Breakthrough: Our Guerilla War to Expose Fraud and Save Democracy

New York Times Bestseller!

Hailed by David Weigel in Slate as having “had more of an impact on the 2012 election than any journalist,” James O’Keefe is young, brash, and provocative: a new breed of guerrilla reporter for the twenty-first century. He and his associates have famously infiltrated some of America’s most protected organizations and institutions. They have challenged politicians, bureaucrats, media moguls, union bosses, and election officials, all with the goal of exposing the lies and malfeasance heretofore hidden from the public. Now, O’Keefe chronicles the harrowing undercover investigation that opened America’s eyes to the chicanery of its state houses and the duplicity of the White House during one of the most compromised election campaigns in our nation’s history: the 2012 presidential race.

Of all his controversial sting operations, this was the one that his late mentor, Andrew Breitbart, called “his most consequential.” While still on federal probation, O’Keefe organized an army of citizen journalists, planned a series of video stings to reveal the American system’s vulnerability to voter fraud, and went nose to nose with the most powerful political machine in the world. Along the way, O’Keefe found disheartening evidence that Americans are not nearly as free a people as we may believe, but he also showed just how much real change ordinary citizens can bring about when they are willing to risk the wrath of the powerful. In just a few years, O’Keefe and his citizen journalism corps, Project Veritas, uncovered systemic corruption at ACORN, leading to its defunding by Congress; exposed the contemptuous biases of NPR executives leading to the resignation of two of their top people and a vote to freeze NPR funding by the House of Representatives; showed the callous indifference of New Jersey Educational Association officials to taxpayers and students; and revealed the easy tolerance of fraud at Planned Parenthood, Medicaid, HUD, and other government agencies. Perhaps most important, their work inspired several states to reform their election laws. Free of ideology, Breakthrough is at its core a clarion call for a more ethical society. Despite being vilified and libeled by an establishment media dedicated to suppressing the truth, James O’Keefe has dared to break through the firewall and reshape public opinion by showing things as they really are.

James E. O’Keefe III gained major national attention for his release of video recordings of workers at ACORN offices in 2009, his arrest in early 2010 at the office of Senator Mary Landrieu, and his release of videos of NPR executives in 2011. In June 2010, O’Keefe formed Project Veritas, an organization with the stated mission to “investigate and expose corruption, dishonesty, self-dealing, waste, fraud, and other misconduct.”