The O'Keefe Affair: Obviously a Media Malfunction

Okeefe

When the Christmas Day panty bomber was arrested for trying to blow up himself and the plane he rode in on, he was questioned for approximately 50 minutes before an attorney was brought in to advise him. What happened next? Mister Burning Briefs clammed up.

Contrast that with James O’Keefe, American citizen, who was denied an attorney for 28 hours after he was arrested and accused of trying to tamper with the phones of Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu. During that time, the FBI issued a press release on the arrest and leaked the criminal complaint. The mainstream media salivated, while ACORN’s Bertha Lewis scambled to appear before TV cameras.

The Christmas Day bomber was given Constitutional rights and Miranda’d within an hour of his arrest but a U.S. citizen was not given a lawyer until more than a day had passed?

How — and why — did a terror suspect get kid glove legal treatment? And as another conservative journalist asked, “Where was the ‘don’t rush to judgment’ media when someone killed innocents while shouting Allah Akbar? But at the first hint of a scandal, they crucify O’Keefe?”

On Monday night, O’Keefe appeared on the Sean Hannity TV program, his first public appearance since the arrest. When asked by Hannity about the incident, O’Keefe declined to say too much. “I just can’t comment any further. There’s an investigation ongoing, and I’m just going to have to leave it at that.”

Hannity asked if he recorded the entire incident. O’Keefe said he did.

Hannity: “If we were to show this video tonight, what would people conclude?”

O’Keefe: “That this is a huge misunderstanding, I think… you know, like in all my videos, like in my ACORN videos, I’m trying to get to the bottom of something. I’m trying to expose the truth. I’m trying to get to the true intent about what these people think about their constituents. I’m trying to show the American people what, are they concerned about their constituents. And that’s what I was trying to do.”

Hannity pressed him about what was on the videotapes now in the possession of the government.

O’Keefe: “Our entire visit to the Senator’s office… actually there’s two different cameras. One was on the helmet, and one was on the cellphone. So there’s tapes, the government has them in possession and I want them to be released because they refute a lot of these claims being made by the media.”

O’Keefe says the media jumped the gun and tried to destroy his reputation.

Don Surber at the Dailymail asks if James O’Keefe was framed.

“That’s the rumor swirling after the U.S. attorney recused himself from the criminal case in which O’Keefe and 3 others were arrested at Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu’s office in New Orleans. However, the U.S. attorney was a Bush appointee who was championed by Landrieu to keep his job under Obama. I am willing to bet this is the reason for his recusal, and if so, that is an honorable thing to do.”

Surber suggests that the Republicans on the House and Senate Judiciary committees might want to demand an investigation of this case.

Andrew Breitbart, publisher of BigGovernment.com said in a Fox News interview on Monday that O’Keefe was ‘framed’ by the media and the U.S. attorney’s office. Hours after that interview, Jim Letten, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana recused himself from the case,” according to a Fox News report.

“James O’Keefe sat in jail for 28 hours without access to an attorney, while the U.S. attorney leaked the information about his arrest, helping the media frame it as ‘Watergate Junior,'” Breitbart said.

Blogger Patterico wrote:

“Breitbart said he though the U.S. attorney’s effort was part of a payback scheme against O’Keefe, who posed as a pimp and prostitute with another citizen journalist to enter ACORN offices around the country and get advice on how to apply for federal housing grants for a brothel.

“It’s tied to the Justice Department. And we’ve been very aggressive in asking (Attorney General) Eric Holder to investigate what’s seen on these ACORN tapes and he’s ignored it,” Breitbart said of the media ploy.”

FWIW, I don’t think Letten’s recusal has anything to do with Breitbart, his claims, or even O’Keefe. Letten recused himself, not his office, and the first assistant Jan Maselli Mann will take over the prosecution. My guess is Letten’s recusal is related to the fact that one of the suspects is the son of the U.S. Attorney in Shreveport, who is likely a Letten acquaintance and the basis for his recusal.”

O’Keefe is accusing members of the mainstream media of journalism malpractice over its coverage of his arrest and the circumstances surrounding it.

Obviously a media malfunction.

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