(Ken Silva, Headline USA) “SOS Hannah Giles just fired us all,” Project Veritas cryptically tweeted Thursday afternoon, before deleting the post.
The short-lived tweet about Giles, who is Project Veritas’s CEO, caused widespread speculation on social media that the undercover journalism outlet’s was going defunct in the wake of its founder, James O’Keefe, being pushed out of the organization.
Sure enough, the Post Millennial confirmed that Project Veritas indeed fired “almost all” of its employees.
“On-air talent Christian Hartsock, James Lalino were both laid off after Giles told staff that a restructuring would be underway. Kalen Eriksson, Jaime Phillips, Alyssa Dehen, were also fired. The terminations were done via a Zoom call with HR, with a few of those in the New York office. Giles did not make an appearance,” Post Millennial reported.
“Five people were let go on Monday, including the executive news producer Pam Browne. She was brought in by O’Keefe last year,” the publication added.
“Some of those who were fired were allegedly released in retaliation for their undercover work. Those who are left are primarily admin people, and about 20 people were fired Thursday.”
All indications are that Project Veritas was hemorrhaging money, resources and viewers in the wake of its star reporter, O’Keefe’s, ouster in February. A leaked email from that month showed the organization was asking its donors to “give us a chance” in the wake of his departure.
Critics have pointed out inconsistencies in Project Veritas’s reasoning for O’Keefe’s departure, characterizing the development as a coup.
Human Events editor Jack Posobiec noted on Monday that the board originally said O’Keefe was “enjoying a well-deserved vacation.”
A former whistleblower who worked with O’Keefe also pointed out inconsistencies.
“The Project Veritas company lied to me about what happened to @JamesOKeefeIII at Project Veritas,” tweeted Zach Vorhies.
“They told me this all spun out of control because the fundraising team wanted to call donors and James O’Keefe wanted to email them instead. 100% bullshit. This is a coup.”
O’Keefe, who has started a new media venture, O’Keefe Media Group, is still in litigation with Project Veritas over his departure.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
