(LifeSiteNews) — Prominent conservative investigative journalist James O’Keefe, who founded and led nonprofit outfit Project Veritas until his widely-publicized separation last month following disputes with the group’s Board of Directors, announced the launch of a new journalistic venture in a short video posted to social media Wednesday.
“I spent fourteen years creating the most effective nonprofit newsroom this country has ever seen,” the maverick journalist said in the highly-cinematic ad, which showed him stepping out of a black Mercedes dressed in a suit, then taking a bite of a Subway sandwich before tossing it aside with mock gravitas.
“In paving the way to establish citizen journalism, I have been defamed, arrested, raided, [and] ultimately removed from the organization I spent so much time developing the credibility of,” O’Keefe continued.
He said he “always knew they would try to ruin the reputations of those who expose them. Pharma giants, the three-letter government agencies, and those who I thought I could trust,” an evident nod toward his heavily reported dust-up with Project Veritas’ Board of Directors that culminated in his separation from the nonprofit.
READ: James O’Keefe no longer with Project Veritas
O’Keefe says he was forced out of Project Veritas by the Board, while the company has insisted it didn’t fire him and wants to see him return.
The nonprofit has faced major fallout from former supporters, however, who have stated that Project Veritas is nothing without O’Keefe and suggested that O’Keefe’s new enterprise will attract those who previously followed Project Veritas.
In the Wednesday video, O’Keefe promised to make good on his recent hints about launching a new venture, declaring in the clip that “we are going to build an army of investigators and exposers.”
“They have awakened a sleeping giant,” O’Keefe said. “I’m back.”
The FBI is planning to intensify its “assessment” and “mitigation” of “Radical Traditionalist Catholics” over the next 12 to 24 months according to an explosive document from a former agent turned whistleblower.
SIGN & SHARE: Tell the FBI to stop its surviellance of faithful Catholics and focus on the real criminals.
The bombshell 8-page memo was released by former FBI agent Kyle Serpahin on his website UncoveredDC Wednesday. The report, written by an FBI analyst in Richmond, Virginia, was published for internal agency use only on January 23, is titled, “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities.”
Seraphin describes the briefing as an “intelligence product” that, though not being exhaustive, can be used as an initial reference point for the agency to “prop up” future investigations on the subject. He says he obtained the document from an anonymous Baptist employee for the agency.
“This is the first FBI Richmond domain product to focus on the interest of racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists in the Radical Traditional Catholic movement,” the document states. “A search of FBI databases indicates this is also the first FBI finished intelligence product to specifically address this environmental variable.”
SIGN: Politically-motivated witch-hunts of faithful Catholics cannot be allowed in a civilized society
Among the most controversial aspects of the memo is that it directly cites a defamatory study conducted by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) on the subject “Radical Traditional Catholicism.” The SPLC has long been rejected as a legitimate resource for the FBI, Seraphin says, but in this instance, it is being relied on as a primary source to justify its efforts. The memo also references three anti-Catholic smear articles (here, here, and here) published by leftwing websites Salon and The Atlantic to defend its monitoring.
The report alleges that its real motivation is a concern that “Radical Traditionalist Catholic Ideology” possesses an “anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT, and white supremacy” outlook, and that this presents a threat to the US’s domestic well-being. The report further claims that adherents to RTC ideology “frequently share language and symbolism, such as crusader references or anti-Semitic discourses” online that pro-life white nationalists also support.
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Please send this petition to as many concerned Americans as possible – we cannot allow the continued politicization of the FBI.
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The prominent journalist explained that a “small, tight-knit group of the most elite journalists in the world” who have stayed “by his side,” will join him in “standing up to power” by being the “sunlight” to expose corruption.
Concluding the video, O’Keefe welcomed his supporters to the new organization he has named the “O’Keefe Media Group.”
“We will never be shut down, because not only do I own it, but you own it too,” he said.
READ: Project Veritas loses hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers after parting with James O’Keefe
On its official webpage, the O’Keefe Media Group defines its mission as: “Empowering and equipping a movement of thousands of people like you to report things that are wrong, with the support of an in-house team of elite journalists to bring factual, unbiased stories to light.”
A message published on the site states that O’Keefe’s “army” of journalists will begin “expanding across the country” in the upcoming months, seeking to expose corruption in “every statehouse, every city council, every school board and everywhere people are conspiring to keep themselves in power, practice favoritism, or line their pockets with tax dollars.”
O’Keefe’s video announcement came shortly after he posted a cryptic tweet earlier Wednesday declaring that the “Ides of March have come.”
The Ides of March have come.
We launch today. #OMG
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) March 15, 2023
O’Keefe was talking up the idea of a “citizen army” last week, putting out a call for over 100,000 “fierce truth seekers” to purchase hidden cameras and reach out to him stating their interest in “enlist[ing].”
The comments came shortly after he responded on Friday to a tweet by Twitter and Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who asked how the media went “from questioning authority to doing their bidding as a collective NPC hivemind!?”
“The answer to your question is simple: Contempt for the common man,” O’Keefe responded, tagging Musk as he promised: “We’re going to equip them all. Stay tuned.”
The answer to your question is simple: Contempt for the common man. [email protected]
We’re going to equip them all. Stay tuned @elonmusk https://t.co/58Cu5ItaYR
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) March 10, 2023
According to the official webpage, the O’Keefe Media Group is slated to launch on Independence Day (July 4), 2023.