Tim Pool: Still Not a Liberal
YouTube journalist Tim Pool proclaims to be a liberal despite producing hundreds of videos attacking the left and defending the right and far right. In a recent video, Pool defends Project Veritas, a venture headed by conservative activist James O’Keefe that seeks to uncover liberal wrongdoing.
Pool states in the video that Project Veritas has been sued for defamation many times, but “has won every single case.” This claim is false. In 2013, O’Keefe agreed to a settlement of $100,000 to Juan Carlos Vera, an ACORN employee who was secretly recorded during O’Keefe’s sting of the community organization. Strictly speaking, Project Veritas did not lose this lawsuit, but they certainly didn’t win it either.
Pool takes issue with the claim that Project Veritas deceptively edits their videos. But this reality has been known since Veritas’ ACORN sting, where James O’Keefe inserted footage of himself dressed as a “pimp” when he was actually dressed normally in the meetings that he surreptitiously recorded. An investigation by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office called the Veritas ACORN videos “heavily edited” with intent to create a mistaken impression.
Project Veritas is recognized as untrustworthy and deceptive even by conservative outlets and pundits. In 2017, Project Veritas attempted to get The Washington Post to print a false story about Roy Moore. The plan failed miserably and several prominent right-wing publications called out O’Keefe for his deception. Rob Dreher of The American Conservative called on conservatives to stop funding Project Veritas due to its deception and ineptitude. Writing in The National Review, Jim Geraghty wrote: “In Roman mythology, Veritas was the goddess of Truth. How well can you serve truth by lying?”
O’Keefe and Project Veritas have been involved with even more underhanded tactics, including getting charged with a felony for intent to damage the phone system of U.S. Senator Mary Landreau in 2010. O’Keefe took a deal that gave him three years of probation on a reduced charge. There is also the bizarre story of O’Keefe attempting to lure a female CNN reporter onto a boat loaded with porn and sex toys. Yes, it’s true.
Since Tim Pool’s viewership is dominated by conservatives, his video defending Project Veritas will likely be popular with them. But it serves again to illustrate the fact that Tim Pool is no liberal. He rails against left-wing and centrist sources, but defends an extremely biased conservative source that even mainline conservatives won’t go to bat for.
