We already know James O’Keefe is a consummate investigative journalist, but he’s also a compelling public speaker. O’Keefe was one of the main Thursday morning speakers, and he re-told recent Project Veritas stings to expose corporate and legacy media, especially his exposure of CNN and Jeff Zucker. Twitter used this as an excuse to ban Project Veritas from Twitter.

O’Keefe also used his speech as a clarion call. He encouraged conservatives to not hide away, but despite the opposition, to become even more engaged in the fight.

“Some of you are so cynical, you say, ‘Well nothing ever happens to these people. No one will hold them accountable.’

“Well, with that attitude, nothing will happen,” O’Keefe opined.

“But there are a lot of good people in these institutions, who need to speak up, to be brave, who need to do something, who need to expose them. That is not a political mission, it’s one of revelation, exposing the reality of things, more of even maybe an artistic mission more than it is political.”

O’Keefe laid out why it is important to not only fight for exposure, but to be the one who pulls back the curtain.

“We live in dystopian times,” he said.

O’Keefe knows this better than most. First Project Veritas journalists were targeted and raided by the FBI, supposedly over the Ashley Biden diary. Project Veritas had not acted on the diary or any information housed within it because they wanted to verify its legitimacy. The FBI’s clumsy raid did that for them.

O’Keefe called out both The New York Times (who broke the story), and the FBI about the lack of journalistic integrity, the possible collusion between the agency and the fish wrap of record, not to mention the illegality of these actions. Soon after this, O’Keefe was also raided by the FBI, who confiscated his phones and sensitive Project Veritas expose and donor information.

O’Keefe and Project Veritas are not backing down; instead, they are stepping up to a new level in order to combat the dystopian nightmare we are all experiencing. O’Keefe recommitted to further expose the lies and collusion between corporations, the government, and the legacy media, and to uphold and foster journalistic integrity and freedom of speech. In light of this renewed focus, O’Keefe used the rest of his speech to do a big reveal.

Patrick Davis, formerly operations manager for CNN for 25 years, is now the Executive Producer for Project Veritas. This announcement received a standing ovation from the room.

Davis took the speech from there, telling his story of how he inadvertently ended up being a part of one of the Project Veritas’ CNN stings, to moving into retirement, to his decision to join the Project Veritas team.

“I know journalism, and I know good journalism, and the people at Project Veritas are the most hardworking people I’ve ever met.”

Davis also said,

“The beauty of Project Veritas is that everyone there has a seat at the table.

[…]

“I have had more conversations about ethical journalism at Project Veritas than I did in my last 10 years at the CNN network.”

Davis discussed how a friend asked why he would leave the “comforts” of retirement to align himself with Project Veritas. He told that friend,

“I’d rather die on my feet, than live on my knees.”

Davis’ concluded his speech with an exhortation to the CPAC crowd.

“Be brave. Do something. I did.”