![]() ![]() ![]() Prosecutors insist they’ve complied with those requirements, but have thus far been cagey about whether or not they’re treating O’Keefe as a member of the press. O’Keefe’s attorneys insist that despite his evident political bent and his unorthodox - sometimes deceptive - tactics, he qualifies as a journalist under a federal statute and Justice Department regulations aimed at sharply restricting the use of search warrants and similar steps against members of the media. Project Veritas was facing a jury trial in Washington next month in the suit brought by Democracy Partners, a Democratic consulting firm it infiltrated, but on Thursday, a judge postponed the trial due to the raids and the unfolding legal fight over them.Īt the center of the gathering legal storm is a pivotal question: Is O’Keefe a journalist in the eyes of the law? Torres - an appointee of President Barack Obama - has not yet ruled on O’Keefe’s request for a special master, who is typically a retired judge. District Court Judge Analisa Torres issued a one-page order giving prosecutors one day to confirm they have “paused extraction and review of the contents” of O’Keefe’s cell phones. Such a process is uncommon, but has been used in recent years to sift through information seized in federal investigations into two of Trump’s personal attorneys, Michael Cohen and Rudy Giuliani. O’Keefe’s lawyers are demanding that the court appoint a special master to supervise the review of the information on his phones, which they contend contains sensitive details about confidential sources, as well as privileged communication with Project Veritas’ attorneys. “The Department of Justice’s use of a search warrant to seize a reporter’s notes and work product violates decades of established Supreme Court precedent,” O’Keefe lawyer Paul Calli wrote to prosecutors. O’Keefe’s lawyers complained to a federal judge this week that the raid unfairly denied him the legal protections afforded to journalists. I hope they get a serious reprimand from the court because I think this is just wrong.” “I’m not a big fan of Project Veritas, but this is just over the top. ![]() “This is just beyond belief,” said University of Minnesota law professor Jane Kirtley, a former executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. The politically fraught episode is shaping up as an early test of the vows from Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland to show greater respect for the media and to back away from the confrontational, often hostile approach favored by former President Donald Trump and his administration. O’Keefe says he stood handcuffed in his underwear in a hallway as almost a dozen agents - one carrying a battering ram - searched for the phones. last Saturday to seize his cell phones pursuant to a court order. ![]() That document made it into the hands of O’Keefe’s organization, Project Veritas, which never published anything on the subject and eventually turned the document over to police.Īn ensuing federal investigation resulted in the FBI raid on O’Keefe’s home in Westchester County, N.Y., at 6 a.m. ![]()
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