TPMMuckraker Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal
Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal
O'Keefe Pleads Guilty In Landrieu Phone-Tampering Case, Gets Three Years Probation
James O'Keefe
Conservative filmmaker James O'Keefe and three compatriots today pleaded guilty to entering real property belonging to the United States under false pretenses for the January incident in which they entered Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office and claimed to be from the telephone company, the Times-Picayune reports.
O'Keefe was sentenced to three years of probation, a fine of $1,500 and 100 hours of community service. The others -- Stan Dai, Joseph Basel, and Robert Flanagan -- got the same fine, two years of probation, and 75 hours of community service.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (6)Topics: James O'Keefe, Joseph Basel, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Mary Landrieu, Robert Flanagan, Stan Dai
Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal
Charges Reduced Against O'Keefe In Landrieu Case
James O'Keefe
Charges have been reduced against activist filmmaker James O'Keefe and the three other men charged in the alleged Landrieu phone tampering case, the Justice Department announced today.
The four men "were charged in a one-count bill of information with entering real property of the United States under false pretenses, a misdemeanor," the DOJ announced in a press release today. Read the bill of information here.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (11)Topics: James O'Keefe, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Mary Landrieu
Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal
Lawyer For Alleged Phone-Tamperer: I'm Trying To Resolve Case With Feds
Robert Flanagan
An attorney for one of the four men charged in the Landrieu phone-tampering case tells the AP that he met with the U.S. Attorney's office to try to come to a resolution out of court.
"We're in discussions with the government, trying to resolve this matter as expeditiously as possible in a fair and just manner," said Attorney Garrison Jordan, who represents Robert Flanagan.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: James O'Keefe, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Robert Flanagan, U.S. Attorneys
Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal
ACORN Comes Out Swinging In Wake Of Landrieu Phone-Tamper Scandal
A screenshot of ACORN's "Sting the Stinger" fundraising e-mail.
After a tough 2009 in which ACORN's reputation sustained considerable damage, the community organizing group is suddenly on a public relations offensive.
Things started to turn around two weeks ago the day that James O'Keefe, the young filmmaker behind the undercover stings that brought national scrutiny to ACORN, was arrested at Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office. He is charged with entering a federal office under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony -- tampering with the phones.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)Topics: ACORN, James O'Keefe, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Mary Landrieu
Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal
Out On Bond, Phone-Tamper Defendant Surfaces As Journo At Tea Party Convention
Joseph Basel
Landrieu phone-tampering defendant Joseph Basel isn't letting a little thing like felony charges hang over his head and prevent him from achieving professional goals.
With a week until he's due in federal court in New Orleans for a Feb. 12 hearing, Basel has been spotted at the national tea party convention in Nashville by the Washington Independent's Dave Weigel.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (7)Topics: Joseph Basel, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Leadership Institute, Tea Parties, Tea Party Patriots, University of Minnesota-Morris
Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal
Chastened O'Keefe: I'll Be 'A Little More Thoughtful' In The Future (VIDEO)
James O'Keefe and Sean Hannity
In a 12-minute interview with Fox's Sean Hannity last night, a subdued James O'Keefe said he is cooperating with the U.S. Attorney in Louisiana and that in the future he will "try to be a little more thoughtful about how I approach these things."
"This is a huge misunderstanding," said O'Keefe, who is criminally charged with three other men in the Landrieu phone tampering case.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (7)Topics: ACORN, Eric Holder, James O'Keefe, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Sean Hannity
Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal
Breitbart Claim: Jailed O'Keefe Couldn't Access Attorney For Hours
Andrew Breitbart
Interviewed on Fox just moments ago, Andrew Breitbart claimed that alleged Landrieu phone tamperer James O'Keefe "sat in jail for 28 hours without access to an attorney."
Breitbart, who has been on a public campaign defending O'Keefe, a paid contributor to Breitbart's BigGovernment.com, also charged that the U.S. Attorney's office in Louisiana leaked information to the press "helping" them to frame the episode as "Watergate Junior."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (7)Topics: Andrew Breitbart, James O'Keefe, Jan Mann, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Michael Madigan, U.S. Attorneys
Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal
Before Caper, O'Keefe And Co. Crashed At House Of Activist 'Mentor'
From left to right: Joseph Basel, Stan Dai, Robert Flanagan, and James O'Keefe
A 28-year-old Loyola law school student and conservative activist named Ben Wetmore has emerged as the Fifth Beatle of the Landrieu phone-tampering case.
Wetmore, who hired alleged phone tamperer James O'Keefe at the Leadership Institute a few years back to help launch conservative media outlets on college campuses, this month offered up his New Orleans house as a crash pad for O'Keefe and co-defendants Joseph Basel and Stan Dai, the New York Times reports.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4)Topics: American University, Ben Wetmore, James O'Keefe, Joseph Basel, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Leadership Institute, Loyola University law school, Lucky Charms, Stan Dai
Mary Landrieu
James O'Keefe: Portrait Of An Activist As A Campus Gadfly
James O'Keefe
James O'Keefe and his brand of Candid-Camera activism first appeared on the national stage with last year's ACORN pimp scandal. But the origins of O'Keefe's methods go back to his time at Rutgers, where he launched an alternative newspaper, carried out his first video sting operations, and generally cultivated an image as campus conservative gadfly.
After graduating in 2006, but before he launched the stunt video career that landed him in jail in New Orleans this week, O'Keefe became one of those recent alumni who couldn't let go, hanging around Rutgers' New Brunswick, New Jersey, campus as resident right-wing agitator.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4)Topics: Darren Cimillo, James O'Keefe, Jim Livingston, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Lucky Charms, Mary Landrieu, Richard Dienst, Rutgers University, The Centurion, The Daily Targum
Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal
O'Keefe Statement On Breitbart Site: We Could Have Used 'Different Approach'
James O'Keefe
Portraying himself as an "investigative journalist" who has been victimized by the mainstream media's "journalistic malpractice," James O'Keefe said today the alleged phone-tampering episode in New Orleans Monday was merely an attempt to investigate Sen. Mary Landrieu's alleged lack of responsiveness to her conservative constituents.
In a statement posted on Andrew Breitbart's Big Government site, O'Keefe writes: "On reflection, I could have used a different approach to this investigation, particularly given the sensitivities that people understandably have about security in a federal building."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4)Topics: Andrew Breitbart, BigGovernment.com, James O'Keefe, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal
Stan Dai
'Penis Monologues' Scribe Worked At Program To Recruit Female Spies
Stan Dai
Stan Dai, the accused Landrieu phone tamperer who penned an anti-feminist parody called The Penis Monologues as a conservative activist in college, went on to work for a program designed to get women and minority students interested in espionage work.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4)Topics: Intelligence, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Stan Dai, The Penis Monologues
Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal
Landrieu's New Orleans Office Swept For Bugs After Phone Incident
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
What's a U.S. senator to do after a visit from a man known for planting hidden cameras?
Sweep the place for bugs, cameras, and any other listening devices, of course.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)Topics: Homeland Security Committee, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Mary Landrieu
Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal
Landrieu Calls Out Phone Tamper Crew For 'Feeble Explanation'
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
Sen. Mary Landrieu is blasting the men charged with tampering with the phones at her New Orleans office, dismissing a new explanation from the attorney of one of the men as "feeble."
"Senator Landrieu believes this feeble explanation is a clear and calculated effort to divert attention away from the fact that his client stands accused of a federal crime that could land him in prison for up to 10 years," said Landrieu Press Secretary Rob Sawicki, in a statement to TPMmuckraker.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (7)Topics: Garrison Jordan, James O'Keefe, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Mary Landrieu, Rob Sawicki
Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal
Lawyer For Alleged Phone Tamperer: Plan Was To Embarrass Landrieu
Robert Flanagan
The attorney for accused phone tamperer Robert Flanagan tells the AP that Flanagan, James O'Keefe, and co. were trying to expose Sen. Mary Landrieu for allegedly ignoring phone calls from health reform foes.
The comments from Attorney Garrison Jordan are partly in line with the theory we outlined earlier -- that the alleged plot arose from complaints that Landrieu's staff were not responding to constituents' calls.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: Garrison Jordan, James O'Keefe, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Mary Landrieu
Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal
Judge Orders 25-Year-Old O'Keefe To Live With His Parents
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), James O'Keefe
As if James O'Keefe hasn't suffered enough indignity after botching an alleged phone tampering operation at a U.S. senator's office, getting arrested, and being photographed leaving jail, the judge in the case has now ordered that he reside with his parents until the next hearing.
Magistrate Judge Louis Moore made the order Tuesday as part of the conditions of release for O'Keefe, 25. (Read them here)
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (6)Topics: James O'Keefe, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Louis Moore, Mary Landrieu
Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal
NBC: Landrieu Plot Aimed To Test Sen's Response To Disabled Phone System
James O'Keefe
Mystery solved? NBC is reporting that James O'Keefe and his three companions were carrying out a plan to gauge how the staff of Sen. Mary Landrieu would respond if their office phone system were disabled, following complaints by conservative constituents that anti-health reform calls were not getting through to the New Orleans office.
Republicans have slammed Landrieu in recent months over what they've dubbed the "new Louisiana Purchase" -- a reference to extra Medicare funding for the state she won in the Senate health care bill. And Rasmussen found just 34% of voters in the state, where tea partiers have targeted Landrieu for her support of reform, back the health plan.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Topics: Family Research Council, James O'Keefe, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Mary Landrieu
James O'Keefe
The Landrieu Phone Case: Not A Bugging After All?
James O'Keefe
While initial media reports (including on TPM) described the episode at Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office as an attempted bugging, that term does not appear in the affidavit and the lawyer for one of the charged men tells TPMmuckraker, "the complaint is not about a wiretap."
It's still a mystery what exactly filmmaker James O'Keefe and his companions intended to do when they allegedly arrived at Landrieu's office. But the accurate way to describe what allegedly happened would be attempted phone tampering.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (5)Topics: Garrison Jordan, James O'Keefe, Joseph Basel, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Mary Landrieu, Robert Flanagan
Leadership Institute
The Leadership Institute: The Group That Helped Launch The Conservative Careers Of Two Alleged Phone Tamperers
James O'Keefe
We know that at least two of the young men charged in connection with attempts to tamper with Sen. Mary Landrieu's office phones led conservative college newspapers that received seed money from The Leadership Institute. But what's the Leadership Institute?
On its website, the nonprofit boasts that it "prepares conservatives for success in politics, government and the news media." It's trained more than 79,000 students over the years, and employs 58 people. The group is led by longtime Republican player Morton Blackwell, who was elected to the RNC's executive committee in 2004.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4)Topics: David Fenner, James O'Keefe, Joseph Basel, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Leadership Institute, Morton Blackwell, Robert Flanagan, Stan Dai
Stan Dai
The Penis Monologues: Accused Phone Tamperer Blasted Feminists In Conservative College Paper
Stan Dai
Earlier we outlined the background of the alleged Landrieu phone tamperers in the rarefied world of college conservative journalism, where three of the four got their start. Now, it's worth taking a look at one of the articles produced a few years back by one of the four, Stan Dai. Its title: The Penis Monologues.
Thanks to Lindsay Beyerstein who first noticed Dai's first-person parody, you can read the Penis Monologues in full here.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)Topics: Eve Ensler, GW Patriot, James O'Keefe, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Mary Landrieu, Stan Dai, The Penis Monologues, The Vagina Monologues
Pelican Institute
Conservative Group With Ties To Alleged Landrieu Phone Tamperers Went After ACORN
Kevin Kane
The conservative think tank to which James O'Keefe and at least one of his alleged co-plotters have ties enjoys a prominent voice in Louisiana politics -- and has lately gone hard after ACORN.
O'Keefe -- who gained national notoriety last fall for his ACORN sting -- and three other men were arrested Monday after allegedly trying to tamper with phones in the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu. O'Keefe, was scheduled to give a speech last week on investigative journalism to the Pelican Institute. Robert Flanagan, who was arrested with O'Keefe, works at Pelican, according to his lawyer, and has written blog posts on policy issues on Pelican's website.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4)Topics: ACORN, David Vitter, James O'Keefe, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Mary Landrieu, Pelican Institute
James O'Keefe
Utah GOP Group Cancels James O'Keefe As Keynote Speaker At Lincoln Day Dinner
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), James O'Keefe
Bad news for those planning to attend the Feb. 4 Lincoln Day Dinner of the Salt Lake County Republicans: the keynote speaker, James O'Keefe, won't be making it after all.
O'Keefe, the filmmaker famous for dressing up as a pimp in an ACORN video sting, was arrested with three other men Tuesday for allegedly attempting to tap the phones in Sen. Mary Landrieu's (D-LA) New Orleans office.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: James O'Keefe, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Mary Landrieu
James O'Keefe
Breitbart: I Pay A Salary To Alleged Landrieu Plotter O'Keefe
Andrew Breitbart
Conservative new media figure Andrew Breitbart revealed last night on Hugh Hewitt's radio show that he pays a salary to James O'Keefe, the filmmaker who was charged yesterday in an alleged attempt to tamper witt the phones of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA).
But Breitbart, who runs the Big Government site where O'Keefe's now-famous ACORN sting videos were posted, is maintaining that he had no "connection to" the incident at Landrieu's New Orleans office.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4)Topics: Andrew Breitbart, BigGovernment.com, James O'Keefe, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Mary Landrieu
James O'Keefe
Alleged Landrieu Phone Tamper Crew Emerged From World Of Conservative Campus Journalism
James O'Keefe
Three of the four young men charged in the alleged phone tampering attempt at Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office Monday were involved in the well-funded, opportunity-rich world of conservative campus journalism in recent years, a link that provides potential clues about how the men knew each other and why they came to hatch the alleged plot.
James O'Keefe, Joseph Basel, and Stan Dai each founded or led the alternative conservative newspapers on their respective college campuses.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (7)Topics: CampusReform.org, GW Patriot, James O'Keefe, Joseph Basel, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Leadership Institute, Mary Landrieu, Stan Dai, The Centurion, The Counterweight
James O'Keefe
Landrieu Phone Tampering Case: What Is The Pelican Institute?
Filmmaker James O'Keefe
There's a lot we still don't know about the four men implicated in the alleged attempt to tamper with Sen. Mary Landrieu's phones yesterday, but a little-known organization called the Pelican Institute appears to be key to the story.
Located at 400 Poydras St. in downtown New Orleans -- half a block from Landrieu's office at 500 Poydras St. -- Pelican describes itself as a state policy think tank dedicated to advancing "sound policies based on the principles of free enterprise, individual liberty, and limited government."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (7)Topics: Andrew Breitbart, James O'Keefe, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Mary Landrieu, Pelican Institute
James O'Keefe
Filmmaker Behind ACORN Stings Arrested For Attempted Phone Tampering At Landrieu's Office
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), James O'Keefe
James O'Keefe, the young conservative filmmaker who was behind the undercover operations that led to the ACORN scandal last year, was arrested with three others for allegedly trying to tamper with the phones at the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) yesterday.
The FBI announced today the foursome have been charged with entering federal property under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (14)Topics: ACORN, Andrew Breitbart, James O'Keefe, Joseph Basel, Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal, Mary Landrieu, Pelican Institute, Robert Flanagan, Stan Dai
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