Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
ORLANDO – Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe caused quite the stir at CPAC Thursday morning, using his speech time to announce that the former subject of a Project Veritas exposé had joined his organization as an executive producer.
Patrick Davis, formerly captured revealing inside information about CNN, was announced as a new member of the Project Veritas team and took the stage to a sustained standing ovation.
O’Keefe ceded most of his speaking time to Davis, who drew frequent applause for his comments on modern media and society.
“I’m not here to spike the football,” Davis said. “I’m not here to say I told you so; though, Jeff Zucker, I told you so.”
Davis, who formerly spent 25 years working at CNN, is probably best known for being caught on camera by Project Veritas lamenting the state of CNN and calling the network “all infotainment.” He revealed that he’d been working with Project Veritas for some time already and that he was inspired to join the group because of his disillusionment with the sociopolitical path the United States and its media have taken over the past two years.
“I’m here to reach out to all journalists, all of my friends at CNN, FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC, the Washington Post, everyone in between,” Davis said. “We need to do our jobs. There’s an appetite for good, credible, middle-of-the-road journalism where we go out and seek the truth.”
Davis added, “We used to run to the podium with our mics in hands asking the people in power the tough questions. Now we stand in front of the podium with a megaphone blasting what people in power want to hear. That’s not journalism. That’s propaganda.”
O’Keefe, who repeated what has become his frequent call for action rather than cynicism, said people like Davis exist in most organizations.
“There are a lot of good people in these institutions who need to speak up, who need to be brave, who need to do something,” O’Keefe said.
Prior to introducing Davis, O’Keefe recapped Project Veritas’ recent history of exposing all manner of negative issues at CNN.
O’Keefe drew applause as he relived releasing videos that showed a CNN technical director claiming CNN was a deciding factor in the 2020 presidential election, CNN pundit Van Jones calling Russiagate a “nothing burger,” and of O’Keefe crashing a conference call hosted by now-former CNN executive Jeff Zucker.
O’Keefe said among his favorite CNN exposés was one in which Charlie Chester, the same CNN technical director who claimed CNN was responsible for Biden’s election, saying CNN rooted for more COVID deaths.
“[I] love this moment because it exposes … how horrible they are,” O’Keefe said. “See, at the end of the day it’s about fear. What is going to change things? It’s people ceasing to be afraid. And ceasing [seeking] the approval of the powers that be.”
O’Keefe also promised the audience that more exposés, and not just those about CNN, were forthcoming.
“We have people everywhere. People say what’s next. I ask what’s not next.”