A new exposé by Project Veritas has revealed a video editor for the New York Times lying about his relationship with former FBI director James Comey, while also claiming to slant stories against President Donald Trump on the front page.
James O’Keefe, the founder of Project Veritas released hidden camera footage of several conversations with Nick Dudich, the audience strategy editor for NYT Video, as part of his “American Pravda” video series, which began with undercover recordings of CNN employees.
In the video, Dudich calls himself the “gatekeeper” for all the New York Times videos posted online, saying that his “imprint is on every video we do."
“Any video that goes on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram – I have a hand in that,” Dudich said.
When talking journalistic ethics, Dudich is captured sarcastically making air quotes while he said that he will “be objective” working for the Times before quickly admitting: "no I'm not. That's why I'm there.”
According to the New York Times ethical handbook, employees “must do nothing that might raise questions about their professional neutrality or that of The Times."
“As a journalist, I'm not able to give any money to any political organization. I’m not able to volunteer for any political organization. I'm not able to work for any nonprofit or charity. Like, there’s a lot of guidelines and ethics,” Dudich said.
However, before joining the Times, Dudich worked social media on the 2012 presidential campaign of former President Barack Obama and the 2016 presidential campaign of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
When asked how he was able to be politically active and still work as a journalist, Dudich said that he had to leave his job at ABC to take a job where he “wasn't deemed a journalist anymore” in order to work for the Clinton campaign.
Dudich said he made the sacrifice in order to work against Trump, who he said was a “threat.”
“I saw the threat and I was like, I want to do something,” Dudich said. “Trump was a threat and still is a threat, right?”
“Trump is a threat,” the interviewer interjects. “He’s a threat.”
“Oh, he’s a threat to everything,” Dudich added.
At one point, Dudich explains his idea to make Trump resign or leave office by going after his businesses and his “dumb f**k of a son, Donald Jr., and Eric.”
"Target that. Get people to boycott going to his hotels,” Dudich said. “If you can ruin the Trump brand and you put pressure on his business and you start investigating his business and you start shutting it down, or they're hacking or other things. He cares about his business more than he cares about being President. He would resign. Or he'd lash out and do something incredibly illegal, which he would have to."
For the second half of the video, Dudich talks about his personal relationship with former FBI Director James Comey, who he claimed was his godfather.
Dudich said he was worried about the conflict of interest and didn’t tell anyone at the Times about his relationship with Comey.
“Well the Comey hearing, I should have recused myself, but I’m not ever telling anybody there that I have a tie with that or else I don’t know if they can keep me on,” Dudich said.
“Staff members may not write about people to whom they are related by blood or marriage or with whom they have close personal relationships, or edit material about such people or make news judgments about them,” according to the New York Times ethical handbook.
Dudich indicated that he was aware of these rules, implying that he couldn't talk with Comey because he would risk losing his job.
Dudich also claimed to be affiliated with the violent leftist extremist group Antifa and said he punched Nazis.
“I used to be an Anti-Fa punk once upon a time,” Dudich said. “I had fun. They’d start s**t, I’m like, I get to hit you. I’m so excited.”
When asked if he had told ‘godfather’ Comey about being a member of Antifa, Dudich was reluctant to answer.
“I cannot confirm or deny that question because there’s a follow up to that question that I don’t want you to ask,” Dudich said.
“Which is?” the girl behind the camera asks.
“Did the FBI ask me to do that stuff?” Dudich responded.
“Oh, and what did you say?” she asks.
“Why do you think I did it?” Dudich responded.
Dudich said that he was asked to join Antifa in order to gather intelligence and see what their agenda was and if they were a threat.
Project Veritas sent their reporters to interview Dudich’s family, and they denied that Comey was Dudich’s godfather.
“Yeah, I don’t know why… he’s not James Comey’s godson, I don’t even know James Comey,” Dudich’s father, Michael, told the undercover reporters.
When Project Veritas told Dudich they interviewed his father, he admitted that Comey was not his godfather and said that he made the lie because it was “a good story.”
"The fact remains that Nick Dudich lies and he's a gatekeeper at the New York Times,” O'Keefe said. "And that fact should be worrisome to the bosses at the paper of record. Who else are they letting spread misinformation in their name?”
O'Keefe said that there will be more videos on the New York Times coming out soon.
In response to the video, a New York Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha said that Dudich was a “recent hire in a junior position,” adding that he violated “ethical standards and misrepresented his role.”
“In his role at The Times, he was responsible for posting already published video on other platforms and was never involved in the creation or editing of Times videos,” Ha said in a statement. “We are reviewing the situation now.”
O'Keefe, who founded Project Veritas in 2010 in an effort to investigate “corruption, dishonesty, self-dealing, waste, fraud and other misconduct,” has released a number of controversial undercover videos, including those that have been allegedly selectively edited to falsely portray people.