James E. O'Keefe III (born June 28, 1984) is an American investigative journalist and activist filmmaker who came to national prominence in the fall of 2009 when he released videos showing members of a community organizing group, ACORN, giving possibly illegal advice. As a result, the organization lost all of its federal funding and O'Keefe was praised by a number of Republican lawmakers for uncovering corruption. Although O'Keefe has described himself as a "progressive radical" who follows Saul Alinsky's rule of making "the enemy live up to its own book of rules", most media outlets label him a conservative, with The Politico calling him "right-wing". O'Keefe has created other videos on what he considers corrupt organizations including Planned Parenthood. On January 25, 2010, O'Keefe was arrested by the FBI and was charged in federal court on January 26 with allegedly attempting to tamper with the phones of Senator Mary Landrieu.
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