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James O’Keefe has done it again. The undercover journalism that the establishment media loves to hate just exposed what appears to be a systematic cash-for-ballots operation happening right on the streets of Los Angeles — and this time, the Department of Justice is paying attention.
O’Keefe Media Group reporters went undercover on Skid Row, posing as homeless individuals to infiltrate a network of “petitioners” who openly admitted to paying between $7 and $10 per signature on voter registration forms and election petitions. Some bragged about earning up to $1,000 per day. The currency? Cash, cigarettes, and marijuana. The target? Homeless Americans who, in many cases, had no idea what they were actually signing.
The footage is as damning as it is disturbing. “You can just put Pinocchio Lane,” one operative told an undercover journalist when asked what address to use. Another instructed people to “just fake an address.” The Weingart Center, a nonprofit that has received hundreds of millions in public funding, allegedly directed homeless individuals to these petitioners and coached them on maintaining plausible deniability. “See they say ignorance is no excuse for the law. But a lot of times, I have to say ‘I didn’t know, I had no idea,’” a Weingart Center employee was caught saying on camera.
Twenty-eight instances of petitioners offering cash and drugs for signatures. Twenty-eight. That’s not a few bad apples. That’s a pattern.
US Attorney Bill Essayli didn’t mince words in his response. Citing federal law that makes it a crime to provide false information on voter registration forms or offer payment to complete them, Essayli promised that “this DOJ, under the leadership of @AGPamBondi, will aggressively pursue anyone and everyone involved in violating federal election laws.” That’s the kind of statement that makes election fraudsters nervous — and it should.
Even California Governor Gavin Newsom, not exactly known for his enthusiasm about election integrity measures, felt compelled to respond. “This alleged activity is a felony in California. Anyone caught engaging in this activity should be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” his spokesperson told O’Keefe directly. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, District Attorney Nathan Hochman, and the California Secretary of State’s office have all confirmed they’re aware of the sting operation.
Here’s what makes this story particularly infuriating: we’ve been told for years that election fraud is a myth, a figment of paranoid imaginations, a conspiracy theory pushed by people who can’t accept defeat. “The most secure election in history,” they said. “No widespread fraud,” they insisted. Yet here we have video evidence of people openly trading cash and narcotics for voter signatures in broad daylight on the streets of one of America’s largest cities.
Does this prove the 2020 election was stolen? No, and nobody serious is claiming this single operation decided a presidential race. But it does prove something the establishment desperately wants you to forget: election fraud is real, it’s happening, and it’s not particularly difficult to pull off if nobody’s watching.
The homeless population makes for an ideal target — transient, often struggling with addiction, easily influenced by small amounts of cash or drugs. The petitioners know this. The nonprofits allegedly facilitating this know this. And for too long, they’ve operated with the confidence that comes from knowing nobody would bother to investigate.
O’Keefe bothered. And now the DOJ is involved, the governor is forced to respond, and the whole rotten operation is exposed to sunlight.
The question isn’t whether this happened. We can see it happening on video. The question is how many other Skid Rows exist in how many other cities, quietly churning out fraudulent registrations while the people in charge look the other way.
Providence watches over the bold.