Amid a war of words between Project Veritas board members and its founder, James O’Keefe, the organization’s social media platforms have seen an exodus of followers this week.
On Monday afternoon (Feb. 20), O’Keefe announced in an online video that he is departing the organization after he was indefinitely suspended from his role as CEO and removed from the group’s board. “None of this makes any sense, and why is this happening right now?” O’Keefe asked. “Those are the questions I have. I don’t have answers.”
Hours later, the Project Veritas board released a statement accusing O’Keefe of “financial malfeasance” by using donor money on “personal luxuries.” It said that he spent $14,000 of that money to meet someone to fix his boat, among other allegations.
With the announcement that O’Keefe would be leaving, the analytics website SocialBlade showed that Project Veritas lost about 250,000 Twitter followers over two days. On Feb. 19, Veritas had some 1.47 million followers, but the Twitter account is down to about 1.22 million as of today at around 11 a.m. ET, the analytics website shows.
The organization’s YouTube channel lost a combined 60,000 followers on Feb. 20-21, SocialBlade data shows as of this morning.
Under a range of posts made by the organization—even those that are unrelated to O’Keefe’s departure—Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook users expressed their displeasure with the organization’s claims about its founder. At the same time, prominent conservative users called on others to unfollow Veritas and suspend donations unless O’Keefe is reinstated.
“This has to be some sort of record,” Collin Rugg, the co-owner of conservative news website Trending Politics, wrote on Twitter about the follower loss. “RIP Project Veritas.”
Earlier data published by SocialBlade showed that Project Veritas appears to have also lost Twitter followers earlier this month amid reports claiming O’Keefe was placed on unpaid leave.
The Epoch Times has contacted Project Veritas for comment but has not received a reply as of publication of this article.
What Was Said
Adding to Project Veritas’s possible woes, O’Keefe said that he is the chief fundraiser for the organization and would frequently travel around the United States to solicit donations. However, in the video, O’Keefe stated that he’s no longer allowed to fundraise for the group and signaled that he’s essentially out of a job.
“So, currently, I have no job at Project Veritas,” O’Keefe remarked. “I have no position here based upon what the board has done. So, I’m announcing to you all that today, on Presidents’ Day, I’m packing up my personal belongings.”
Hinting at what he will do next, the founder said that “our mission continues on. I’m not done … the mission will perhaps take on a new name, and it may no longer be called Veritas, Project Veritas. I will need a bunch of people around me, and I’ll make sure you know how to find me.”
In a statement released on Monday, the organization’s board of directors said it had uncovered “financial malfeasance” and accused O’Keefe of spending “an excessive amount of donor funds in the last three years on personal luxuries.”
According to the group, those included “$14,000 on a charter flight to meet someone to fix his boat under the guise of meeting with a donor;” $60,000 in losses from dance events; more than $150,000 “in Black Cars in the last 18 months;” and others.
The statement added that O’Keefe had been suspended in recent weeks. It said he was invited to meet with the board to discuss financial issues and staff retention and morale, but he ignored the entreaty and “today … decided to remove his belongings from Project Veritas headquarters.”
The announcement comes after the Veritas executive director and several board members put out a statement last week saying that “a number of our staff members provided leadership with some verbal feedback describing real management concerns regarding the treatment of people and our internal processes.”
In the video, O’Keefe noted that the alleged action that was taken against him by Project Veritas’s board came after his organization published a video in which a Pfizer executive, Jordon Walker, appeared to say that his company is looking to mutate COVID-19 to possibly “preemptively develop new vaccines.”
Pfizer issued a response to the comments from Walker on Jan. 28, saying: “In the ongoing development of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer has not conducted gain of function or directed evolution research.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
” among other allegations”
Where have I heard this BS before?
Nancy Pelosi admitted an unfortunate truth about her
orchestrate and fabricated President Trump’s impeachment “farce”
– It hinges on witness’s “allegations” not “proof”.
It’s Not A Question” Of “Proof”, It’s About “Allegations”
https://youtu.be/7dzhIxeF204
Me thinks veritas has been INFILTRATED and taken over by the wokistas..
“John 10 -Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.”
With great power comes great responsibility, and great temptations. Many are called, few are chosen, and some that are chosen and succumb to temptation, exit by the wide gate who should have entered by the narrow gate, not climbed in the back door, disguised as a shepherd, but revealed as a wolf. Someone forgot the meaning of the word “Veritas”,,,,,like as in the truth that sets you free, not gets you fired, when men who proclaim to conquer others, cannot first conquer themselves and overcome the big time temptations. Many arrive proclaiming the spark of human love, but end up leaving riding the third rails, or sitting upon old sparky.
“In a statement released on Monday, the organization’s board of directors said it had uncovered “financial malfeasance” and accused O’Keefe of spending “an excessive amount of donor funds in the last three years on personal luxuries.”
I hope there is no truth to this and that whomever or whatever the problem is will get straightened out.
Feels like Xi Jinping rooting out corruption.
wow–IF HE INDEED STOLE THE MONEY -TOSS THE BUM OUT ON HIS EAR-
AND ONLY If its proven.
I’d like to think he didn’t abscond with all that donor money. That being said, with access to “unlimited” funds, comes enormous temptation. Case in point…
26 years ago, Minnehaha county, South Dakota had a sheriff by the name of Lester Hawkey. I’m not exactly sure why he did what he did, but he misappropriated county monies and monies intended for charity to his own personal benefit, and ended up being slapped with a 41-count indictment. In the subsequent trial he was convicted on all counts, except two, and was sentenced to 41 months in a Minnesota prison, as I recall.
I don’t know that Hawkey was always a crook, but I suspect he succumbed to the temptation all that money presented him with, and he ended up going down as a result.
If James O’Keefe succumbed to the temptations of all that money, then he’s getting what’s coming to him. If not, then serious questions need answering – chief among them, was Pfizer Pharmaceutical somehow involved in the board’s decision to oust him?
If they were, this is a scandal of epic proportions.
Something Fishy taking place , especially when there is not enough info to make any conclusions.
There is no way to know what went on here or if there was reasonable grounds to punt this guy. I know it does happen a lot to entrepreneurs who create prosperous companies and wind up getting swallowed up in the corporate morass when growth forces changes. Suddenly the creator becomes second fiddle to the accountants and politicians – Oil and water. I do know that all parties (and most of us conservatives who liked seeing progressive scum bags exposed) are hurt by this development. It is a shame. In the back of my mind I can’t help wondering if someone at Pfizer made a phone call to someone.