Incident Details
- Date of Incident
- April 9, 2021
- Targets
- James O'Keefe (Project Veritas)
- Legal Orders
-
-
warrant
for
communications or work product
- April 9, 2021: Pending
- Unknown date: Carried out
-
warrant
for
communications or work product
- Legal Order Target
- Third-party: Microsoft (tech company)
- Legal Order Venue
- Federal
Subpoena/Legal Order
A portion of an April 9, 2021, Justice Department warrant issued to Microsoft seeking emails and contacts from Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe.
The U.S. Justice Department issued a secret warrant to Microsoft on April 9, 2021, to obtain emails and contacts of Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe as part of its investigation of a diary stolen from President Joe Biden’s daughter, Ashley Biden.
O’Keefe’s name was redacted in the warrant, but in a later court filing, attorneys for Project Veritas identified the person targeted as O’Keefe.
The warrant was one of five orders issued to the technology company for communications of eight journalists from Project Veritas, which is known for hidden-camera sting operations of liberal politicians and nonprofits. As a result of the warrants, the government collected nearly 200,000 emails and other files, attorneys for Project Veritas said in a court filing.
In the other secret warrants, federal agents sought emails and contacts from Project Veritas journalists Eric Cochran and Spencer Meads, and five additional unidentified Project Veritas journalists.
Project Veritas, which identifies itself as a nonprofit investigative outlet, purchased the Biden diary in September 2020 from two people who later pleaded guilty to conspiring to transport stolen materials, a felony. Project Veritas never published the diary and gave it to police on Nov. 8, 2020.
The Department of Justice, however, opened an investigation into the outlet and its journalists concerning alleged conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines, conspiracy to possess stolen goods, interstate transportation of stolen property and possession of stolen goods.
The secret warrant sought O’Keefe’s emails, contacts and Microsoft subscriber information from Sept. 1, 2020, to Dec. 1, 2020. A U.S. District Court ordered that the warrant for O’Keefe’s emails be sealed for one year.
After the warrants became public, Project Veritas lawyers filed a request for preliminary relief from U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres. It does not appear from court records that the court ruled on this request.
Separately, search warrants were carried out at the homes of O’Keefe, Cochran and Meads in November 2021, alarming free speech advocates, including Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a project. A special master was appointed to determine what seized information could be shared with prosecutors.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogues press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
