James O’Keefe reveals details to Congress of Skid Row investigation that led to election fraud conviction

"In February 2026, I disguised myself as a homeless person and approached a petition circulator on Skid Row near San Pedro and South Sixth Street in downtown Los Angeles. I saw cash clipped to his shirt, which I thought was odd," O'Keefe said to Rand Paul, who was presiding over the hearing.

"The petition circulator told me, 'we're going to need 14 signatures, and we're going to pay you $2.' One of our reporters, disguised as a heroin addict with track marks on his arm, asked the homeless people, 'What's going on here?' They all replied with one word: 'Money.'"

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O'Keefe went on to recount how his team recorded a woman named "Brown" handing a homeless person cash to vote in a federal election.

"Now, that is a federal crime," O'Keefe said. "Congress expressly criminalizes payments to people to register to vote. Why? Because the vote is sacred. It's an act of conscience, of judgment. When it becomes contaminated by incentives, when it is for sale, it undermines the sanctity and fairness of the process designed to elect those who represent us."

O'Keefe then told Paul how, after they had exposed what appeared to be election tampering on camera, an officer who identified himself as LAPD approached his team and began recording them. O'Keefe detailed how the "officer," when pressed, revealed that he was actually with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

"So this was also a form of fraud, covering up for the fraud happening across the street," he said.

O'Keefe then relayed how he and his team noticed petitioners giving marijuana in exchange for signatures, and when one of those petitioners spotted the cameras, they told them:

"I'm going to knock your bleeping ass. Don't come over here again. I'm going to beat your ass."

O'Keefe then recounted how, over the following weeks, he formed an alliance of citizen journalists with Savannah Hernandez, Cam Higby, Anthony Rubin and John Trow, and they found dozens of cases of drugs and cash being exchanged for petition signatures. He said petitioners even asked homeless people to write in other people's names and addresses.

O'Keefe said they even visited some of the homes of the people whose identities were being used. He said when they caught up to the petitioners who had offered marijuana in exchange for petitions, the man's associate punched O'Keefe's producer in the neck. He then recounted the violent assault he and his team proceeded to experience.

"When we caught up to him, one of his associates charged at us and punched my producer in the neck," he said. "The two men then charged at me. Right before they struck us, Cam Higby deployed pepper spray. Even with pepper spray in their eyes, the two men continued trying to assault us. My colleague Braden and I had no choice but to run for our lives."

O'Keefe reminded the lawmakers of their responsibility to protect democracy through the even enforcement of the law, transparency and accountability.

"I don't have subpoena power," he said. "Us journalists don't have the power to do anything but expose.

"People campaign in this building about freedom, protecting democracy, preventing disenfranchisement, and how nobody is above the law. But if those principles are not enforced when they are violated in broad daylight, they're not principles at all. They're slogans."

"Without accountability, our notion of freedom is just an illusion.”

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