WASHINGTON, D.C. – Project Veritas on Wednesday announced that, in response to 2021 FBI raids on their journalists – including founder James O’Keefe himself – in addition to further “targeted” Department of Justice actions, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) has thrown his support behind a new bill that is intended to quantify what exactly constitutes a journalist that he believes will protect the rights of the conservative undercover organization.
HR 4330 – also known as the “Press Act” – is legislation introduced by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) that, if passed, will “clearly define the scope of what it means to be a journalist.”
FBI lawyers investigating Project Veritas over the October 2020 theft of Ashley Biden’s diary have stated they have targeted the group because they believe they were culpable in stealing the diary – an accusation that O’Keefe has denied – and have argued that they are not afforded freedom of the press protections because they are not, in fact, journalists.
“Project Veritas is not engaged in journalism within any traditional or accepted definition of that word,” DOJ lawyers said. “Its ‘reporting’ consists almost entirely of publicizing non-consensual, surreptitious recordings made through unlawful, unethical, and or/dishonest means.”
However, Rep. Nadler’s “Press Act,” according to Project Veritas, “refutes the Justice Department’s self-servingly baseless assertion that Project Veritas does not engage in journalism” by clearly defining the scope of what it means to be a journalist; relevant sections of the bill as cited by PV have been included below:
- COVERED JOURNALIST – The term ‘‘covered journalist’’ means a person who regularly gathers, prepares, collects, photographs, records, writes, edits, reports, or publishes news or information that concerns local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public.
- JOURNALISM – The term ‘‘journalism’’ means gathering, preparing, collecting, photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting, or publishing news or information that concerns local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public.
According to Porject Veritas on Wednesday, Rep. Jordan – a Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee – has come out to offer his support of the group’s “rights as journalists to investigate government corruption without fear of retaliation or persecution.”
“Liberty depends on Freedom of the Press, whether it’s Tucker Carlson, James O’Keefe, Glen Greenwald, Sheryl Attkisson, or Bob Woodward,” Jordan said. “Good reporters are those who are committed to holding the government accountable. Journalists are often the first to expose government abuses, waste, fraud, and encroachment on personal freedoms, and a critical aspect of Freedom of the Press is the pursuit of truth without government entanglements or intimidation.”
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