Investigative journalists James O'Keefe and Cameron Higby have been charged with felonies in Hennepin County, Minnesota, for their undercover work exposing vulnerabilities in the state's election system. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced the charges Wednesday: unlawful voting and identity theft, both felonies. The complaints were first reported by Breitbart News.
The charges stem from an operation on August 11, during Minnesota's primary election. O'Keefe and Higby filmed themselves entering polling places in Minneapolis, using the names of registered voters to test whether they could obtain ballots without identification and whether the state's vouching system could be exploited. Minnesota law allows a registered voter to vouch for up to eight unregistered voters on Election Day, signing an oath confirming the unregistered voter's address.
According to MPR News, the voter names used by O'Keefe and Higby included some residents who were dead and at least one who had voted. The complaint alleges the pair misrepresented their identities to election judges. Moriarty said her office was alerted by the Minnesota Secretary of State's Office. In the videos, O'Keefe, speaking with an accent, asks election workers if he can vouch for other voters. Workers explain the law as his team films, and the group then leaves.
"I think it's pretty clear they did not intend to vote. That's not the question here," Moriarty said at a Wednesday news conference, according to MPR News. The Washington Post reported that the complaints do not allege that either man cast a ballot.
Higby posted a video to YouTube describing the operation himself. "Alright guys, it's Election Day in Minneapolis. James O'Keefe and I are going to go around the city to different polling stations and we're going to see if they're going to allow us to vote without IDs and then we're going to see if they are going to allow us to vouch for other people who aren't even registered to vote," Higby said in the video, per MPR News.
The videos posted by O'Keefe's operation show the men wearing burkas outside precincts during the primary, MPR News reported.
Neither O'Keefe nor Higby is in custody. Moriarty said they will be issued summonses to appear in court in Minnesota.
O'Keefe is the founder of Project Veritas, the undercover journalism outfit he led until his removal in 2023. He now runs O'Keefe Media Group. Higby, a former journalist for conservative outlets, operates a YouTube channel with 285,000 subscribers, according to NBC News. The charge against them carries potential prison time, though no specific sentence has been set.
The case lands in the middle of a national fight over election integrity. President Trump has alleged for years that Democrats committed voter fraud and rigged elections against him. His administration has sought state voter roll lists and identified alleged noncitizen voters, NBC News reported.
Moriarty, the Hennepin County attorney, has a record of controversial charging decisions. Her office's pursuit of felony counts against journalists who documented a security gap — without casting a ballot — is drawing sharp criticism from conservatives who see it as political prosecution. The Minnesota Secretary of State's Office referred the matter to Moriarty, according to MPR News.
It is not yet known what specific evidence prosecutors will present to a grand jury or at trial, or whether O'Keefe and Higby will challenge the charges on First Amendment grounds. Neither has commented publicly on the charges as of Wednesday afternoon.
The story has been covered by Breitbart, MPR News, NBC News, The Washington Post, ABC News and other outlets. Next News Network will continue to follow the case as it develops.
Our Take
Let's get one thing straight: James O'Keefe and Cam Higby are not accused of casting a ballot. The Washington Post says so. Moriarty says so. They walked into polling places, asked questions, filmed the answers, and walked out. That's journalism. The same kind of hidden-camera work that exposed Planned Parenthood and ACORN. Now it's a felony in Hennepin County.
Moriarty's own words give the game away: "I think it's pretty clear they did not intend to vote." So what's the crime? Using the name of a registered voter to test a system. If Minnesota's vouching process is so airtight, why does testing it require a criminal charge? You don't prosecute someone for jiggling a doorknob unless you're afraid of what they'll find behind it.
Notice the sequence: the Secretary of State's Office flagged them. Moriarty charged them. The same office that runs the elections is the one deciding which questions about those elections are legal. That's not justice. That's a protection racket.
And notice the names they used — dead voters and one who already voted. If that's true, Minnesotans deserve to know how a living person's name can be pulled off a voter roll and used at a precinct counter. The charge against O'Keefe and Higby is the only thing standing between the public and that answer.
Every American who believes the First Amendment protects the right to film government officials doing their jobs should be watching this case. If Moriarty succeeds, the message is clear: question the system, and you become the defendant.
