Collusion 101: How Donald Trump Continues to Amplify the "Nonpartisan" Work of Project Veritas

The following tweet caught my eye Monday night:

“Project Veritas-Obtained Undercover Videos Highlight Jeff Zucker’s (@CNN) Campaign To Destroy Drumpf. Videos Reveal @CNN’s BIAS!” @TuckerCarlson @FoxNews Does this sound like a good, or even great, lawsuit?

— Donald J. Drumpf (@realDonaldDrumpf) October 15, 2019

Not so much for the continued attack on CNN or the press but rather for the timing of the tweet.

Earlier that day, Project Veritas, the far-right "journalists" who secretly record liberal and progressive organizations and then manipulate those videos to rile up their base, sent an update to their members about this very thing. In an email to supporters, Veritas CEO James O'Keefe wrote:

Dear Friend,

In case you missed it, Project Veritas exposed CNN today. Click here to view the new video.

This new series features CNN Insider Cary Poarch. He bravely recorded hundreds of hours inside CNN, including daily 9am calls with CNN President Jeff Zucker.

Ironically, on this morning’s phone call, Jeff Zucker stated, “I know many of you have seen these tweets from Project Veritas”

Cary explains why he did this:

I was about to quit. And I wrestled with the decision long and hard. I mean, you and I spoke for weeks before we kind of decided to do this and it still scares me. Again, you said it in the question. I mean this is exposing - most likely the biggest media conglomerate in the world. I lose sleep over it, but this is - I decided.

I decided to wear the camera because I didn't see any other option because I noticed that I was in a very unique position in space and time to just do something to protect the republic, to basically put everything in the sunshine that I could, let the cards fall where they may.

I just hope that others in similar positions will take the mantle as we all have. I mean, the Facebook insider inspired me. My goal with this, aside from getting CNN to return to what it's great - its old greatness is to inspire literally the dozens of people I've had this same conversation with, not only at CNN but at different outlets.

He told the truth for you, it’s time for us to support this patriot. Click HERE to go to the official GoFundMe for CNN Insider Cary Poarch.

Some of the highlights from today’s report include:

Zucker emphatically stating that Fox News is “Beyond Destructive for America”

Zucker to staffers: “Impeachment is the Story,” Ignore Other Stories

Nick Neville, CNN Media Coordinator: “Jeff Zucker…has a Personal Vendetta Against Trump”

CNN Floor Manager Mike Brevna: “It’s the Trump Network, Dog…They Sold Themselves to The Devil” And Says The “Office Was Like a Funeral” After Trump Election Victory

This story has been receiving tons of coverage including the front page of the Drudge Report and Fox News.

There has been a surge of social media coverage: Number one trend over the last 48 hours and over 546,600 tweets.

It has also been covered by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Forbes, and the Daily Wire.

Part 2… coming soon!

If you’d like to see more, tune in to watch Hannity and Tucker tonight on the Fox News Channel.

Be Brave,

James

So clearly, the Veritas "story" had made its way to the Oval Office and had somehow gotten on Donald Trump's radar. Which, in itself, hardly seems like news. After all, Trump frequently cites such right-wing media outlets such as Fox News and OANN so it should hardly be surprising that Trump would also quote Veritas, an organization that O'Keefe created after studying under the tutelage of Andrew Breitbart. Feeling slighted as always, Trump has now stated he's considering a lawsuit against CNN for what he perceives to be biased coverage against him and his administration. As recently as Tuesday afternoon, Trump had gone so far as to state the completely unfounded rumor that Jeff Zucker will be resigning in the wake of this story. For a president who loves playing the victim, this Project Veritas story seemed to come at an opportune moment for him to go on the offensive and to use Twitter to deflect the mounting evidence being collected in his impeachment inquiry.

This is not the first time that Project Veritas has gone to bat for the Trump Administration. In July of this year, O'Keefe was personally praised by Donald Trump at a social media summit at the White House for his work. That should come as no surprise as Veritas' undercover recordings have included attacks against ACORN, former Louisiana Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu, teachers' unions, and four separate attacks on the Democratic Party during the 2016 election, all of which were proven to be false and misleading. In addition, Project Veritas was busted in November in 2017 after a botched sting attempt tried to discredit The Washington Post's reporting of the sexual assaults committed by Roy Moore during their in-depth research piece on Moore's perverted history. O'Keefe finally admitted he was caught and attempted to spin his obvious loss as a win to his supporters. Prior to the most-recent CNN "bombshell", O'Keefe and Project Veritas had been focusing their ire on Google by claiming the tech giant is inherently biased against conservatives.

Surprisingly, O'Keefe doesn't do all this out of the goodness of his heart. In fact, there is already a documented instance of a financial relationship between Trump and O'Keefe. During the third presidential debate in October of 2016, Donald Trump lied and claimed that Hillary Clinton supporters were paid to incite violence at one of his Chicago rallies. The accusation was blatantly false and had originated at Project Veritas. What was not false; however, was that it was uncovered that same month that in May of 2015 the Trump Foundation gave a $10,000 donation to Project Veritas. In November of 2017, it was revealed that the Trump Foundation gave a second donation to Project Veritas in 2015 for a total of $20,000. Not wanting to bite the hands that feed him, O'Keefe and his team were more than willing to go to bat for Trump throughout the 2016 election cycle and their completely biased "reporting" shows a clear preference for then-candidate Donald Trump.

All of this would be fine and dandy if Project Veritas was simply another right-wing media outlet a la Breitbart. But, they are not. In fact, Project Veritas explicitly states on its website that it is a 501(c)3, which, according to the IRS means that they are forbidden from:

directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity.  Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes.

Based on their work from the previous 4 years, it can hardly be argued that Project Veritas has been nonpartisan in their work. The fact that the organization's CEO is not only targeting progressive individuals and organizations for their "investigations" but also that the organization continues to carry water for Donald Trump, who openly praised their work, should be a huge red flag to New York state investigators. Add to the fact that the organization has taken in at least $20,000 from the Trump Foundation and there is a clear conflict of interest along partisan, political lines. Knowing that there is still coordination (either explicit or implicit) when Project Veritas releases its videos and when Donald Trump tweets about them and there can be no question that Project Veritas is blatantly abusing its 501(c)3 status in a way that is apparent to even the most casual observer. By flagrantly ignoring the law, Project Veritas is claiming that there are no consequences for their actions.

I can only hope our friends in the New York State Attorney General's office feel differently.