James O'Keefe says he has tapes from inside CNN

When asked why he had made the recordings and why he planned to release them, O'Keefe told a CNN interviewer that the network, "has a very important role as an arbiter of news."

"My audience, the American people, are deeply upset at the media,” O’Keefe said. "We think our media needs to be held to account, and CNN is kind of the leader of that. CNN has a very important role as an arbiter of news."

O'Keefe became well-known in 2009 after he went undercover,  posing as a pimp, in a video to embarrass community-organizing group ACORN. In 2010, he wa arrested at Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu's office, and later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for entering federal property under false pretenses.