Conservative group honors Project Veritas founder

WASHINGTON — James O’Keefe, the rightwing activist whose Project Veritas organization recently attempted to plant a false story in The Washington Post, was honored Wednesday night by a conservative religious organization. The award was presented by Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in a ceremony at Washington’s Trump International hotel.

O’Keefe tweeted a photo of Thomas handing him the Impact Award from the organization United in Purpose. Thomas is a longtime conservative and religious activist, closely associated with the Tea Party.

Project Veritas made headlines recently for the organization’s guerrilla tactics in defense of conservative causes. The Washington Post recently revealed an apparent sting operation designed to discredit the newspaper by planting a false story against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.

The Post disclosed that a woman who had claimed for weeks to have been impregnated by Moore when she was 15 years old was in fact a Project Veritas operative. O’Keefe himself admitted the attempted deception in a fundraising letter, writing “Following months of undercover work within The Washington Post, our investigative journalist within the publication had their cover blown.”

Project Veritas has also had a hand in the ongoing trial of more than 150 people arrested and charged with rioting during President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January. Prosecutors have used as evidence secret video recordings by a Project Veritas operative who infiltrated a protest planning meeting held in a Washington church basement.

United in Purpose is an NGO seeking to “transform American culture by bringing together conservative Christian organizations,” according to the group’s website. Other recipients of the organization’s Impact Award on Wednesday include Fox News host Sean Hannity.