Hannah Giles

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Hannah Giles is a journalist who went undercover to expose several Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now offices' practices. Giles later founded the American Phoenix Foundation alongside her husband Joseph Basel with the goal of training journalists for investigative work. In January 2017, Basel confirmed to the Dallas Morning News that the American Phoenix Foundation had closed.

Noteworthy events

ACORN investigation

Giles dressed up, posed as a prostitute and went with James O'Keefe, III and a hidden camera to several regional ACORN offices, two of which were ACORN headquarters (New York, New York and Baltimore, Maryland). Giles and O'Keefe posted the footage on BigGovernment.com.

The videos revealed ACORN employees assisting the journalists with tax evasion and other paperwork in order to run a fictitious child prostitution business. Footage from the investigations appeared on network television and led to calls for the federal government to withdraw its funding from the group.

ACORN chief executive officer Bertha Lewis said in response, "We have all been deeply disturbed by what we've seen in some of these videos. I must say, on behalf of ACORN's Board and our Advisory Council, that we will go to whatever lengths necessary to reestablish the public trust."

On September 17, 2009, the U.S. Senate voted in favor of an amendment to a Housing Department appropriations bill barring federal funds from being appropriated to ACORN. On November 2, 2010, ACORN filed for bankruptcy.

External links

• Hannah Giles' Townhall biography