartment was also searched.
So what were the raids about? An Ashley Biden diary.
Last year, Project Veritas was tipped off that it was abandoned in a room and contained “explosive allegations against then-candidate, Joe Biden.” Project Veritas couldn’t confirm it belonged to Ashely Biden, however, and published nothing about it. Furthermore, the group handed it over to law enforcement so that it could be returned to whomever it belonged to.
The FBI and Southern District of New York's involvement certainly raises new questions about its authenticity, though, as well as raises serious concerns about the targeting of journalists.
Why did the FBI conduct the raids over a missing diary? GWU law professor Jonathan Turley is curious, too.
The FBI can cite the interstate elements of the alleged theft as raising a federal crime. However, what is the crime? It is not clear if they are suggesting that the responsible parties were seeking to sell the diary or that there was some national security element (which would be bizarre since Biden’s daughter was writing before her father ever became president).
Journalist organizations are routinely given material removed from businesses, agencies, or private owners without permission by confidential sources. If this is a federal crime subject to FBI raids, what happened to the new media policies of the Biden Administration after the Tucker Carlson controversy?
There are a host of unanswered questions. Here are five to start with:
- What was the context for the diary’s loss? (Did Ashley Biden leave the diary in a room or was it stolen?)
- What is the alleged federal crime (and what is the precedent for a major federal investigation over such an alleged theft)?
- What precautions were taken by the Biden Administration in light of the claimed media status of the targeted individuals?
- Why was there a delay in this action being taken if the alleged theft occurred a year ago?
- Has this matter been under investigation for a year and did the White House request the intervention of the FBI? (JonathanTurley.org)
As Turley and the New York Post's editorial board note, regardless of what you think about Project Veritas, the feds' actions have "all the marks of a political vendetta."