UPDATE: New York Times FORCED to Answer Veritas’s Defamation Lawsuit – NYT Admits They Did Not Contact Veritas’s Named Sources for Comment; Admits Astor Article WRONG About MN Law; Claims Articles Are Opinion While Admitting Reporters Not Opinion Writers
Key Points
CEO and Founder, James O’Keefe, gave an update on Project Veritas’ defamation lawsuit against the New York Times today, after the newspaper officially responded to allegations made in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed last fall in response to a series of defamatory New York Times stories by political reporter Maggie Astor and media news reporter Tiffany Hsu, calling Veritas’ Minnesota Ballot Harvesting videos “deceptive” and accusing Veritas of being part of “a coordinated disinformation effort” -- because Veritas shared an advance copy of the video with influencers and reporters.
In the answer filed last week, the New York Times admits it did the same thing: having received an advance copy of the blog post they reported on, before the post was published.
New York Times repeatedly claimed ignorance on various issues related to the story: “Defendants lack knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the allegations.”
Even after the New York Supreme Court rejected the New York Times’ claim that Astor’s and Hsu’s articles were merely “unverifiable expressions of opinion,” calling such a claim “deceptive” “disinformation,” -- the Times doubled-down on the “opinion” defense in the Answer, while admitting neither Astor nor Hsu are “opinion” writers.
The New York Times admits Minnesota’s ban on ballot harvesting was never suspended, after Astor’s still-uncorrected article claimed it was.
The Times admits it never contacted any of Veritas’s named sources for comment – including a source The Times admits it used -- over 10 times.
This comes on the heels of our historic victory in our defamation lawsuit against The New York Times in which we got passed 'Motion to Dismiss'
[WESTCHESTER, NY – Apr. 28, 2021] Project Veritas founder and CEO, James O’Keefe, provided an update on the organization’s defamation lawsuit against The New York Times today and read directly from the Old Gray Lady’s official response to the lawsuit, which was filed last week.
The Times was forced to answer Veritas’ allegations and despite admitting certain points – the newspaper continually issued denials, or claimed the defendants lacked the knowledge necessary to formulate an acceptable answer.
Even after the New York Supreme Court rejected the Times’ argument that Astor’s and Hsu’s articles were merely “unverifiable expressions of opinion,” – a claim the court called “deceptive” “disinformation” – the New York Times continues to assert the articles were mere opinion.
Despite this, the Times was forced to admit that neither Maggie Astor nor Tiffany Hsu are “opinion writer[s].”
This admission was made despite The New York Times’ efforts to wield “opinion” as a shield for the falsities Astor and Hsu presented as fact.
READ THE ENTIRE NYT ANSWER HERE
The Times article said Veritas' video was part of a “coordinated disinformation campaign,” because Veritas shared an advance copy of the video with influencers and reporters – an act called embargoing. In their answer, the New York Times was forced to admit they did the same thing – having received an advance copy of the Election Integrity Partnership blog post they were reporting on before the blog post was published. In short, the Times is admitting they did the same thing they accused Veritas of doing.
The New York Times also admitted Astor was incorrect when she originally reported that the ballot harvesting exposed in Veritas’ video, “may not have been illegal, because a district court judge in July temporarily suspended Minnesota’s ban on ‘ballot harvesting,’” now admitting that the law was never in fact suspended.
“These are not hard things to figure out,” said O’Keefe, noting that The Times admits it failed to seek comment from so much as even one of the named sources in the Veritas video – including a source the Times admits it relied on a source over ten times. Perhaps the Times was afraid of being told the video was real.
O’Keefe said there is, “no amount of money” the New York Times can offer that would make him settle this case. Veritas is headed to a trial-by-jury.
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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.