Investigative journalist James O’Keefe is fighting back after being charged with two felonies for an undercover report exposing alleged election fraud.

O’Keefe and ground reporter Cam Higby have been accused of misrepresenting themselves by using registered voters’ names at polling stations during Minnesota’s primary elections in August.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced the charges for unlawful voting and identity fraud during a Wednesday press conference.

“Elections are the bedrock of democracy and their protection is one of our highest priorities,” Moriarty said in a statement. “Individuals engaging in unlawful conduct related to our elections will be held accountable.”

Below is a video that Higby shared in August of their investigative reporting:

🚨 I wore a burqa to a Minneapolis polling station and the poll worker was going to allow me to VOTE IN A WOMAN’S NAME.

She was also going to allow me to vouch for another unregistered “muslim” in that persons name.

Full vid on YT: https://t.co/IDZZwRKm9H https://t.co/1DfqKcOyGK

— Cam Higby 🇺🇸 (@camhigby) August 14, 2026

The footage is a danming indictment of Minnesota’s election process, but Moriarty defended the state’s controversial “vouching” process.

“It is primarily used — and this is understandable, obviously — by senior citizens who are living in a place they just haven’t updated their license, because maybe they don’t drive anymore, so it’s not used … that much,” she said.

Moriarty cited the felony penalties levied against O’Keefe and Higby as a “strong deterrent for people not to misuse the vouching process.”

O’Keefe fired back Wednesday evening, calling the charges an attempt to criminalize investigative reporting.

“Weaponized lawfare does not work against me,” O’Keefe wrote in a statement on X along with video.

“It has always backfired on the people who come after me. Most people find criminal charges and lawsuits stressful; the process becomes a form of punishment. But I love this process because it gives me the opportunity to expose injustice at the highest levels. My foundation will be indemnifying members of the Justice League, including @camhigby, for their lawful reporting.”

James O’Keefe on the Felony Charges for Exposing Fraud in Minnesota:

This is not political. It is fundamental. It is about whether citizens still have the right to question their government. This is now a landmark First Amendment case, and every American’s right to speak truth to power has been put on the line.

Weaponized lawfare does not work against me. It has always backfired on the people who come after me. Most people find criminal charges and lawsuits stressful; the process becomes a form of punishment. But I love this process because it gives me the opportunity to expose injustice at the highest levels. My foundation will be indemnifying members of the Justice League, including @camhigby for their lawful reporting.

I’m calling on all Americans, and especially all journalists, to stand united on a message to the prosecutors in Minnesota: the politics of fear will not prevail in the United States of America.

— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) October 29, 2026

“I’m calling on all Americans, and especially all journalists, to stand united on a message to the prosecutors in Minnesota: the politics of fear will not prevail in the United States of America,” O’Keefe said.

Stay tuned.

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