James O’Keefe, who founded the far-right organization Project Veritas, in association with which he has routinely harassed figures like a journalist with The New York Times, who he recently targeted, is resigning from Project Veritas.
O’Keefe has recently been in conflict with the board at the organization, which employs dozens, and before his resignation was revealed in reports this Monday, he went on what was said would be a weeks-long stint of paid leave. The Daily Beast reported O’Keefe is not leaving Project Veritas with a severance package, suggesting there’s a lot of potential money left on the metaphorical table as those involved in the organization deal with his antagonism. Already, two firings O’Keefe made of prominent figures at Project Veritas, including an individual evidently serving as the chief financial officer, were undone, and he has also faced complaints about his personal behavior.
It’s obviously not exactly shocking that someone known for actions like chasing reporter Adam Goldman down the road wouldn’t be pleasant to be around in a workplace. In a video released by the organization itself, which came out just recently, O’Keefe can be seen aggressively confronting Goldman in what basically seems like a parody of what an actual investigative journalist would be doing. With camera in tow, O’Keefe accused Goldman of being a “Fed-boy,” dragging out the last syllable for effect. Goldman questioned whether O’Keefe was stalking him, as the encounter seemed to be taking place in a residential area near where the reporter lived. The answer wasn’t clear from the video. O’Keefe basically just kept blabbering.
On Monday, O’Keefe read his resignation letter to staff at the New York headquarters for Project Veritas, and video of him doing so was available online. It was already reported that the board at Project Veritas would be meeting and considering O’Keefe’s future with the organization, so he could be said to have left Project Veritas under pressure from the board. Neil McCabe, who now works with the right-wing outlet One America News, revealed the detail O’Keefe didn’t strike a severance deal and offered an open-ended question to the Beast about whether Project Veritas could continue without O’Keefe’s involvement. The organization has also faced scrutiny in connection to its procurement of a diary belonging to Ashley Biden, a daughter of the current president. Contents of that diary have been widely distributed on the Right, including in references online from even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
Image: Gage Skidmore/ Creative Commons
