Ex-Staffer Slams James O'Keefe: He Crossed A Line With Vile 'Kill Cops' Stunt

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Conservative provocateur James O'Keefe allegedly instructed an undercover operative to goad Black Lives Matter protesters with statements like "I wish I could just kill some of these cops," according to one of his ex-employees.

Richard Valdes, the former director of special operations for O'Keefe's organization Project Veritas, told TPM on Thursday that the guerrilla filmmaker wanted an undercover operative to infiltrate a rally held by the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network in mid-January. At the time, Black Lives Matter demonstrators were still taking to the streets of New York City to protest a grand jury’s decision not to indict an NYPD officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner.

Valdes said O'Keefe dictated a script to him and then told him to email it to the operative for use at the rally. Here's the full text of that script, according to emails provided to TPM by Valdes' attorney:

As a minority and a Muslim, I know what it's like when the police treat me unfairly. They have even searched my little daughter's body. Can you believe that? Do you know what it's like to have your rights violated because of the color of your skin or because of your name? -PAUSE-

Sometimes, I wish I could just kill some of these cops. Don't you just wish we could have one of the cops right here in the middle of our group? -PAUSE-

What would you do if we could get Officer Pantoleo (who killed Eric Garner) right here in this crowd? What would you do to him?


In a Jan. 9 email addressed to Valdes, O'Keefe, and other top Project Veritas employees, the undercover operative, Mohammed Alhomsi, apparently declined to carry out the assignment. The email cited both legal concerns and concerns about the language of the script in turning down the project. That email was among those provided to TPM by Valdes's attorney.

"I will not be able to say anything that's not the truth to the best of my knowledge. Especially when it comes to the way I was treated as a Muslim in the United States," Alhomsi wrote, according to a copy of the email. "And I will not say words that will jeopardize my entity, especially when they involve an illegal act of murdering police."

Valdes then reminded Alhomsi that the assignment wasn't different from previous projects where the operative had put on a ruse. But he didn't press the issue further, writing that "we respect your position and don't want you to be uncomfortable."

"It struck a nerve with me as well," Valdes told TPM. "I have two brothers that are retired NYPD. Myself, I served as a volunteer police officer in Essex County, N.J. I understood it, and I was told, ‘Just make it happen.’ I refused."

For that, Valdes said, he was called into O'Keefe's office a half hour later and fired from the organization. As the New York Post first reported, Valdes is now planning to sue Project Veritas and O'Keefe for wrongful termination.

-more-

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/james-okeefe-kill-cops-script

[tanyev]

1. They really should call themselves Project Fabricate.