EXCLUSIVE: The Story Behind Layoffs, Chaos at Project Veritas

James O'Keefe and Hanna Giles. (Getty Images/Twitter)
Getty Images/Twitter
Bob Price

Chaos erupted in the investigative news organization known as Project Veritas, leading to the ouster of its founder and the eventual layoff of dozens of employees. Following the exit of James O’Keefe, a new CEO with a familiar name — Hannah Giles — faces the challenges of rebuilding the organization and refocusing on its mission of investigative journalism.

Giles told Breitbart News on Friday that she did not want the position where she now sits. “I’m a home-schooling mother of three,” she explained. “But, I couldn’t sit by and let the organization, our team, continue to fall into a financial condition that would block the mission.”

“We went from 65 employees to 60, then to 50,” Giles explained. She said as CEO she has had to make tough financial decisions until the public learns the truth about O’Keefe’s departure and returns to support the organization’s mission. Project Veritas laid off additional employees this week and now stands with 18 team members — including Giles.

Giles explained that a few employees left the company for other jobs, two were let go, and 28 were laid off this week due to the scaleback of donations following a PR campaign against Project Veritas by former leadership members. “It was purely a financial economic layoff,” she stated.

An unidentified source told the Post Millineum that Giles and the current board were the reason for the lack of fundraising success.

“Since James quit,” a source claimed, “the donations dried up…the donations never resumed.

Project Veritas President, Joseph Barton, told Breitbart that the company is in good hands with its new CEO. “Hanna did not seek the position she finds herself in,” Barton said. “She is incredible and has the skill set we need to get this Project Veritas turned around.”

Barton described Giles as “the mother of Project Veritas.”

Giles said, “Project Veritas is in a rebuilding phase. I am determined to put this organization on solid financial footing and, more importantly, to ensure that it is run with the utmost integrity.”

The new CEO continued, “What’s more, former board members are actively trying to undermine and destroy the organization. One to vindicate James personally, and the other to sink him.”

The journalistic work has continued since Giles took the helm at Project Veritas. In July, she released a video confirming the authenticity of Ashley Biden’s diary.

In late February, shortly after O’Keefe’s suspension from Project Veritas, the founder claimed that he was removed after the release of the “Pfizer sting” — a January video a “Pfizer research director expressing concerns about Covid-19 vaccines and acknowledging that his company planned to mutate the coronavirus through ‘directed evolution,’” National Review reported. O’Keefe attempted to tie his suspension to this video.

“That is the only thing that has changed,” O’Keefe said in a video released after his suspension. “And then, suddenly, an unusual emergency happened just a few days after that.”

Giles disputes this, saying, “It is absolutely not true,” she stated.

Breitbart asked Giles and Barton if any influence or pressure had been put on Project Veritas regarding O’Keefe or the video. Both said, “Absolutely not.”

Nevertheless, says Giles, O’Keefe’s Pfizer allegation caused many donors to withdraw from the organization.

“The result of previous mismanagement is that good journalists who just want to uncover corruption were put in the crosshairs,” Giles claimed to Breitbart. “Project Veritas needed to refit and reorganize itself to be ready for the next several years of hard-hitting investigative journalism.”

O’Keefe pushed back on allegations of mismanagement. In the Nation Review article, he said he was in a “state of complete shock” when he learned of the board’s allegations. As to excessive spending, he said, “I don’t know how I can do my job here if I can’t transport myself around the United States.”

Regarding alleged employee abuse, O’Keefe added that he is a “hard guy to work for sometimes.”

“I haven’t always been the most compassionate leader, and that is admittedly a fault of mine, something I need to work on,” he said, according to National Review.

Giles said, “Project Veritas is going through a tough year, and we have had to make hard decisions to keep producing the nation’s best journalism. A group of talented journalists have been let go as we rebuild the organization.”

Giles maintains a positive outlook regarding Project Veritas’ future.

“With these reforms in progress, Project Veritas is laser-focused again on exposing the truth where powerful interests try to hide it,” Giles concluded.

Editor’s Note: A reference to a Telegram message has been removed after Mr. O’Keefe asserted a former staffer was responsible for the message.

Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.

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