New York State United Teachers attorney Mitchell Rubinstein found himself in the hot seat Tuesday after Project Veritas’ James O’Keefe released a shocking 16-minute hidden camera video shot at a union holiday party in Dec. of 2015.
In the video, Rubenstein admits a junior high school teacher he defended decades ago, who forced students at knifepoint to give him oral sex, may still be on the prowl after only being forced to resign.
“I had a client and it was alleged that he, like, invited students up to his house… and he was like giving them blow jobs,” Rubenstein told the undercover journalist.
“[But] he actually admitted to me that he did it [sexually assaulted minors].”
According to the attorney, Mike was never convicted of any crime despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and he even took a lie detector test which he passed.
“This is why I don’t believe in lie detector tests,” Rubenstein said because at the time the circumstantial evidence was overwhelming to suggest otherwise.
In the video Rubenstein reenacted a conversation he once had with Mike.
“Okay, Mike, how do the students know your parrot is Petey? Okay? And he says, oh, easy, you know, kids like pets. I used pets like as a you know, motivation in teaching and everything…
“…we go on and on, and then the students, they have your phone number, this is your cell number…So how do the students have your cell number? Oh, I know I shouldn’t give it to them, but you know, I help them after school with tutoring and stuff. So I give…so I give them my cell number.
“Okay, and then it gets…then one of the students describes his living room. He says like he has a dining room, you know, brown couch…and he has like a, you know, a picture of a ship on his wall, or you know, something. Okay, Mike, do you have a brown couch and do you have a picture of your ship on the wall? He says, yeah, I tell students I have this, and some of the students they drop stuff…they drop stuff off for me. Okay, and I’m, you know, this is pretty bad, you know.”
According to Rubenstein, his client’s phone records were eventually subpoenaed without his knowledge. They showed that a high school kid had “called his girlfriend’s phone number from Mike’s house” which posed a problem.
“At that time he broke down and admitted that he had a problem and he resigned — thank God,” Rubenstein said.
Rubenstein also told the undercover journalist that it’s “always” his job to defend the teacher but said that Mike’s case was particularly bad.
When the journalist asked Rubenstein if the teacher still teaches, Rubenstein replied, “No, he resigned … he wasn’t convicted. He resigned.”
A statement released by Project Veritas Tuesday reads:
Project Veritas did immense research to try and find the identity of “Mike.” On top of the hundreds of man-hours of research, two private investigators were hired, but nothing was found. After these months of research, a different Project Veritas journalist set up a meeting with Rubinstein to get more information.
Rubinstein corroborated his original story by telling it again, further verifying the voracity of the details. He again refused to tell Mike’s last name, but admitted that he does in fact know the last name. He also told us that he saw Mike some years later, handing out flyers in New York City announcing he planned to run for city council.
Shepard Ambellas is an opinion journalist and the founder and editor-in-chief of Intellihub News & Politics (Intellihub.com). Shepard is also known for producing Shade: The Motion Picture (2013) and appearing on Travel Channel’s America Declassified (2013). Shepard is a regular contributor to Infowars. Read more from Shep’s World. Get the Podcast. Follow Shep on Facebook and Twitter.
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