EPISODE 419： EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH JAMES O’KEEFE
Episode Stats
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Summary
James O'Keefe has been in the news a lot these past six weeks, and now he is announcing that he is launching his own venture, The OKeefe Media Group, a new venture that will focus on citizen journalism. In this exclusive interview, we get to hear directly from James about what has been going on over the last six weeks.
Transcript
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All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard today's edition of Human Events Daily powered by
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Turning Point USA. Today is March 15th, 2023. I know, Dominic, the Ides of March, and what better
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day than the Ides of March to announce that today we have an exclusive interview with James O'Keefe.
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Now, people know that James has been in the news a lot these past six weeks. Huge situation.
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Project Veritas now announcing that he is launching his own venture, the O'Keefe Media Group.
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So I wanted to sit down with James and talk to him directly, straight from the horse's mouth,
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not from sources, not from go-betweens. I want to hear directly from James.
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What's been going on over these last six weeks? What's been going on inside the mind of James O'Keefe
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and to allow him to unpack it for the entire world to see, starting here with the Human Events Daily
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audience to explain to us the path forward. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. James O'Keefe.
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All right. We are excited here to bring on James O'Keefe, the new head of the OMG,
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the O'Keefe Media Group. James O'Keefe, welcome back to Human Events Daily.
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I got to ask, man, how did you come up with the name the OMG?
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I mean, I get O'Keefe Media Group, but surely somebody said to you, like, James,
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are you sure you want the OMG? Are you sure you want to go in with that? Walk me through that one.
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I was sitting in my new war room here, which, you know, I've had about 10 people that I've
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identified to keep doing what I'm doing. And we were just spitting out names and different ideas.
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And I think putting my name in it was something that most people wanted to do because I've already
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had one company stolen from me. So I don't, I think it's a little more difficult when your name is in it.
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And it was just like O'Keefe Media, O'Keefe Media Group. And then there was that OMG. So it was like
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TMZ, OMG. Oh my gosh. You know, because kind of like the videos that we do, it's like, oh my gosh,
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that's outrageous, right? It creates righteous indignation, shocks the people, wakes them up.
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That's what we want to do. So we have a little logo there and it's a subscription-based platform
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where Jack, you can actually go on there and for a thousand bucks, you can actually sponsor a camera,
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one of our special cameras that we will put into the hands of the willing, because there have been
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probably 5,000 people that have emailed me over the last month that want to basically do what I do.
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So now I'm going to basically create Uber for citizen journalism and get the cameras out where
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Well, that's actually incredible. And so what you're also doing that, and I actually didn't realize that
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when you did the first rollout so that people can go in and if you're someone who, okay, maybe you
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don't have in the Intel community, we would have said placement and access, right? So placement and
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access obviously is the bread and butter of what you guys do on your journalism. So you may not have
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placement and access, but you might want to fund that type of journalism. You might want to monetarily
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support it. And by the way, you now, are there different tiers to this? Is this something where people
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could maybe do like, you know, a 10 bucks a month, 20 bucks a month, whatever it is, et cetera.
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Yeah. There's, there's, there's going to be right now we're, we're about to break some stories like
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we all, like I always do. But if you go to this website, O'KeefeMediaGroup.com, there's tiers.
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You got, uh, $500. You get a certificate for a grand, you can buy a camera, uh, for five grand,
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you can get a video from me. And then for 20 bucks a month, you can just subscribe. And eventually this
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website is going to have, um, basically seminars on how to do this sort of journalism. And my vision
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is eventually to arm thousands of people with these little cameras and teach them about ethics
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and how to use the cameras and so forth. So we haven't built the website out fully, but
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people wanted me back in action. I'm back in action. I'll be breaking stories in the next week or so.
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And people wanted to know how they could support. So it's not a five one C three. It's not a non-for-profit.
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It's just a subscription based news organization where the people that want to send their $20
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can now do so. They can subscribe to this website. We will eventually build out the website as we,
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uh, create, uh, these, uh, this, this content and these, what I call masterclasses and how to do
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citizen journalism. Well, I think that's really great because I get people all the time. I'm sure
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you do too. They come up at events, they come up at turning point events, CPAC, whatever we're at.
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And they say, they say, Hey, I'm, um, I love what you do. I want to get started. I want to do what
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you do. How do you get started? The first thing that I always tell people is just get out there
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and do it right. Don't, don't sit back and wait for permission. Don't think that you need there's,
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there are literally, we did a segment the other day talking about this, that if you get a press pass
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and you just go to your local, you know, city council and you find out the contracts that are going
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through, there are stories everywhere. Does that happen to you? Do you get people coming up and
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asking you that kind of stuff? Oh, I mean, it's a, yes. I'm glad you brought that up. The number
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one thing people always say is what can I do? I've always said that, but I also think people like to
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whine and they just, people, I mean, I'm, I'll say it because it's, you know, um, it's a, it's
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critical of the audience, but people just like to whine. They like to complain. And a lot of people
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are complainers and whiners. So this is my opportunity to put it back on them and say,
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Oh, you want to do something? Okay. Well, how about you take one of these little cameras?
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Um, and we're going to give it to you. And if you live in wherever you live, you're going to go to
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your city council meeting, your school board, and you're going to start recording and we'll help you
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do it. We'll guide you. We'll train you. We'll coach you thousands of people. Great. We'll do it.
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Let's do it. Let's go. And then they're like, well, I don't know. And I said, well, you said,
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you said you wanted to do this. So now put your money where your mouth is actually just me tweeting out,
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buy the little cheap Amazon version of the camera, like dozens of people bought it and they're
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willing. And I think this experience that I've been through over the last month, breaking that
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Pfizer story and then being thrown out of the organization I founded has actually inspired a
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lot of people. They feel more activated. Um, so yes, I go to these events. Everyone always asks,
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how can I help and support a lot of people I think just want to complain. Um, but I think there's a,
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there's a small minority of people who are fearless and willing. And that is what this
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company, OMG O'Keefe media group is designed to do. It's, we're going to train and mobilize an army
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of citizen journalists because power hates sunlight and they have awoken a sleeping giant. And the only
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way to hold our leaders accountable, like you have an intelligence background is to find the people
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with the access people that are in proximity to those people who have the, the, I call it
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testicular fortitude to, to get close to record, to jump on the proverbial grenade, not literal grenade
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overseas, but the proverbial grenade in Washington or wherever, and to record it and to show people
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the truth, but to do it on a massive scale. That's the mission of this organization. And I would ask
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What do you say to people who, who they would say, I'm sure one of the responses you'll get back. And
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we always heard this as well, because look, even when I was in the Intel community and I wasn't married yet,
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I didn't have kids yet, but they, I, you know, you saw people that had been invested in for so long
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and they would see the corruption. They would see the things that were going on. They would see the
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lies. I remember Benghazi and I remember sitting there behind my desk going, I can, I know the
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president of the United States is lying. I know that he's lying up there on TV on the white. I can see
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the footage. I can see that he's lying. We can, but he's just, he's telling people the fault, you know,
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this falsehood. But at the same time, you've got people saying, well, hold on a second. You know,
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I'm five years away from my pension. I got a retirement coming in. I got bills. I got health
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insurance. What do you say to somebody like that? Who knows, you know, whether they're at Pfizer or
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one of the banks, as we've seen this week, right? Um, the complete insanity, the mismanagement of
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these banks, someone who knows something that's going on, but they're too worried about the
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repercussions of what will happen before they came out. You also had, of course, at CPAC,
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that incredible moment where the whistleblower from Pfizer came forward with you on stage,
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knowing, by the way, she's probably not going to be welcome back in that industry anytime soon.
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How do you get someone to take that next step? That's a great question. I wrote a whole book
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about this. Um, but let me summarize, you know, there's this, there's this old saying where if you
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go in one direction, you lose your life. If you go in the other direction, you betray your conscience,
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but there is definitely a degree of suffering that goes along with, with truth telling. Um,
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but you, but you maintain your own soul, right? You, you're, you're, you're loyal to,
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to some greater thing. And we're all going to die one day. I don't hate to break the news to you,
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but life is short. And I think more and more people right now want meaning in their life.
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They want to actually make a difference more so now than ever before. Most people are quite
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envious of my little ragtag group of people here at, at, at, uh, OMG. Um, because they're like,
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I want to do what you're doing. Um, and I'm not asking for everyone to do it. I mean, maybe 1% of
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the people that email me are actually willing to do, but that's a lot of people I've gotten like 10,000,
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you know, emails here in the last couple of weeks. So that, that's a, that's a, you know,
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that's, that's a hundred people wanting to wear cameras, which will turn into a thousand people.
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And to answer your question, they may be able to stop one person like me or Debbie, right?
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But they can't stop an army of people. They've that's never happened before. Really. I mean,
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there's been a few journalists here and there. You've been doing good work. Um, some of my colleagues,
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some of my former colleagues doing great work, but imagine thousands and thousands of people
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sticking together. That's what the powerful people fear. Like thousands of whistleblowers
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coming out at the same time. And yes, it's hard, but there's also a lot of grace that comes along
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with that so-called suffering. And you're, you're adhering to the truth. You're being loyal to your
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conscience. Some, sometimes the public's right to know is so great that it's worth the sacrifice
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inflicted on you. And there is a support network. We are going to support you. I will create seminars
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on ethics and, and legal primers and technology to support you. And, and, and I, and I, I told Debbie,
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I was like, well, listen, Pfizer is going to have to go through me to get to you. Okay. And if they go
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through me, they got an army of people by my side. And Debbie was inspired to, to come out, um, as a
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result of what happened to me, she was previously unwilling to go public. Uh, she was afraid, but after I
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was thrown out of the organization, I found it a week after the Pfizer story, she became inspired to go
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public. And that was a really beautiful thing. And I think there's going to be a lot more people to
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do the same. Look, James, I mean, and, and if you're willing to share anything with us on that
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people, people are so confused. It's like, it's like a rollercoaster and everyone's head is spinning
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with whiplash over this, the Pfizer video drops this thing. The last time I checked, it was at like
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30 million. It's probably up to 50 million views at this point. One of, if not the biggest
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project Veritas video that I've ever seen has come out, one of the biggest stories, just an absolute
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apex moment. And then suddenly, you know, the brakes are put on hold. It feels like there's all
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this instability. You leave the organization. Can you walk us through those six weeks? Just what was
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going on from your perspective? Are you able to share that with us? Well, I don't know if you guys saw
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my, um, my, uh, uh, uh, remarks departing. Did you, did you happen to see those? It was about
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a 45 minute. I mean, I, uh, I mean, that that's basically what, what I have to say about the
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matter. And it was, I said it to my staff, it was 60 people, 65 people. And it was, um, and then it was
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leaked. I recognize that when I, you know, distribute a Vimeo link to 70 people, someone's going to probably
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leak it, but I didn't leak it. Um, you know, and that's what I have to say about the matter.
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It's all there. I'm, I never really paid attention to board governance. I was the CEO. Um, and I was
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taking responsibility for everything. I kind of ran it in an orthodox way. And so far as I was taking
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responsibility for everything, I did my yearly audits. I had my quarterly financial statements.
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Um, but it was, it was quite bizarre. I just deal about black cars and sandwiches.
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If you watch my ad for OMG, I actually get out of a black car and I, I throw a sandwich. I was a
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homage to these really strange things. Um, and I, and I've been the same man for 13 years. I probably
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improved a bit. Um, but I think in a media organization, in a media company, most media
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news organizations are corrupted at the top in traditional newsrooms. Journalists don't really
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do journalism. Investigative journalism is a thing of the past because most organizations are pursuing
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a profit or they don't understand how to run a balance sheet as it, when it pertains to investigative
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reporting. So having ethics and integrity is going to be critical. Um, and sometimes it's not always
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profitable if you're trying to squeeze profit. Uh, but I, I ran that organization. I, I spent 14 years
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of my life, uh, building a credible news organization and, uh, and suddenly there was an emergency to
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oust me, uh, all of a sudden, which doesn't make sense to me. It doesn't make sense to any of you,
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but I would, I would say to you that I learned a lot from it. Um, I'm going to be more effective
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as a result of it. I've certainly seen a lot of evil and darkness, but I've also really seen a lot
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of good. I've been able to identify a few people that are absolutely, I mean, amazing human beings,
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uh, that I've gone through this with me and have been by my side and, and really, you know,
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this is a movement that requires really strong people in their souls, absolutely unyielding,
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won't bend at the knee, won't be pressured, uh, people that will do it for free. Um, which, which,
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which some of us have been doing here, Jack, for the last couple of weeks, um, you know,
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sleeping on the floor and eating pizza and doing what we have to do. That's what we're doing over
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here because we believe in it. And, and I think I'll be more effective as a result of this. And
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I've learned a lot of things that will help me as I venture to the next level, which is to equip
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thousands of people with the cameras as opposed to just a couple dozen. That's incredible. And I
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appreciate you sharing with that with us and being as candid as you've been. I mean,
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can you walk us through just what is the process there? What's the process of that,
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of determining who those individuals are to start with your, your, I mean, it's like your startup
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right now, basically you are a startup right now, um, that you are, you've gone through 13,
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14 years of your public career. Now you're back at the beginning, right? You've, you've gone back to
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the start in a sense, but it's a new start. Can you explain that process to us?
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Well, I wouldn't say it's a start. It is definitely a startup. This is not a five,
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one C three. This is a subscription-based news news organization. And you will see stories in
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the coming days. You might even see a story like tomorrow or Monday. I mean, as I speak to you,
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these things are flying across the transom, even more from Pfizer. I mean, we have people inside
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fires that only trust us. They don't trust anybody else because they know that I'm not for sale.
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They know that even though this is a subscription-based news out news organization, no one
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will, I'm operating without fear or favor. No one will tell me what not to do and tell me what
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do do. And I, and I own this. There's no board of directors that own this right now. Um, but I
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think to answer your question, if you go to this website about that, by the way, because, because
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I haven't heard you say anything about that. You're, I've never seen to my knowledge, project
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Gartas, even in the past, I've never seen you take ads. I've never seen you, uh, work with,
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with any of those types of, um, you know, programmatic advertisements or anything like
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that. And you're saying right now that you're not going into this with huge financial backing
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or any of that stuff. You're just asking for subscriptions.
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No, I mean, I, we, I maxed out my credit card in the last week to, to, uh, and my colleague,
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um, one of my brave colleagues who is volunteering put on his credit card, the flight for Debbie to
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CPAC. That's, that's what we're doing over here. Okay. Because we believe in it because
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my people are, we're working for free for the last two weeks, myself included. And that's
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fine because the people that are willing to do this are willing to do it for free. When
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I, I tweeted out, Hey, go buy these Amazon cameras and literally like a few dozen people
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bought them and say, I'm ready to go. So, but the next level today, we're getting a few
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thousand subscriptions right now. So I can make payroll and hire my people officially.
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And for a thousand bucks, you can actually buy a camera for one of our sources. And as
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my understanding is in the last two hours, I think a few, uh, how many people do we have
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doing that? Maybe a couple dozen have already put in those thousand dollar subscription so
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that we can buy the camera. So what I envisioned Jack is that eventually we're going to have
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seminars on ethics and technology, legal primers so that we can, we can mobilize these people at
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these events and put them to work. That's my vision, uh, so that we can create a vast army
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of citizen journalists. And then that will happen. It's already happening right now.
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Now, one thing, and I appreciate you mentioning that about, about Pfizer, about how there's people
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who they don't feel trust, right? Because when you're dealing with what we would call source
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management and source handling, right? People talk about sources and we use these phrases
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like placement and access. We used to, you know, in the Intel community, we'd say human
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intelligence and source management, confidential human. At the end of the day, it's just people.
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Okay. It's just people. And if you've got to hand off a source from someone that you have a
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trusted relationship with someone who in many of these cases, you're opening yourself up to,
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you know, just in the journalism side, legal liability, you're opening yourself up to political
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liability. You might be fired, financial liability, all of this. You cannot do that without a trust
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based relationship. So James, when you're, when you're looking at take Pfizer, for example,
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these types of relationships, how important is that source management? Obviously, you know,
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seeing somebody like Debbie come out at on stage like that and present herself to the entire world is,
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is the pinnacle of it. But people don't understand. I think a lot of the audience may not even
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understand what it takes to get someone from that first, that first email, that first text,
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that nibble all the way up to being on stage next to you, if you know what I mean.
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Well, I do know what you mean. And it comes down to trust and, and it sounds like a cliche. You know,
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we hear the words integrity and, and, um, our whole lives. What does that mean?
00:20:55.920
Um, it means you do the right thing, you know, to quote the 60 minutes whistleblower,
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Jeffrey Wigand interviewed by Mike Wallace in 1996, one of the most famous whistleblowers of all time.
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There's a whole movie about it called the insider with Al Pacino. It's a great movie.
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And Jeffrey Wigand says to Mike Wallace, Mike Wallace said, why are you doing this? And why again? So
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Wigand said, because it's the right thing to do. So it's doing the right thing. Um, uh,
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and when you have nothing to gain from the transaction, it's, and, and, and, and the problem
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in the for-profit news industry traditionally has been, if you're running it like a business,
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you're going to squeeze every ounce of profit out of it and investigative reporting. Some of my
00:21:37.700
stories have cost a million dollars to do. Okay. It's very expensive. It takes months of the story
00:21:43.540
we did, uh, you know, on the border of last year, I mean, months and months and months and dozens of
00:21:48.340
people. And, and most people there's, it's sort of philanthropic work, right? So, and then there's
00:21:55.400
the fear factor that is to say you operate without fear or favor to quote an old slogan. I think it was
00:22:01.900
from Pulitzer 120 years ago. That means you operate without fear and you operate not partial to a
00:22:08.580
particular policy. Well, hell, I mean, 99% of the people in media, all they do is talk about their
00:22:15.500
preference for policy. I just want the cold, hard facts. So I think in source management, if you
00:22:20.680
operate without fear, if you're philanthropically minded and you're not shoving policy down my
00:22:27.140
throat, you're just focused on the cold, hard facts, I think we didn't engender trust with people.
00:22:32.380
And I think when it came to Debbie and you can, um, you know, she's my first whistleblower, uh, in the
00:22:37.940
last couple of weeks, she, she was inspired to, to go on that seat. You were with me at CPAC Jack.
00:22:43.820
She was inspired because she saw what happened and she, you know, and I don't want to put words
00:22:49.480
in her mouth, but certainly it's very suspicious timing. Um, and, um, she decided that, that,
00:22:56.460
you know, she would follow. And I think, uh, you can't really philosophize courage. You can't
00:23:02.780
tell people to do something. You have to do it yourself and then people will follow.
00:23:07.360
So it's kind of some momentum that we have right now with OMG and O'Keefe media group,
00:23:12.720
thousands of people want to follow Debbie's footsteps, kind of a band of brothers to quote,
00:23:17.600
uh, Henry V. I know I texted you that, that quote from, from Shakespeare, we few, we happy few band
00:23:22.960
of brothers. And that's what, that's what essentially this is. All right, folks, we're
00:23:27.420
going to have to hold it there, unfortunately for time, but James has so much more that he wants to
00:23:31.980
share with you. I've got so much more that I want to ask him that we are going to have to ask you
00:23:36.340
to tune in this Friday. We're going to bring you part two of our James O'Keefe interview. Tomorrow,
00:23:43.120
we're going to be focused on all the current events. We have Richard Barris on, but make sure
00:23:46.320
you come back Friday, James O'Keefe. Ladies and gentlemen, as always, you have my permission to lay