The government compelled Microsoft to turn over emails, Project Veritas says

[Valin]

Columbia Journalism Review

Caleb Pershan

March 23, 2022

US attorneys investigating the theft of Ashley Biden’s diary during the 2020 election campaign compelled Microsoft to turn over emails from nine accounts associated with Project Veritas, a conservative group known for hidden-camera sting operations designed to embarrass liberals and mainstream news outlets, according to a court filing from Veritas that Microsoft confirmed.

According to the filing, beginning in November 2020, under Attorney General Bill Barr, attorneys for the Department of Justice obtained secret warrants, nondisclosure orders, and a subpoena demanding Microsoft share emails and contact information from the Veritas members, who use Microsoft cloud software.

In a motion filed yesterday, Veritas condemned the surveillance as overly broad—in one case stretching back eight months before the group began pursuing the diary—and asked a judge to halt use of the information obtained via Microsoft.

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[Valin]

ACLU ‘Troubled’ DOJ Spied On Project Veritas

Melanie Wilcox

Mar. 23 2022

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a press release Tuesday that it’s “concerned” the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) surveillance of Project Veritas will lead to “serious consequences for press freedom.”

“We’re deeply troubled by reports that the Department of Justice obtained secret electronic surveillance orders requiring sweeping disclosure of ‘all content’ of communications associated with Project Veritas email accounts, including attorney-client communications,” Brian Hauss, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, said in the press release.

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[Valin]

Mar. 22 2022

 

Mar. 23 2022

[Valin]

Ok, these will be some Long Video's BUT Well Worth the time. I will post some small simple questions at the end.

Mar. 23 2022

Microsoft Corporation legal documents obtained by Project Veritas show that after a U.S. District Court Judge rejected the DOJ’s argument to ignore Project Veritas’ “journalistic privileges,” the DOJ went behind the judge’s back to obtain an extension on two sealed non-disclosure orders from a magistrate judge to conceal the fact they already had unsupervised and unfettered access to privileged emails and contacts of eight Project Veritas journalists.

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[Valin]

Mar. 23 2022

 

[Valin]

Now a couple of small simple questions, comments.

1. How long has this been going on?

2. Who else has The DOJ/FBI "Investigated?  And Why?

Comments

3. IMO (And as always I..Could..Be..Wrong) This goes back to Jan. 21 2009. Barack Obama brought the Chicago style of Politics to DC and found a lot of Like Minded People, who had no problem using the Federal Government to "investigate" Political Enemies.

4 Combine This with Russian Collusion, The TEA Party IRS scandal, (remember Lois Lerner?), Jan. 6, "investigation(s) and NO Court willing to hear a trial, Big Tech Censorship of certain people web sites. Adds this leads one to some Very Disturbing implications.

[Geee]

17 minutes ago, Valin said:

Now a couple of small simple questions, comments.

1. How long has this been going on?

2. Who else has The DOJ/FBI "Investigated?  And Why?

Comments

3. IMO (And as always I..Could..Be..Wrong) This goes back to Jan. 21 2009. Barack Obama brought the Chicago style of Politics to DC and found a lot of Like Minded People, who had no problem using the Federal Government to "investigate" Political Enemies.

4 Combine This with Russian Collusion, The TEA Party IRS scandal, (remember Lois Lerner?), Jan. 6, "investigation(s) and NO Court willing to hear a trial, Big Tech Censorship of certain people web sites. Adds this leads one to some Very Disturbing implications.

J. Edgar Hoover would be proud.

[Valin]

26 minutes ago, Geee said:

J. Edgar Hoover would be proud.

Compared to these guys Hoover was a piker.

[Valin]

The ‘Accusations of Government Misconduct Are Baseless’: Feds Say Project Veritas Can’t Use First Amendment to ‘Restrain’ Grand Jury Probe

Aaron Keller

Mar 24th, 2022

(Snip)

“[T]he accusations of Government misconduct are baseless,” prosecutors in the Southern District of New York told U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres.

As Law&Crime previously reported, lawyers for Project Veritas wrote to a judge on Tuesday to accuse federal law enforcement authorities of engaging in an alleged end-around of the appointment of a special master — a flank maneuver with implications for the First Amendment rights of journalists and of the press to operate, according to that organization. The special master, a retired federal judge, was tapped to review the fruits of search warrants executed at the homes of Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe and several of his associates. The warrants are part of an attempt by the DOJ to ascertain whether Project Veritas or its associates engaged in criminal conduct when they received what has been purported to be copies of a diary allegedly written by Ashley Biden, the president’s daughter. The well-trodden back story has been sufficiently recapped by this website previously.

No charges of wrongdoing have been officially lodged against O’Keefe, his associates, or Project Veritas as of this date, and those parties vehemently deny that they did anything illegal in connection with the escapade. Rather, those associated with the right-leaning organization say they agreed to be the recipients of the alleged diary. It is relatively well-settled law that journalists are free to publish with impunity information illegally obtained and henceforth provided by external third-party individuals — so long as the journalists didn’t play a role in illegally obtaining the data, received the data lawfully, and the data involves a matter of public concern. In short, journalists can’t steal, but they can publish what others may have stolen. The DOJ apparently wants to know whether laws were broken in connection with the possible theft and transfer of the alleged diary. Pointing to the item in question, Project Veritas has countered that the DOJ has spent both inordinate and exorbitant resources on the matter and that its efforts are stifling the free speech and free press rights of the organization.

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IMO charges being filed or not The federal government Cannot do this. + Judges take a Dim view of being not told the Whole Story.

[Geee]

17 minutes ago, Valin said:

IMO charges being filed or not The federal government Cannot do this

Its almost a daily story that you can find of overreach in about every level and every department of government.  Greed, graft, corruption. We have given the government more and more power and control gradually over the years. Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely - proof positive.

[Valin]

Mar. 25 2022

 

[Valin]