Project Veritas hires Washington law firm to lobby over FBI search - Reuters
James O'Keefe of Project Veritas speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, U.S. February 26, 2021. REUTERS/Octavio Jones
Conservative activist group Project Veritas has hired a Washington, D.C., law firm to lobby for it on matters tied to an FBI search of its founder's home in New York, according to a lobbying disclosure form filed with a U.S. Senate public records office.
Project Veritas, which frequently produces video segments based on undercover operations, has said the U.S. Justice Department is investigating the group in connection with the reported theft of a diary from President Joe Biden's daughter Ashley.
Mark Paoletta, a partner at law firm Schaerr Jaffe since March and previous counsel to former Vice President Mike Pence, said on the lobbying disclosure form time-stamped late Saturday night that Schaerr Jaffe would inform "members of Congress on the FBI's raid on media organization Project Veritas founder, journalist James O'Keefe."
The FBI executed a search warrant on Nov. 6 at O'Keefe's residence and seized cell phones as part of a probe of conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines, court filings show. The disclosure form said the advocacy began on Nov. 11.
A Manhattan federal judge on Tuesday declined to unseal the federal law enforcement affidavits underlying the search.
The federal lobbying disclosure was the first for Project Veritas, and it marked Paoletta's latest advocacy work on Capitol Hill. Paoletta, who earlier lobbied as a DLA Piper partner, did not return messages seeking comment on Tuesday. Messages left for Project Veritas and O'Keefe about the lobbying services were not immediately returned.
A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
The lobbying comes as The New York Times is challenging a New York state judge's order blocking the Times from publishing certain materials about Project Veritas. The order came amid a defamation lawsuit Project Veritas filed against the Times last year over an article describing a video the group released alleging voter fraud in Minnesota.
Paoletta served as counsel to Pence at the start of the Trump administration and, in 2018, as general counsel to the Office of Management and Budget. He was a partner at DLA from 2012 to 2016 and provided legal services to clients including Samsung Electronics America Inc, Gilead Sciences Inc and Oracle Corp.
Schaerr Jaffe, a 15-lawyer firm, has pursued conservative causes since its beginning in 2014, when veteran U.S. Supreme Court advocate Gene Schaerr departed Winston & Strawn to open the firm.
In one recent case, Georgia hired Schaerr as a "special assistant attorney general" defending the state in a lawsuit the Justice Department filed in June over voting restrictions. He is billing the state at $425 hourly, according to a contract Reuters obtained.
source: https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/project-veritas-hires-washington-law-firm-lobby-over-fbi-search-2021-12-07/
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