In Video, Trump Congratulates O’Keefe On ‘Big Win’ In Defamation Lawsuit Against New York Times: Asks Public For Legal Defense Fund Contributions
Key Points
James O’Keefe of Project Veritas visited President Trump today at his office in Mar-a-Lago.
The two sat down to discuss Veritas’ latest push to sue the New York Times for defamation.
In a brief video, Trump congratulated O’Keefe -- and his team -- on making it past the NYT’s motion to dismiss, after a NY State Supreme Court judge ruled in Veritas’ favor.
The ruling represents a major legal win which will allow Project Veritas and O’Keefe to depose members of the Times, including Executive Editor Dean Baquet and reporter Maggie Astor -- who stands accused of writing false statements.
President Trump closed by encouraging members of the public to donate money to the Veritas’ legal defense fund, to help move the lawsuit forward in an effort to expose the truth.
[Palm Beach, FL, Mar-a-Lago – Mar. 23, 2021] Project Veritas CEO James O’Keefe met with President Trump at his office inside Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, to discuss the outlet’s ongoing defamation lawsuit against the New York Times.
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Trump and O’Keefe stood side by side as the Project Veritas CEO held up a hard copy of the litigation filed against the “Gray Lady.”
"I want to congratulate Project Veritas on their big win on The New York Times [lawsuit], now the suit will continue, and whatever you can do for their legal defense fund, we're with them all the way,” he said.
Justice Charles Wood of the New York State Supreme Court stated in his ruling that, "The Articles that are the subject of this action called the [Veritas] Video 'deceptive', but the dictionary definitions of 'disinformation' and 'deceptive' provided by [the New York Times'] counsel ... certainly apply to [Times reporters Maggie] Astor's and [Tiffany] Hsu's failure to note that they injected their opinions in news articles, as they now claim.”
He added, "Here, one of the largest newspapers in the world since Abraham Lincoln was engaged in the private practice of law, is claiming protections from an upstart competitor [Project Veritas] armed with a cell phone and a web site.”
Wood went on to write in his decision that the NYT failed to meet their “burden to prove that the reporting by Veritas in the Video is deceptive.”
Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley called the ruling a “major victory against the New York Times,” adding that he expects “to be teaching this case next year in my torts class when we deal with defamation.”
Trump closed the Mar-a-Lago meeting by praising O’Keefe and Veritas for being unique and for producing stories seen nowhere else.
“They do incredible work, they find things that nobody would even believe possible,” he said. “So James, congratulations."
This appears to be the first case where The New York Times lost on Motion to Dismiss without appeal, since 1965. AND the FIRST CASE EVER where NYT lost under New York’s new anti-SLAPP laws enacted last year.
About Project Veritas
Project Veritas is a non-profit investigative news organization conducting undercover reporting. Project Veritas investigates and exposes corruption, dishonesty, self-dealing, waste, fraud, and other misconduct in both public and private institutions to achieve a more ethical and transparent society. Project Veritas is a registered 501(c)(3) organization.