FEB 28 2022 - THE DOWNFALL OF JEFF ZUCKER WITH JAMES O’KEEFE
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Summary
In this episode of Human Events Daily, we sit down with American dissident James O'Keefe to discuss his new role at Project Veritas, and how he and his organization have been instrumental in exposing the deep-rooted corruption at CNN.
Transcript
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All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard today's edition of Human Events Daily, a very
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special episode. We're sitting down with my friend, the illustrious journalist, the
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muckraker, the American dissident, none other than James O'Keefe himself. James, welcome
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You've been on quite a tear lately. You've just announced new news. You're bringing on
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a 25-year CNN executive, essentially, to come in to be part of Project Veritas. You've just
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exposed the FDA. And I want to get into those, but I also want to say that there's something
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that's just happened very recently that you've played a huge role in. I don't really think
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that a lot of people are realizing and giving Project Veritas the credit where it's due.
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And not because you were trying to do this, but just because you were doing your job and
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telling the truth, the downfall of Jeff Zucker. The way that the bottom completely fell out
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on him, this was a death of a thousand cuts of his own doing. But it took the exposing
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of the truth and the exposing of his misdeeds by organizations like yourselves and like the
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brave whistleblowers who came forward there to tell the truth. What do you think really
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went down with Jeff Zuckerberg? Well, first of all, Patrick Davis, he's
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off camera, but he's standing five feet away from me. 25-year veteran of CNN. We announced
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here at CPAC that we're hiring him as our top producer. And he's been with us for three to
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four months and produced the DARPA story, produced the Rick Salibi story. Nobody knew that.
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is rudderless because, and then Patrick has said this too, it's not that Zucker was a bad
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leader. You can be a good leader in the authoritarian sense. Like he was every day giving directives
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and all of the talent loyal to Jeff Zucker. Okay.
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But now that you've taken their God away, what do they actually believe in? Because it's not
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telling the news. And then, and then there was a scandal that came out recently about Andrew
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Cuomo. And this is reported in New York Times and Megyn Kelly and other people, Wall Street
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Journal, that they were timing their news with Andrew Cuomo's press conferences so unethical.
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Everything they accuse you of and me of, they were doing themselves. Of course, that's what
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they do. They, they accuse their enemy of that, which they are guilty of. So what the extraordinary
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thing I learned from talking to Patrick, who was caught on a covert recording by Kerry Porch
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in 2019. And he said, all we got to do is tell the news, put a guy at the desk and tell the news.
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Like the 1991 Gulf War coverage. It was no name people doing extraordinary journalism.
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And this was, this was the Ted Turner original vision for 24 seven news. It was, it really
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was the first to market in terms of this model of a 24 seven network that was totally dedicated
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to news. And as you say, it was that Gulf War coverage that really put them in the front seat
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to say, look, we can, you know, we can cover this like a car chase, but we can be here all
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a day, every day. And that was a beautiful, amazing
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vision that Ted Turner came up with, you know, in 19, early 1980s and the Gulf War coverage.
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And then in 96, Fox came about and, and MSNBC, and then it became a struggle for appointment
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viewership. And CNN had like 16 talent on a, on a oval desk. It was overkill. There was
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no journalism. So it was the opposite. It was anathema to Ted Turner's vision. So Patrick
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Davis says these things. He did not know that he was being recorded in 2019. We did a 12 or
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so stories about CNN over the last decade. And, and, and you know, you say paper cuts
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to Jeff Zucker. Jeff Zucker's strategy was always Voldemort. Do not utter the words,
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project Veritas, make it go away. That's what Zucker told his staff.
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I remember you actually mentioned this to me once that if you go on CNN.com and you run
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a search for your name or project Veritas or a few of these other terms, and it's nowhere
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to be found. So Zucker's strategy, yes, always say nothing. Now that might-
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But that might seem like a good strategy. However, when it comes to some things that
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can actually be a bad strategy. Any, as you're, you're, you're, you're in the Navy. I mean,
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you can't have a universal rule like that. Never utter a word about anything. So we go, and
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then in December, we exposed Rick Salibi, who is a guy, Jake Dapper's producer, and you cover
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this. Thank you, by the way, for your reporting on this.
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That was the last time, the last time you were here, that was, that's exactly the rule.
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And I would say you were the number one journalist in America, maybe the only journalist in America
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who covered that story. And as a result of that, Jack, Rick Salibi left CNN. In fact,
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we later learned that Rick Salibi left the same day we launched the story, but CNN didn't
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Matt Dornick, that's CNN's, one of their vice presidents.
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Replies to a tweet, like a no, with three likes on it, and says, oh, this is old news.
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He left directly because of what we exposed, and they made it seem like an anti-climax weeks
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But the problem with that strategy, says Patrick Davis, is when a guy is soliciting pictures
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So eventually this bit Jeff Zucker in the ass on all fronts.
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Well, I think also the issue for him was it's not 1991 anymore.
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We have the decentralization of information now, the democratization of information, if
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We have outlets like yourselves, your own social media, which is why they try to clamp
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you down, ban you on Twitter, et cetera, smear you on Wikipedia and all the rest.
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So you have all of these other outlets now by which people can turn to and say, look, you
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know, I might not be a fan of James O'Keefe or Jack Posobiec or Tucker, whoever it is.
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You know, but they're saying this and they've got receipts to back it up.
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And now I just heard that because, you know, this is the way news works now.
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News is you're getting texted from your family members, your peers, your coworkers.
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And so the Voldemort strategy used to work, which might work if you lived in like Russia
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or China right now, it fundamentally doesn't work here.
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And I think you are seeing the democratization of tech, but the challenge for truth-tellers
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is that CNN, The New York Times, and these oligarchy of media have a partnership with tech.
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And that does allow them to inject their poison and their narrative into the minds of unwitting
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Because there still are a percentage of, I think that percentage is shrinking.
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There still is, I don't know what the numbers are, 10, 20, 30, 40% of the American people
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who believe what they see in the chyrons on CNN.
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And Patrick, you know, what I learned in the last couple of weeks interviewing Patrick
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was that he told me that when he, when Sam Feist, the CNN bureau chief, still works at CNN,
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brought Patrick in to, usually they do like a Soviet-style recanting, you must take your statements
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away, you didn't mean what you said into the camera.
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And in that room, let's say there was 30 to 50 people, people applauded him at CNN.
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What that tells you is that half, maybe even a little more than the majority of people,
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are actually decent people like you or anyone else here.
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And that's really where we are in this country is this fear, this, this concern about losing
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And I think you saw it in Canada last month since I saw you, I saw Canadians on the street
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in Ottawa saying, I think there was one guy who said, I'll give up my life.
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That was an extraordinary, I don't know if you saw that powerful clip.
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You almost see it's like a rugged individualist thing to say.
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But they got pushed all the way past the brink.
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If it does, people will be pushed and they'll push back, you know?
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And it's happening with people like Patrick Davis at CNN.
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You know, I think, and I've talked to people at NBC behind the scenes.
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I've talked to people at, also at CNN, people at some of these places where it's like they join
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up and they're working there because they believe in the stated vision and purpose
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And then it's usually a couple of years in, once they've started to become vested,
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once they've started to build up their resume there, they realize where they are
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And at that point, it really does come down to one of those questions of, okay,
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Or can I get out and I go do something else with it?
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And I think that because of what you're doing, because of the work you're doing,
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it's starting to give people the realization that they can come out, they can speak the truth,
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And so once you open that door once, the door actually gets wider.
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It actually is a situation where you're going to have a follow-on effect.
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The only way I've found that you can get people to do it is when they see someone else do it.
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And then they watch from the sidelines and say, what's going to happen to this person?
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I think people just place more of a primary value these days on their conscience than they did a decade ago.
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And a lot of the comments I get from a crowd, like I'm at CPAC here, I would say the majority of comments from people are kind of like,
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And I say, well, with that attitude, nothing will happen because you'll manifest that.
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But inside of each and every one of us is this seed of courage, is this American ideals, right?
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The e pluribus unum and equality before the law and the First Amendment.
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These are beautiful, incredible, incredibly timeless things.
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And you can choose to believe that nothing matters or you can tap into that thing inside of you and do something.
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Well, let me find the people who are willing to do something.
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You've talked to sources inside of all these groups.
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They're ready and willing to go forward and publish something about what's going on.
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I mean, people have different motivations for why they do what they do.
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But I do think you're also right in the sense that for people, for someone to be motivated
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to become a whistleblower, it does also, one of the biggest motivations is that something
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will come of it, that it will have an effect, that, okay, they're making a risk, a great risk
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to their personal security, their personal financial status, right, their economic well-being.
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If they have children, if they have a family, et cetera.
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But at the same time, they want to know what's going to be worth it.
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And so when I look at the downfall of Jeff Zucker, I can't help but think that that is tied to all of his actions
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that were exposed by Project Veritas, by the whistleblowers, by this entire movement that's come forward,
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to simply tell the truth, to tell the truth about what's going on behind the scenes.
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But once you understand the way that place operates and the way it is behind the scenes
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and the fact that there are good people that would like to see it righted, wouldn't it be wonderful
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if we actually had a truth-telling news network in the United States?
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I mean, imagine CNN airing our stories, airing your stories.
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I think the talent, based upon what I've heard, the talent is the problem.
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I think it's a safe generalization to report because it's what I've been told by people inside the network.
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I think it's almost like everyone else is good except the talent.
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I mean, you have people behind the scenes all saying the same things.
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Information is the accountability that people seek.
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Because it's either that, it's either you persuade by informing people and by educating them,
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Unless you get half your countrymen, or 60%, or whatever the numbers are, to agree with you,
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the only way you're going to accomplish that objective is through violence.
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I believe we actually have the majority of people do agree with us.
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At the same time, people have to look at this and say, you know, it's kind of like,
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oh, when I was in the Navy, you know, when you're turning an aircraft carrier, right,
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It's little incremental movements, but then eventually, once you realize that a new course
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has been charted, you are stuck on that course and you're stuck there for a long time.
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Benjamin Franklin said, this is all an American muckraker, this book I wrote.
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These are things that are so self-evident that it's like common sense.
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Instagram does not allow you to tag me, which is its own sort of badge of honor.
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And I worry, because God, there's so many truth social and parlor and this thing.
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But the problem is, do you want to preach to the choir?
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Do you want to only speak things to people who agree with you?
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So I warn people not to only use those mediums.
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So people will ask me, they say, Jack, why don't you get off of Twitter completely?
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Why don't you voluntarily take yourself off and only use those platforms?
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I say, look, I'm going to use Getter and Truth and Rumble and Parlor and everything else that comes out.
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What leads someone to say to you, don't tell the truth on Twitter?
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But the other thing that I look at this is that I say, I am not going to leave the field of battle because the battlefield is dangerous.
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That's like saying, don't speak the truth out there in the street.
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Only whisper in your bedroom what the truth is.
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I'm going to call that out because I don't understand that.
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Andrew Breitbart, again, he died 10 years ago Tuesday.
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He was a mentor of mine and someone I really respected.
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He was all about getting in the mainstream media.
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So Walter Cronkite, if you go back to the 80s, go back to the 70s.
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You know, you've got to get covered by the mainstream media.
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But by using multiple social medias or going to different media outlets like that.
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And even for Project Veritas, when I think every single one of your last few videos,
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whether it be the two-part FDA story, exposing the FDA on vaccines and the effectiveness
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and what their plans are for the rollouts, or even just anything.
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Anything that you put out has been taken down by Twitter within usually about 12 hours.
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So what I've got in the habit now of doing is saving it.
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Whatever the person, and there's a million even people watching...
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I'll tell you half people think, why would you put your stuff on Twitter?
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The mentality that we're not supposed to tell the truth to people who disagree with us.
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And I grant you that I want to be on all of these things.
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I think we're getting set up today here on Instagram.
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Distribution is power when it comes to information.
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And whether you have to have anonymous accounts in order to get it out.
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They said, John, what would you do if they shut you down on everything?
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I'll get my ham radio and I'll set up and the biggest generator I can find.
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There was a moment in the beginning of my career...
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And I was at the lowest point someone could be.
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My mother and sister, who are wonderful people, gave me this advice.
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And James, even if one person is willing to listen to what you have to say, you tell them
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I mean, that's a pretty low point to be when you decide, okay, there's one person who will
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But I also believe if the content is good enough, like the FDA guys' shocking statements,
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the DARPA documents, I mean, shocking statements.
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Anthony Fauci mentioned us by name in that Senate hearing.
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So content is king, to quote the Viacom chairman, late Viacom chairman, said content
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If the visuals are shocking enough, they'll sort of effuse their way into all the different
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So the real mission is to get the stuff that's really going to shock people.
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But I will say this because there's so many people and they'll say, oh, you know, he's
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I find lots of ways, lots of easier ways to make money.
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Well, that's what all these alternative media companies are, when they're monetizing,
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It's so funny how people will always accuse you of that which they are guilty of.
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When someone makes an accusation, like an ad hominem, it's always because that's what
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They're telling you how, it's a psychological thing.
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And we're actually a philanthropic news organization.
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There's no, in my opinion, there's no business model for investigative reporting.
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You have to be like a masochist or a sociopath.
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You have to like pain to be an investigative reporter because some of our stories cost a
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I'm probably one of the only men you'll ever meet unless you, well, you were in the armed
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So maybe you met a terrorist or a drug dealer or a sex trafficker once or twice.
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But I'm probably the only man you'll ever know who's been put in handcuffs twice by the
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So, no, we're not, we haven't never made money doing this.
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And I don't think if you're doing investigative work, investigative journalism, I don't think
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you can because of how expensive the work is and how little profit there is in it.
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And, you know, Twitter, trillion dollar company, Google, trillion dollar company.
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I think I saw some stats on these new social media networks.
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So you're not, it pales in comparison to the power they have.
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You're going up against billionaires every day.
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If you don't understand that going into this, then you're not going to do well.
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But there are some things more powerful than money.
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Like, Laura Logan said this to me so poignantly.
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I don't want to be an elected representative ever.
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I would say that so many people agree with us, even inside these institutions.
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See, this is what the other, whatever you want to call it, the establishment, you know,
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that is one of their greatest tricks, is to make you feel isolated, atomized, individualized,
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that I'm the only person who thinks this way, that I'm totally alone.
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Thousands and thousands of people are flocking to this now.
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The TSA guys, the Uber driver, the hairdresser.
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Not even CPAC, because that's self-evident here, but I'm talking about the people that
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I mean, even the people in my apartment that morning, the FBI raided me.
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It's hard to know the body language of a Fed, because they might be trying to pretend to be
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something, but what struck me about their body language was four out of 10 of those agents
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were almost like they were fans of market, but they were just following orders, right?
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They were just following orders to, you know, my pension, my pension.
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Well, there's some things more important than your pension, right?
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And Veritas is a breeding ground for these people.
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And I think you're going to see, I think you're going to see an explosion of truth-tellers
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and whistleblowers, Jack, as people get pushed to the brink.
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As we wrap things up, let us know and let everybody know where can we follow you, if
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you're able to tell us anything you're working on, and what's next on the mission plan for
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I mean, I think the best place to follow us is actually Telegram, because you can download
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And upload, I know you do that, like you do distribution by proxy.
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So we'll send you the click-to-tweet link, and it'll automatically embed the video clip
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What's coming is a lot more, we have an election coming up.
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So what we find is that politicians in swing states tend to mislead voters.
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They tend to lie about what they actually believe in to get elected.
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Just this morning we released a video, if you have not seen it, it's a 15 minute long
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sort of Barbara Walters-style interview with a 25-year veteran of CNN who's come to work
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Extraordinarily powerful interview that I encourage you to watch.
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I mean, I love having the ability to pick the brain of someone who is in one of these
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machines, and to understand how it works, how the gears move, what's the interplay, what
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are the hydraulic pressure valves, you know, what do they care about, what's the actual,
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and this is something we used to talk about in the intelligence community, but strategic
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And that's the only thing that you can get from another human being.
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You can't get that from, you know, when you're in the military and you're trying to
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say, you know, are they about to invade, you know, whoever it is.
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You can see where they are, and signals, you know, that could be disinformation, but strategic
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intent is what you get from human intelligence, and you can only get that from talking to trusted
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That is correct, and if you have not seen this 15 minute interview that Patrick gave us
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on YouTube, by the way, we're still on YouTube.
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Again, we don't, I don't even make claims in our reports.
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I just do the five W's, who, what, what, what, why.
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And I'm usually quoting the authorized knowers, the FDA, Pfizer, CNN.
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I'm quoting, I'm quoting the New York Times, Pfizer, CNN, all these people that they tell
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So it's, so I think they're kind of, they're probably afraid that I'm going to sue
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them and win because we haven't lost a lawsuit.
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I think they're more afraid, Jack, of us than we are afraid of them.
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And what they fear most is being, the thing about communists, and for lack of a better
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word, that's what I'll call this modern issue that we're facing.
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I think Whitaker Chambers wrote this in Witness, that the only thing that communists fear is
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They don't really fear government or death, but they fear someone.
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So let's go, let's go out and expose what's going on.
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Let's get some people on the inside to be brave and do something.