(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Project Veritas has confirmed with Headline USA that it had previously employed an ex-FBI agent arrested this week on Jan. 6-related charges.
The New York Times first reported this Wednesday, after the DOJ charged former FBI agent Jared Wise for illegally entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The Times cited an anonymous source who said that Wise was among a group of Project Veritas operatives who were assigned to infiltrate teacher unions in Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and Kentucky.
Project Veritas didn’t speak to what Wise was doing for the organization, but did confirm that he was a contractor from February to May 2018.
“He worked here for a total of four months. During his time at Project Veritas, Mr. Wise did not partake in any ‘January 6’ related actions—given the fact that January 6 occurred well over two years after he had already departed the organization,” a Project Veritas spokesman told Headline USA.
Headline USA also reached out to Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe, who was the watchdog organization’s president at the time before parting ways earlier this year, but he didn’t immediately respond.
O’Keefe released a video Thursday, claiming that Wise messaged him this year about a hair-brained scheme to target the FBI. O’Keefe did not disclose that Wise had previously worked for him.
“Something absolutely crazy just happened regarding the FBI and myself and [O’Keefe Media Group] … On March 27, the same Jared Wise actually sent us at OMG a Signal message wanting to talk to me about recording current FBI personnel,” O’Keefe said. “He wanted me to expose the FBI and record the FBI about Jan. 6. I asked him questions … Because I know and you know that a lot of people are trying to set me up.”
O’Keefe said Wise expressed concerns about Project Veritas’s 2018 operation to infiltrate teachers unions. This is the same scheme Wise was working on for Project Veritas, according to the Times. Again, O’Keefe made no mention of this.
Arrested FBI Agent Previously Sought to Ensnare O’Keefe in Plot to Record Bureau
Jered Wise, former Special Agent in NY stated in Signal messages that our work recording teachers union officials was “reckless”
“I want to record current FBI Personnel” pic.twitter.com/UOZDq5sWYv
— O’Keefe Media Group (@OKeefeMedia) May 4, 2023
Along with his work with the FBI and Project Veritas, another intriguing fact about Wise’s résumé is that was previously the supervisory special agent in charge of Homegrown Violent Extremism for the FBI New York Field Office’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, according to NBC News.
Wise now faces charges for the very activity he once investigated.
According to an FBI affidavit accompanying the indictment, he entered the Capitol and exited through a broken window. He also yelled at officers: “You’re disgusting. You are the Nazi. You are the Gestapo. You can’t see it.
“Kill ’em! Kill ’em! Kill ’em!”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
