MUCKRAKERS

Twenty-Five Year CNN Operations Manager Joins Project Veritas as Executive Producer

• Patrick Davis, who worked at CNN for over two decades in the network’s Washington bureau and retired as Field Operations Manager has joined Project Veritas in an Executive Producer role.

• Davis was previously recorded by Project Veritas’ CNN insider Cary Poarch in a 2019 video where he said the network wasn’t “what is used to be.” Davis also said journalism has become “infotainment.”

• One of the reasons Davis decided to join Project Veritas full-time was because of the raid executed at the homes of journalists from the non-profit including its founder James O’Keefe who Davis sat down with for an interview.

• Davis on Project Veritas: “In the first five days of working at this company, I’ve had more conversations about ethical journalism than I did probably in the last ten years of my career... I mean, this is a young team, but they- but they love journalism. They love getting to the bottom of things.

• Davis on journalism: “I think objective journalism is absolutely possible.” I hope to accomplish us doing more, bigger, better stories; to get back into more investigative-type journalism.”

[ORLANDO, FL. – Feb. 24, 2022] On stage during the opening of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, James O’Keefe announced that former CNN Field Operations Manager Patrick Davis has joined the nonprofit as its Executive Producer.

Davis joined O’Keefe on stage for the announcement and discussed his new role at Project Veritas including his motivations for joining the non-profit.

Davis sat down for an interview with O’Keefe before his appearance on stage at CPAC where he spoke candidly about his previous career.

The reality is I was there for twenty-five years, therefore, half my life. I gave blood, sweat, and tears to that company. I love the company. I love the people there. I still do. There’s some amazing journalists that still work there, in the office and out in the field, especially. It got to a point where what we were doing, it seemed like, out in the field and gather news- how it was being translated on air, wasn’t what CNN was meant to be.

Davis, whose time at CNN’s Washington bureau spanned four presidents, also discussed his thoughts on former CNN President Jeff Zucker, what happened inside CNN during Project Veritas’ investigation into the network and his opinion of Project Veritas now that he’s a part of the organization.

Davis disclosed that the FBI raid on the homes of Project Veritas journalists was a catalyst for him joining the organization. “I thought it was the biggest abridgment to the First Amendment in maybe the history of this country,” Davis said. “For the FBI to go blowing into the doors of journalists, it was unheard of.”

With a smile on his face, Davis added that he hopes to accomplish “bigger and better” stories with Project Veritas:

This is the thing that I’ve learned in the months of being here. Everyone’s very dedicated, one hundred per cent buy-in. But the beauty of it is, we can save a little girl one night, or do a Pentagon Papers one night, and twenty-four hours later we’re doing, you know, dry Ramen nooddles going after Rachel Maddow. What I’m doing right now is either brilliant, or it’s crazy, or maybe it’s a little bit of both, right?

Davis has earned a litany of awards during his journalism career including four Emmy Awards and three Peabody Awards.