The O’Keefe Media Group on Wednesday released explosive undercover footage capturing a National Institutes of Health contractor bragging about ripping down federally installed portraits of President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and others, and throwing them in the trash inside the NIH’s Maryland headquarters.
Previous report:
The contractor, Joseph Olmert, seemed proud of his destruction of government property, until he was confronted by James O’Keefe. Suddenly, the bold activist became a stumbling apologist, calling his actions a “foolish mistake.”
NIH officials have now confirmed to O’Keefe Media Group that Olmert is an active contractor with the NIH’s Office of Research Animal Management Branch. A federal investigation has been initiated.
According to the O’Keefe Media Group:
Joseph Olmert, a contractor inside the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Research Animal Management Branch, admitted to an undercover OMG reporter that he destroyed federally installed portraits of President Trump, JD Vance, RFK Jr., and NIH head director Jay Bhattacharya.
[…]
Olmert, who oversees water quality and filtration systems for research animals like fish and amphibians, detailed the incident in a recorded discussion. “In our building, when you walk into the main lobby, they have these four, like, gaudy photos of Trump, JD Vance, RFK, the head director of NIH that they appointed,” he said. “And they’re, like, it’s all white and gold and massive. And it’s just, it’s, like, it’s gaudy. I’m just, like, ‘It’s gross.’”
Fueled by irritation, Olmert took action: “One day, I was just kind of, like, in a mood. I was, like, frustrated. I, like, and I was just, like, ‘Man, fuck these guys.’ Okay, I just decided to just rip them off the wall. Because they were, like, bolted in. And I just peeled them off. And I put them in the trash by the front door.”
The act didn’t go unnoticed. Olmert recounted how a coworker and close friend approached him excitedly: “Dude, you’ll never believe it. Someone had the balls to fucking take the photos off the wall. I didn’t think anyone had the balls in this place to do that.” When Olmert revealed he was the culprit of the alleged act, the pair burst into laughter.
Adding to the intrigue, another anonymous individual reportedly retrieved the portraits from the trash, turned them face-down to hide the images, and placed them back in – suggesting shared anti-administration sentiment among staff.
Olmert was careful to avoid detection, stating, “I made sure there were no cameras watching me.” Yet he openly recognized the legal risks: “If you damage anything that the federal government owns, you’re destroying federal property. And federal property is not to be fucked with.” When pressed on whether the act was illegal, he sarcastically denied it before admitting,
“Not too difficult, I threw those motherfuckers away.”
O’Keefe then personally confronted Olmert, who believed he was arriving for a Tinder date with a fictional woman named “Jessica.”
Instead, he found James O’Keefe sitting across from him.
When confronted, Olmert casually dismissed the destruction of government property as merely a way to “seem a bit edgy.”
“Now, looking back, it was a foolish mistake,” he confessed after being caught.
“I kinda wanted to seem a bit edgy… like a bad boy.”
Olmert admitted he was trying to impress someone he thought was a Tinder date, boasting about vandalizing federal property to appear more attractive.
James O’Keefe:
Nothing makes a girl hornier than taking down those paintings off the wall. Trump, right?Joseph Olmert:
If she was leaning left.James O’Keefe:
She’s going to get in the bed and do the dirty thing?Joseph Olmert:
I don’t know, dude. This is a Tinder date gone poorly wrong. I thought I was going to eat a chicken.James O’Keefe:
Now you’re going to go to jail.
WATCH:
WATCH: NIH Contractor calls Actions a “Foolish Mistake” After Being Caught Admitting to Destroying Federal Portraits
I sat down with Olmert who thought he was going to be meeting with his date, & asked about his hidden-camera comments claiming he tore down portraits of President… https://t.co/6bR4HqHPge pic.twitter.com/AsDvhEpUug
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) December 5, 2025
The post NIH Contractor Who Admitted to Ripping Down and TRASHING Federal Portraits of President Trump and VP Vance Now Calls It a “Foolish Mistake” After O’Keefe Confronts Him appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.