Project Veritas Founder Vows to Sue CNN Amid Campaign to 'Expose' News Network

Last week, Twitter was slammed for permanently suspending Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe over his purported use of "fake accounts" on the platform amid the сonservative investigative group's "Expose CNN" campaign.

James O'Keefe, founder of the conservative investigative journalist group Project Veritas, has promised to file a defamation lawsuit against CNN, several days after being permanently banned on Twitter.

"There are people on Twitter who are impersonating me who still remain on Twitter. I will depose [the platform's CEO Jack Dorsey] under oath […]. And tomorrow I will sue CNN", O'Keefe told Fox News on Sunday.

He added that he would challenge CNN after anchor Ana Cabrera claimed on air that Project Veritas' Twitter ban was the product of spreading disinformation.

James O'Keefe, President of Project Veritas Action, waits to be introduced during a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington. (File)

© AP Photo / Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Twitter permanently banned the Project Veritas account in February over alleged violations of the platform's policies that prohibit sharing other people's private information without their consent.

"Not even Twitter alleges that I was banned, or Project Veritas was banned, for disinformation. Every day in this country people are defamed and lied about constantly and they don't have the will, the money, the resources to fight back. So Veritas is going to be the tip of that spear", O'Keefe stressed.

He added that his group had never lost a lawsuit, saying, "We don’t settle. We fight all the way to a jury verdict and we've never lost".

Referring to his push to sue the Twitter chief executive, the Project Veritas founder said he is willing "to depose Jack Dorsey under oath".

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testifies during a remote video hearing held by subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee on "Social Media's Role in Promoting Extremism and Misinformation" in Washington, U.S., March 25, 2021

© REUTERS / HANDOUT

"We want to put these people through depositions to understand exactly what was going through their minds when they maliciously lied about me, saying I operate fake accounts".

O'Keefe's purported use of fake accounts was behind Twitter's move to permanently ban the Project Veritas founder from the platform amid the group's "Expose CNN" campaign.

Part of the campaign was a clip appearing to show CNN technical director Charles Chester claiming that his news outlet's "focus" during the 2020 election campaign was to "get [then-US President Donald] Trump out of office".

A Twitter spokesperson told Fox News that the footage was out of sync with the platform's policy which stipulates that "you can't mislead others on Twitter by operating fake accounts", and "you can't artificially amplify or disrupt conversations through the use of multiple accounts".

O'Keefe vehemently denied the allegations as he was quick to decide on suing the social network for defamation, with Twitter declining to comment on what fake accounts the Project Veritas founder ostensibly used.

The platform's move to permanently ban O'Keefe caused flak from many Twitter users, which was echoed by Donald Trump Jr, who accused CNN of spreading "propaganda to elect Democrats". The ex-POTUS' son also argued that Twitter "runs interference to protect CNN" and that "they're all on the same team".