James O'Keefe's Panty-Stealing 'Rape Barn' Sex Scandal
It's a right-wing rabble-rouser showdown! Jazz-handed pimp impersonator James O'Keefe is at "#WAR" with a former Project Veritas colleague who is now blogging an O'Keefe tell-all involving stolen panties, drugged beers, a "rape barn," "taped intimate moments," a $20K pay-off, and barbs about "black welfare queens." James O'Keefe has graduated from creepy seductions to a full-blown sex scandal.
Harvard grad student Nadia Naffe recently filed a criminal harassment complaint against James. Citing insufficient evidence, a judge dismissed the case. Now Nadia is on a scorched earth cyber rampage. "If he wants a fight, bring it on. This is #WAR," she tweeted last night, after retweeting outraged utterances from an unofficial Rubio4President account about James' "rape barn." On her personal blog, she is currently on part two of a sprawling anti-O'Keefe opus.
Nadia says she worked with James on his painful "To Catch a Journalist" series, during which he made racially charged romantic overtures. Weeks later, she agreed to stay in a "renovated barn" on his parents' property while working on another project. She then republishes a 1500-word email she apparently sent to James and the Project Veritas board after the rape barn weekend:
After a tiring five hour train ride from Boston, I was eager to get showered, changed and into bed early. When you brought me to the barn that evening, I inquired about when you would be leaving at least two times. But, you made every excuse to stay.
When you observed me lying in bed, talking on the phone with a male friend, you became noticeably upset. You picked up your penny loafers and stormed out of the room like a 10-year old boy having a tantrum. You called me on the phone moments later demanding to know why I was talking on the phone with someone else in your presence. You were furious.
Emphasis mine throughout. Nadia writes that she "turned my back to James… as he stopped in the kitchen, where my beer was sitting, on his way out the door." Then:
I tried to escape from the barn as quickly as I could. I tried to run away, but I didn't know where I was. I felt disoriented after drinking the alcohol you purchased. It was pitch black outside and there were no lights. It was freezing cold inside the barn, there was no heat inside and I couldn't see the steps leading downstairs. I called and texted you dozens of times that night, insisting that you return me to the train station or provide me with transportation out of the remote location which you brought me to. When I told you I felt sick, you didn't seem surprised. You advised me to lye down in bed and that everything would be better in the morning.
My last resort was to threaten to call the police. It was only then, did you agree to take me to the train station in New York. I had hoped this would be a smooth process, but with you James, there is no nuance>.
Not sure what sort of "nuance" is involved when threatening to call the cops, but let's return to the letter:
When you returned to the barn, you brought an older white male with you to intimidate me. You never advised me of his presence. He stood in the dark, hiding downstairs behind the staircase. I heard his footsteps and began screaming and shouting at the both of you. I thought you brought him there to assault me. But even as I screamed and yelled at you and that man, you and he persisted in trying to convince me to spend the night in the barn.
James, I am not a fool. The barn is the same place where you taped intimate moments with Emma, without her knowledge. You are looking for a reason to blame me for what happened that night, so that you can become the victim. Perhaps, you believe by denigrating my personal character and using the same sexually suggestive tactics that are currently being used against Herman Cain, that my reputation will be ruined and so that yours can be spared. But James, the only place your version of the facts has any merit is in your paranoid head.
WHOA. Who is Emma? Does James O'Keefe have a sex tape?! I asked James and Nadia about this, but they haven't provided any new details.
James, this is not junior high. You need to grow up and be a man. Do not continue to make a fool of yourself by calling to offer me money, as you did on Oct. 24th. I was never with you for the money. I'm not looking for a payoff. Be a man and return my panties and scarf that were in the trunk of your car. Do not keep my undergarments as a trophy or souvenir to show off to your friends.
I have three semesters of grad school left at Harvard. I have an amazing future before me. I will not tolerate you portraying me as a tramp, or likening me to one of the "Black welfare queens" in your videos.
You used to be truly precious to me, but those affectionate feelings I once felt for you are long past now. The police have advised me a situation such as this constitutes FALSE IMPRISONMENT, a felony in New Jersey. Bringing a third party to the barn to prevent me from notifying the police of a crime, confusing and intimidating me so that you could keep me in the barn constitutes TAMPERING WITH A WITNESS, a felony in New Jersey.
After Nadia sent the rape barn email, she says James published a response on Project Veritas' website, then deleted it. Nadia writes that it contained images of documents from James' legal battle with Isabel Santa, the former Project Veritas member who warned CNN reporter Abbie Boudreau about James' plan to trap and sexually humiliate her on a "love boat." Apparently Project Veritas fired Isabel after the ordeal; her lawyer argued that this treatment could qualify as "wrongful termination, negligent misrepresentation, fraud, harassment, negligence, conspiracy and detrimental reliance," and ended up with a $20,000 settlement. Nadia saved the documents and published them on her blog. Here they are:
Nadia also published James' lawyer's request for an injunction to prevent Nadia from publishing the above documents. James' lawyer claims Nadia "surreptitiously obtained Plaintiff's confidential, private and proprietary information by downloading it from Plaintiff's computer without permission." Here it is:
It's taken me all morning to sort out the allegiances of this strange, sprawling spat. I'm in touch with Nadia but can't figure out how reliable she is. (The whole "tweeting at the FBI" thing is really throwing me off.) There's a chance that Nadia is a litigious paranoiac who blows minor grievances out of proportion and misinterprets the world around her—which is, ironically, James' modus operandi as well. What a strangely appropriate dilemma.
James O'Keefe did not reply to repeat requests for comment, even though he is my BFF. [NadiaNaffe.com, images via AP and @NadiaNaffe]