Ex-FBI agent and Pentagon contractor sues over secret recording showing him criticizing Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI agent and Pentagon contractor has sued the founder of a conservative nonprofit known for its hidden camera stings over secretly recorded videos showing the contractor criticizing President Donald Trump to a woman he thought he had taken on a date.

Jamie Mannina says in his lawsuit that he was misled by a woman he met on a dating website who held herself out as a politically liberal nurse but who was actually working with the conservative activist James O’Keefe in a sting operation designed to induce Mannina into making “inflammatory and damaging” remarks that could be recorded, “manipulated” and posted online.

Clips from their January conversations were spliced together to make it appear that Mannina was “essentially attempting to launch an unlawful coup against President Trump,” and an article released online with the videos defamed Mannina by painting him as part of a “deep state” effort with senior military officials to undermine Trump’s presidency, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Washington.

Mannina does not deny in the lawsuit making the comments. He says his words were taken out of context and were misrepresented in a description of the video that was posted on YouTube.

O’Keefe founded Project Veritas in 2010 but was removed from the organization in 2023 amid allegations that he mistreated workers and misspent funds. He has continued to employ similar hidden camera stings as part of a new organization he established, O’Keefe Media Group, which also is named in the lawsuit.

O’Keefe told The Associated Press that Mannina “voluntarily” offered up the comments in the recording and that it was important for the public to hear Mannina’s remarks. O’Keefe pointed out that the District of Columbia only requires the consent of one party, not both, for a conversation to be recorded. O’Keefe said the lawsuit was an “attack on the First Amendment” and that he was prepared to fight it in an appeals court if necessary.

“He said what he said. We did not take him out of context. The words that we reported came out of his mouth,” O’Keefe said, adding, “We stand by our reporting.”

The lawsuit includes claims of defamation, false light, fraudulent misrepresentation and violations of the Wire Tap Act. Though the lawsuit acknowledges that the city’s consent law for recording conversations, the filing asserts that the law nonetheless prohibits “the interception and recording of a communication if it was for the purposes of committing a tortious act.”

A recording that O’Keefe released shows Mannina being asked at one point by the woman, whose name was not disclosed in the lawsuit, about his “overall assessment of Trump.”

“He’s a sociopathic narcissist who’s only interested in advancing his name, his wealth and his fame,” Mannina can be heard saying. Asked in the recording whether there was anything he could do to “protect the American people,” Mannina replied that he was in conversation with some retired generals to explore what could be done.

The lawsuit was filed by Mark Zaid, a prominent Washington lawyer who routinely represents government officials and whistleblowers. Zaid himself was sued Trump last week after the president revoked his security clearance.

“Lying or misleading someone on a dating app, which no doubt happens all the time, is not what this lawsuit seeks to address,” Zaid said in a statement to The Associated Press. “The creation of a fake profile for the specific purposes of targeting individuals for deliberately nefarious and harmful purposes is what crosses the line.”

The complaint arises from a pair of dates that Mannina had in January. During their first date, the lawsuit alleges, the woman expressed her distaste for Trump and repeatedly pressed Mannina on his political views and about his work with the government. Mannina told her that included working as a “spy catcher” several years earlier when he was an FBI counterintelligence agent.

The lawsuit says Mannina and the woman met for lunch the following day, and as they left the restaurant, a man with a microphone approached Mannina and said, “Jamie, you’re a spy hunter, you say. Well, I’m a spy hunter, too, but I’m evidentially a better spy hunter than you.” The man was O’Keefe, the lawsuit says.

The complaint says Mannina was swiftly fired from Booz Allen, where he worked as a contractor, after O’Keefe contacted the press office and presented at least parts of the videos.

O’Keefe then released a video on his organization’s YouTube channel titled, “Pentagon Advisor Reveals Conversation ‘to Explore What We Can Do’ to ‘Protect People from Trump.’”

The lawsuit says the O’Keefe Media Group painted Mannina in a false light by misconstruing his words and his title, including by referring to him as a “Top Pentagon Advisor” when he was actually just “one of a countless number of defense contractors.” It says that characterization was intended to support “fabricated claims that Mr. Mannina was essentially attempting to launch an unlawful coup against President Trump.”

The lawsuit does not directly say why Mannina was targeted, but it does note that in 2017, when he was working at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, he published three articles in the Huffington Post and The Hill newspaper that were critical of Trump.