Landrieu: O'Keefe Incident "Unusual," "Unsettling"

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) released this statement on the arrest of conservative filmmaker (and ACORN sting man) James O'Keefe, along with three other men in their early twenties, for allegedly attempting to bug entering her office and seeking access to the phone system:

This is a very unusual situation and somewhat unsettling for me and my staff.  The individuals responsible have been charged with entering federal property under false pretenses for the purposes of committing a felony.  I am as interested as everyone else about their motives and purpose, which I hope will become clear as the investigation moves forward.

UPDATE: According to several media outlets, a law enforcement official says it wasn't an attempted bugging, and that O'Keefe and associates were instead trying to see how staffers would react if their phones weren't working.


O'Keefe, who gained notoriety for his secretly filmed videos at ACORN field offices, which created an explosion of controversy around ACORN in 2009, was arrested by the FBI for allegedly helping plan a telephone wiretap of Landrieu's downtown New Orleans Senate office. O'Keefe was allegedly in the office, recording audio on his cell phone as two others posed as telephone repair men and sought to gain access to the office's telephone system, according to a statement from FBI Special Agent Steven Rayes.