ACLU Comment on FBI Raid of Project Veritas Founder

NEW YORK — The following is a statement from Brian Hauss, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, in response to reports of an FBI raid on Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe:

“Project Veritas has engaged in disgraceful deceptions, and reasonable observers might not consider their activities to be journalism at all. Nevertheless, the precedent set in this case could have serious consequences for press freedom. Unless the government had good reason to believe that Project Veritas employees were directly involved in the criminal theft of the diary, it should not have subjected them to invasive searches and seizures. We urge the court to appoint a special master to ensure that law enforcement officers review only those materials that were lawfully seized and that are directly relevant to a legitimate criminal investigation.”