Charles Johnson Libels James O’Keefe
Charles Johnson, last seen dissembling about me in an impotent effort to harm me professionally, libels James O’Keefe:
ACORN sting film editor and admitted felon James O’Keefe is at it again . . .
James O’Keefe is no admitted felon, Chuckles. He pled to a misdemeanor. Felony charges were dropped.
This is no technicality. The government actually admitted in a court document that it lacked evidence that O’Keefe committed a felony or intended to commit a felony, saying, and I quote:
In this case, further investigation did not uncover evidence that the defendants intended to commit any felony after the entry by false pretenses despite their initial statements to the staff of Senatorial office and GSA requesting access to the central phone system. Instead, the Government’s evidence would show that the defendants misrepresented themselves and their purpose for gaining access to the central phone system to orchestrate a conversation about phone calls to the Senator’s staff and capture the conversation on video, not to actually tamper with the phone system, or to commit any other felony.
The court document is here (.pdf). Entry under false pretenses with no intent to commit a felony is a straight misdemeanor, which is what O’Keefe pled to. He is not a felon and the government never had any evidence that he was.
Charles Johnson has shown reckless disregard for the truth, and owes O’Keefe an apology and a full correction.
To be clear, Johnson owes more than a tiny little correction changing the word “felon” to “misdemeanant” or “criminal.” If he cared about the truth, as he used to, he would explicitly acknowledge the evidence that shows that O’Keefe is not a felon and did not intend to commit a felony.
Charles Johnson outlining the full truth even though it hurts the left-wing narrative? Yeah, I’m not gonna hold my breath.
Thanks to airedaletwo.
UPDATE: Johnson’s correction is exactly what I expected:
Correction: James O’Keefe and his accomplices were originally charged with a felony in the attempt to break into Mary Landrieu’s office and bug her phones, but the charge was reduced to a misdemeanor when they pled guilty.
As I knew he would, Johnson implies that O’Keefe simply got a break because he pled. I knew, just like I knew that the sun would rise tomorrow, that he wouldn’t tell the full truth that I told you about in this post.
His post even fails the “fake but accurate” test.
Kevin M (298030) — 3/9/2011 @ 7:23 am“…reckless disregard for the truth.” Are you, as an attorney, suggesting a libel suit? The “actual malice” element seems to be a slam dunk.
great unknown (261470) — 3/9/2011 @ 7:30 amViv Schiller is in whore overdrive this morning looking for a new job and National Soros Radio is reporting directly to daddy Soros now.
Thank you Mr. O’Keefe nice work.
happyfeet (ab5779) — 3/9/2011 @ 7:37 amAs with Hooten, I’ll pay the filing fee if O’Keefe wants to sue.
I e-mailed Charles to note his error just now, as well as notifying him on Twitter. Deniability gone.
Patterico (c218bd) — 3/9/2011 @ 7:40 amPeople who falsely accuse others of crimes without basis risk a libel suit, yes.
Patterico (c218bd) — 3/9/2011 @ 7:44 amRumor has it that Breitbart will be indicted soon for his nefarious role in bossing James into committing felonies.
JD (85b089) — 3/9/2011 @ 7:51 amSpeaking of Charles Johnson, he banned me the other day for posting a link to Dave Weigle’s article on the Huckebee Kenya thing concluding that Huckabee wasn’t a birther. In the post that got me banned, I also stated that I didn’t think Huckabee was a racist either, based on his history of commutations and pardons. I mean Talking Points Memo et al were trying to ‘Willie Horton’ him.
Does Weigle know that he’s a bad crazy racist hack? Seems like he should be informed, seeing as how he tossed some linkage to CJ the other day.
Full disclosure, in my short commentating career there (~2 days) I also took issue with the resident global warming zealots claiming that somehow AGW had brought mosquitoes to Florida.
TT (d17760) — 3/9/2011 @ 7:59 amPatrick
it would almost probably be considered per se defamation. i admit to being a little rusty on this area of law, but in my foggy memory of the subject, i think accusing them of a crime counted. that means he doesn’t have to prove damages to sustain the action.
and of course even if he wasn’t “malicious” legally in putting it up, as the law understands that term, now you informed him he is malicious if he keeps it up.
(for those who don’t know, malice in this area of law means either knowing it is not true, or having a reckless disregard for the truth)
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 3/9/2011 @ 8:02 amI wonder? After his left-ward lurch, David Brooks apologized to Anita Hill for his book. Can we expect Charles Johnson to issue an apology to Dan Rather & Maya Mapes for his proving that the documents were forgeries??
Longwalker (4e0dda) — 3/9/2011 @ 8:11 amSorry to inform you all, but Charles Johnson is never wrong. Don’t believe me? Just ask him.
kansas (7b4374) — 3/9/2011 @ 8:22 amNah, no libel here, nobody believes Charles about anything.
Fred Z (550c64) — 3/9/2011 @ 8:24 amThat’s Brock, who knows, he’s followed pretty much
narciso (a3a9aa) — 3/9/2011 @ 8:26 amthe path that John Cole, did, where he’s almost undistinguishable from the other netrooters
Sometimes you get the feeling that Liberal vs Conservative is much like White vs Black.
Bill Maher (03e5c2) — 3/9/2011 @ 8:30 ambill maher
well, i forgot who said it, but one conservative said to other conservatives something close to this: don’t forget. you think they are wrong. they think you are evil.
that’s not always true. there are liberals who just think conservatives are wrong. there are conservatives who think liberals are evil. but i really see the hate much more coming from the left these days. maybe being abused as a proud tea partier has warped my views.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 3/9/2011 @ 8:35 am“ACORN sting film editor and admitted felon James O’Keefe is at it again . . .”
And he suggests once again that the editing of the ACORN tape made it so damaging…not the actual stuff on the tape.
In both cases, ACORN and NPR, the editing was not important to the story. He posed as a pimp and the other men represented themselves as from the Muslim Brotherhood front group.
In both cases, a trap was set — just like 60 minutes or 20/20 might do, and the objects of the sting fell into it.
O’Keefe and his crew would be up for Emmys if only their reporting fit the established liberal outlook.
ukuleledave (e546ca) — 3/9/2011 @ 8:37 am(Somebody buy these guys a network, please.)
well, i forgot who said it, but one conservative said to other conservatives something close to this: don’t forget. you think they are wrong. they think you are evil.
“To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil.”
– Krauthammer
Scrutineer (b496e6) — 3/9/2011 @ 8:44 amUnderstand also that liberalism stands for all that is good, right, fair and beautiful. Therefore conservatism must stand for all that is evil, bad and ugly.
Chuck Roast (9f50de) — 3/9/2011 @ 8:50 amCharles Johnson:
So Johnson now advocates compromising principles in order to raise money from an anti-Semitic source.
aunursa (a2a019) — 3/9/2011 @ 9:11 amAnyone see Sheen and Johnson in the same place at the same time? I’m trying to understand the latter’s dramatic change in mood?
Flashman (236a4f) — 3/9/2011 @ 9:17 amUnreal. A media site is reporting the exit of Vivian Schiller no relation to Bob.. in response to “denigrating the tea party and conservatives.” Absolutely no mention of the $500M trap or the agreement to accept the brotherhood funds as an alternative to slant of ‘the Zionist media.’ Just unreal.
Let’s remember if ur!nating on conservatives was considered offensive most of the media would be out of work.. including class warfare’s supreme leader, Barack Obama.
Vermont Neighbor (ae55d7) — 3/9/2011 @ 9:40 amHey, Patterico gets results! CJ has posted a correction. He didn’t overstrike the error in the original post, but appended a correction.
gp (72be5d) — 3/9/2011 @ 10:07 amWhen, exactly, was O’Keefe charged with “attempting to break in”? Was the office closed? Were the doors locked? Were they arrested trying to climb in a window?
Blue Ox (ff919a) — 3/9/2011 @ 10:25 amGp – that update seems a bit crappy, makes it sound like it was reduced to a misdemeanor for purposes of a plea deal, not because there was no evidence of a felony. But, that all kind of pales to his characterization and demonization of those he does not agree with.
JD (d56362) — 3/9/2011 @ 10:29 amDavid S. Broder, 81, a Pulitzer Prize-winning dean of the Washington press corps, dead of complications from diabetes.
Bill Maher (03e5c2) — 3/9/2011 @ 10:37 amJohnson is simply inexplicable. He has always been odd but the switch and the lies are evidence of something. Maybe he got sober ? Like “I never knew he drank until one day he came home sober.” It can’t be drugs because he must have lots of experience with those.
Mike K (8f3f19) — 3/9/2011 @ 10:42 amGetting an apology from CJ about stuff like this is like trying to squeeze blood from a turnip:
It cant be done and what good would it do anyway?
The best way to handle the once-worthy, now demented, Sheen-like Johnson is to ignore him.
Mike D (cfd823) — 3/9/2011 @ 10:46 am“Fringe leftwing blogger and admitted pedophile Charles Johnson is at it again…”
See, that was easy! And now it’s on the internet, so it must be true!
The guy is loser. Just ignore him.
5th Level Fighter (dd5bcf) — 3/9/2011 @ 10:55 amOh, but how dare O’Keefe claim he posed as a Moslem? Did he dress up in a robe and keffiyeh? No, he did not! Claiming he did is a lie lie lying wingnut lie. It discredits the video and everything it contains, because O’Keefe was wearing normal western clothes and was not at all in fancy dress as he claims. Everybody knows that investigative journalism has a strict dress code, suitable for going undercover at a masquerade or Purim party. Bob Woodward wore a clown suit, and Upton Sinclair spent his two weeks of research in Chicago dressed as a cow. Besides, Koch Kochetty Koch. And Bush.
Milhouse (ea66e3) — 3/9/2011 @ 11:06 amI have not been reading my blogs as faithfully as I did before Obama so I don’t know what happened to CJ….when I went to the site I almost fainted.
sharinlite (68bdd6) — 3/9/2011 @ 11:39 amDoes anyone know what happened to him? The other sites i faithfully visited for years are more “professional” but the same, otherwise.
or Purim party
Never been invited to one, sounds like it would be a blast… “blah, blah, blah … Esther” Yeah!!!!
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 3/9/2011 @ 11:46 amCharles Johnson is a pathetic old schoolmarm who is shocked – shocked! – when those youngsters make out in front of her classroom.
Mork (56c89d) — 3/9/2011 @ 11:47 am“To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil.”
– Krauthammer
I sometimes wonder if the truth is really the opposite; that conservatives are stupid for thinking that liberals are simply wrong about things, and liberals are evil because they knowingly lie about their own agenda and about conservatives because they know that otherwise they would never win elections.
Howard Dean saying conservatives like to see children going to bed hungry fits if Dean really thinks cons are evil, but it also fits if Dean knows that cons don’t really think that way but he says it anyway instead of debating the merits of different policies.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 3/9/2011 @ 11:54 amsharinlite, there is a lot of speculation but no real knowledge as to why Johnson went looney.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/9/2011 @ 11:57 amCharles Johnson:
It’s fascinating how his view of undercover journalism has evolved over the years…
aunursa (a2a019) — 3/9/2011 @ 12:11 pmhttp://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/24026_Busted_Islamic_Leader_Reacts
Johnson was always a liberal. 11-Sep-2001 temporarily made him face reality on the national security front, including the need to fight the war against the jihadists as a war. As the shock wore off, and national security became less of an issue, the reality that he was in bed with us distasteful wingnuts took hold and he reverted to type. The fact that Obama hasn’t surrendered to the terrorists, and has in fact thrown out his own war policy and adopted Bush’s, tends to vindicate Johnson’s decision that it was safe for him to go back home.
Milhouse (ea66e3) — 3/9/2011 @ 12:11 pmCJ is one of those people you really wonder about. It’s a sad story when you see someone who appeared so staunchly pro-truth change into the worst stereotype of someone who lies and manipulates stories to win points. It’s tempting to muse about him suffering from some sort of psychological disorder but I think it’s better to just mourn his turning to lying and move on.
mbabbitt (d2d105) — 3/9/2011 @ 1:47 pmOne of the great things about the Internet has been the exponential rise in incidents of libel.
I mean, Sully the Power-Glutes Bear alone may have eclipsed most of the pre-web libel cases.
Ain’t technology fun?
Icy Texan (73021e) — 3/9/2011 @ 2:00 pmIn 2005, Dan Rather’s guardian devil entirely sucked out Charles Johnson’s soul. Then it inflated the empty skin bag with Dan’s.
melanerpes (6fbca5) — 3/9/2011 @ 2:57 pmWell, he made the correction, but in typical misleading fashion; implying that the guilty plea reduced the charge as opposed to the fact that there was no felony to begin with. Ugh. Jerk.
Breitbartfan77 (5f34ac) — 3/9/2011 @ 4:22 pmIs it somehow possible that Mr Johnson got together with a certain Mr Sullivan who is now not looking at Meghan McCain’s breasts? I mean, they were both supposedly conservatives, and then somehow were seduced by the Dark Side of the Force.
Enquiring minds want to know! 🙂
The Dana who speculates wildly (5a4fb2) — 3/9/2011 @ 5:55 pmMr Johnson was instrumental in getting Dan Rather’s scalp; one of us thinks he now regrets that. Now Mr O’Keefe is whacking some of the liberal media’s people; I wonder if Mr Johnson now appreciates how the libs felt when Rathergate broke.
The Dana who never bothered with LGF (5a4fb2) — 3/9/2011 @ 5:58 pmUPDATE: Johnson’s correction is exactly what I expected:
As I knew he would, Johnson implies that O’Keefe simply got a break because he pled. I knew, just like I knew that the sun would rise tomorrow, that he wouldn’t tell the full truth that I told you about in this post.
Patterico (c218bd) — 3/9/2011 @ 6:18 pmI’m not a fan of pleading out to even a misdemeanor, because it’ll make me look dirty. I’ve denied misdemeanor plea offers several times after initial felony charges.. but I was in very very advantageous places.. overcharged with weak evidence, and with very well connected and experienced counsel.
That said, if I’ve got myself boxed in to a game of “felony? or misdemeanor?”.. then you’ve got to go for the misdemeanor with the understanding that everyone who wants to is gonna beat the crap out of you via the stigma of “plead out to a misdemeanor”.
My takeaway is that J. O’Keefe f*****up and left himself stuck with a choice between a dead certain misdemeanor conviction or a very sure felony (via some law he wasn’t aware of that was gonna bite him in the ass), so he plead out.
Evidently, O’Keefe needed better counsel before entering federal buildings and recording in a Senate office.
He will always look like he left himself open to chickenshit, but sure thing felony charges, so he plead out.
O’Keefe has to be extremely careful that he doesn’t violate whatever terms and conditions they put on him, and he signed off to via his plea deal, because even Patterico (or nk) could show up and argue for him, but simple probation math will send him off into custody. That signature accepting that deal is forever
SteveG (cc5dc9) — 3/9/2011 @ 8:26 pmAt the time of the “misunderstanding”, I thought O’Keefe should stay in custody as long as possible and have his counsel complain that his/her innocent client had already done more time than a violent misdemeanor and lets just get this whole thing over with and all walk away and agree it was a mistake.
His (CJ) insanity defense has been in the making and well documented for a few years now.
MSL (f060a0) — 3/9/2011 @ 11:28 pmEven his correction is incorrect.
It wasn’t “reduced to a misdemeanor when he pled guilty”, it is “pled guilty when it was reduced to a misdeameanor”.
The plea is to a specific charge, not the other way around. And my guess was that what he pled was that he admitted that the prosecutor had a sufficiently convincing case, and wouldn’t contest it. Not that he was actually guilty of the charge. Semantics, perhaps. Happens all the time to people who can’t afford the time and expense of a trial, and who do the moral/practical calculation that a misdemeanor won’t be that big of an albatross to wear.
I’ll bet there are plenty of public figures out there with misdemeanor convictions in their portfolios.
ruralcounsel (1a6812) — 3/10/2011 @ 8:04 amExcept that the government admitted in writing and in open court that this was not the case. There was no evidence that he had either committed a felony or planned to commit one. All there was was this stupid misdemeanour that every investigative journalist in history must have violated to do their job. Who was to know that it’s fine to use a cover identity when entering a private building, or presumably a state or local government one, but not a federal one?
Milhouse (ea66e3) — 3/10/2011 @ 8:04 amCharles Johnson is rapidly mutating into another Lillian Hellman, of whom it was said “everything she says is a lie, including the words ‘and’ and ‘the’.”
pst314 (672ba2) — 3/10/2011 @ 9:50 am“Is it somehow possible that Mr Johnson got together with a certain Mr Sullivan who is now not looking at Meghan McCain’s breasts? I mean, they were both supposedly conservatives, and then somehow were seduced by the Dark Side of the Force.”
Charles was always a liberal. The only reason he was ever labeled a conservative is because he went after radical Muslims. On every other issue he took the liberal position.
pst314 (672ba2) — 3/10/2011 @ 10:13 am