The New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet has responded to Project Veritas’ undercover NYT staff exposé, calling James O’Keefe “despicable” for releasing “damaging” footage.

The undercover footage shows NYT staffer Nick Dudich bragging about slanting news against President Trump, and bizarrely referring to himself as former FBI Director James Comey’s “godson.”

“I have a lot of thoughts about this, and for those of you that saw it, it was an undercover operation in which James O’Keefe – who I think is a despicable person who runs a despicable operation – he essentially tries to catch people from what he sees the left-wing media saying inappropriate things,” Baquet said.

Baquet then attempted to distance himself and the New York Times from staffer Nick Dudich, who boasted of promoting anti-Trump bias in their stories.

“He caught a kid, a guy in his 20s, who I, to give you an idea, they portray him as a very powerful figure in the New York Times… I never met him,” Baquet said.

Though he was forced to admit that Dudich’s behavior was wrong and probably illegal, Baquet nevertheless tried to paint O’Keefe as a sneaky vagabond who engages in “lying and subterfuge,” despite the fact that’s exactly what the NYT had been caught doing.

“He said things he shouldn’t have said. Um, and he said things that you know, were damaging. And I’ll deal with that,” Baquet said.

“But the greater sin wasn’t his, it was theirs. They sent a young woman in, as part of their undercover operation, who essentially made him think he was developing a friendship. He said really stupid stuff, he said he was Jim Comey’s godson, he said he had once worked undercover, essentially… he said stuff he shouldn’t have said. But his sin was a sin of foolishness and it violated our policies. Their sin was greater. Their sin was a sin of lying and subterfuge. They’re, they’re just awful.”

Oldest leftist trick in the book: Always accuse your opponent of what you yourself are doing as you are doing it, to create confusion.

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