Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe appeared on "Hannity" for his first interview since the FBI raided his home on Saturday morning as part of a federal investigation into the missing diary of President Biden's daughter, Ashley Biden, reports FOX News.
"I woke up to a pre-dawn raid," O'Keefe told Fox News' Sean Hannity on Monday. "Banging on my door, I went to my door to answer the door and there were ten FBI agents with a battering ram, white blinding lights, they turned me around, handcuffed me and threw me against the hallway. I was partially clothed in front of my neighbors. They confiscated my phone. They raided my apartment. On my phone were many of my reporters' notes. A lot of my sources unrelated to this story and a lot of confidential donor information to our news organization."
"I've heard 'the process is the punishment.' I didn't really understand what that meant until this weekend. And Sean, I wouldn't wish this on any journalist," O'Keefe said.
O'Keefe said he was "in a state of shock" as FBI agents spent over two hours searching his apartment, telling Hannity they took two of his iPhones.
Paul Calli, O'Keefe's attorney, commented on the situation regarding Ashley Biden's diary, telling Hannity Project Veritas paid money to the tipsters who had obtained the diary for the "right to publish the material," which the guerilla news outlet never did and later turn the material to "local law enforcement."
Calli also pushed back against the notion that the diary was "stolen," telling Hannity "nobody knows if that's the case."
"This is an attack on the First Amendment by the Department of Justice," O'Keefe said. "I'm calling upon all journalists to take a stand against this. A source comes to us with information, I didn't even decide to publish it. If they can do this to me, if they can do it to this journalist and raid my home and take my reporter notes, they'll do it to any journalist. This is about something very fundamental in this country. I don't know which direction this country is going in. But journalists everywhere have to rise up because we broke no laws here. If they can do it to me, they'll do it to anybody."
The FBI did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment