{"id":246258,"date":"2010-01-29T11:34:32","date_gmt":"2010-01-29T16:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/?p=75178"},"modified":"2010-01-29T11:34:32","modified_gmt":"2010-01-29T16:34:32","slug":"james-o%e2%80%99keefe-phone-sting-was-staged-to-see-whether-sen-landrieu-was-%e2%80%98trying-to-avoid-constituents%e2%80%99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/246258","title":{"rendered":"James O\u2019Keefe: Phone Sting Was Staged to See Whether Sen. Landrieu Was \u2018Trying to Avoid Constituents\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

James O’Keefe has issued a statement<\/a> on his arrest in Louisiana, portraying himself as a maligned investigative journalist who was merely trying to see whether the phones worked in Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-La.) office.<\/p>\n

\n

I learned from a number of sources that many of Senator Landrieu\u2019s constituents were having trouble getting through to her office to tell her that they didn\u2019t want her taking millions of federal dollars (sic) in exchange for her vote on the healthcare bill. \u00a0When asked about this, Senator Landrieu\u2019s explanation was that, \u201cOur lines have been jammed for weeks.\u201d \u00a0I decided to investigate why a representative of the people would be out of touch with her constituents for \u201cweeks\u201d because her phones were broken. \u00a0In investigating this matter, we decided to visit Senator Landrieu\u2019s district office \u2013 the people\u2019s office \u2013 to ask the staff if their phones were working.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/span>I noted an error in the statement — the controversy is not over whether Landrieu is “taking millions of federal dollars,” but why the Senate added $300 million<\/a> in Medicaid subsidies that stood to benefit Louisiana. That’s a legitimate issue — O’Keefe, trying to clear the air, bends it into a bribery smear. That, and his use of the statement to demand retractions from “reporters who can\u2019t get their facts straight,” indicate that he’s going to fight this out.<\/p>\n

The full statement:<\/p>\n

\n

The government has now confirmed what has always been clear: \u00a0No one tried to wiretap or bug Senator Landrieu\u2019s office. \u00a0Nor did we try to cut or shut down her phone lines. \u00a0Reports to this effect over the past 48 hours are inaccurate and false.<\/p>\n

As an investigative journalist, my goal is to expose corruption and lack of concern for citizens by government and other institutions, as I did last year when our investigations revealed the massive corruption and fraud perpetrated by ACORN. \u00a0For decades, investigative journalists have used a variety of tactics to try to dig out and reveal the truth.<\/p>\n

I learned from a number of sources that many of Senator Landrieu\u2019s constituents were having trouble getting through to her office to tell her that they didn\u2019t want her taking millions of federal dollars in exchange for her vote on the healthcare bill. \u00a0When asked about this, Senator Landrieu\u2019s explanation was that, \u201cOur lines have been jammed for weeks.\u201d \u00a0I decided to investigate why a representative of the people would be out of touch with her constituents for \u201cweeks\u201d because her phones were broken. \u00a0In investigating this matter, we decided to visit Senator Landrieu\u2019s district office \u2013 the people\u2019s office \u2013 to ask the staff if their phones were working.<\/p>\n

On reflection, I could have used a different approach to this investigation, particularly given the sensitivities that people understandably have about security in a federal building. \u00a0The sole intent of our investigation was to determine whether or not Senator Landrieu was purposely trying to avoid constituents who were calling to register their views to her as their Senator. \u00a0We video taped the entire visit, the government has those tapes, and I\u2019m eager for them to be released because they refute the false claims being repeated by much of the mainstream media.<\/p>\n

It has been amazing to witness the journalistic malpractice committed by many of the organizations covering this story. \u00a0MSNBC falsely claimed that I violated a non-existent \u201cgag order.\u201d \u00a0The Associated Press incorrectly reported that I \u201cbroke in\u201d to an office which is open to the public. \u00a0The Washington Post has now had to print corrections in two stories on me. \u00a0And these are just a few examples of inaccurate and false reporting. \u00a0The public will judge whether reporters who can\u2019t get their facts straight have the credibility to question my integrity as a journalist.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James O’Keefe has issued a statement on his arrest in Louisiana, portraying himself as a maligned investigative journalist who was merely trying to see whether the phones worked in Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-La.) office. I learned from a number of sources that many of Senator Landrieu\u2019s constituents were having trouble getting through to her office […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4313,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4313"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246258\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}