Judge orders federal government to stop extracting data from James O'Keefe's cell phones

WASHINGTON (TND) — A U.S. District Court judge has ordered the Department of Justice to stop the "extraction and review" of contents from two cell phones belonging to Project Veritas Founder James O'Keefe, according to a copy of the court order issued Thursday.

The order comes after the FBI searched O'Keefe's New York residence last week as part of an investigation into the theft of a diary allegedly stolen from Ashley Biden, the daughter of President Joe Biden. The cell phones in question were seized by federal agents during the search, according to O'Keefe's legal team.

Though O'Keefe acknowledges Project Veritas obtained the dairy from "tipsters," he has repeatedly insisted the group had no knowledge the diary was allegedly stolen. O'Keefe says Project Veritas opted not to report on the diary and handed it over to law enforcement because his team was unable to verify its authenticity.

"The government’s execution of a search warrant at Mr. O’Keefe’s home demonstrates its lack of concern for a balance between the purported needs of its investigation and the rights of a free press," O'Keefe's legal team wrote to the court in a letter obtained by The National Desk.

Shortly after his home was searched, O'Keefe and Project Veritas requested the court stop the government from "reviewing, copying, accessing, or extracting the materials" on the cell phones, according to the letter. Thursday's order, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Analisa Torres, satisfies that request.

"We're very gratified that the court acted quickly to pause the extraction of the information on the two telephones, which includes not only privileged and confidential legal information of three dozen attorneys for Project Veritas attorneys, but also information about Project Veritas donors and extensive information about confidential sources in government agencies and corporations across America," Harmeet Dhillon, legal counsel for James O'Keefe, said in a phone interview Friday.

O'Keefe and his attorneys have also questioned how The New York Times was able to learn intricate details of the investigation and subsequent home search, claiming The New York Times reporting "included information that could have only come from the government."

"This is a temporary measure by the court until further briefing. It should be troubling to any journalist in the U.S. that the Department of Justice clearly violated its own internal guidelines for handling information requests from journalists, as well as federal privacy laws pertaining to newsgathering and dissemination activities," Harmeet said.

The FBI did not respond to a request for more information on the case sent by The National Desk on Thursday.