In 2018, an operative working for Project Veritas infiltrated the campaign of Abigail Spanberger, who went on to win a congressional seat. DAVIES: Adam Goldman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New York Times. Now, this couple weren't really the committed Democrats they presented themselves as, right? So we had never seen something like that. And they targeted a reporter, a Washington - a very good Washington Post reporter named Stephanie McCrummen, who - they picked up on it very, very, very quickly GOLDMAN: And figured out that this woman was not who she said she was. Fast-forward to 2007, and Erik Prince was living in McLean, Virginia, and spending time on his Middleburg property, Blackwater Ranch, designed as a family retreat just as his parent's home in Cody had been originally. Prince took on the role of celebrity pitchman, according to interviews and documents, raising money for Mr. Seddons spying operation, which was aimed at gathering dirt that could discredit politicians and activists in several states. A local farmer was utilizing the land to grow corn and soybean crops, but the potential for the ranch was far from being realized. GOLDMAN: Project Veritas is founded by James O'Keefe. It's my understanding he designed the training exercises, which could have included, like, you know, going out to bars in Cody and trying to get people's names and numbers, how to pitch somebody in an elevator, how to spot people who could potentially provide you information. DAVIES: Right. document.write ("'><\/scr"+"ipt>"); Reaching out to several intelligence veterans and occasionally using Mr. Seddon to make the pitch Mr. And, of course, this was really weird because they work for Project Veritas. And I think the end goal was make a video and, if necessary, try to get the White House to fire McMaster. We still don't know everything about it, and we're trying to learn more about exactly who was behind this and if money was paid and so on. Now, you mentioned Project Veritas. document.write ("&loc=" + escape(window.location)); If you're a print subscriber, but do not yet have an online account, click here to create one. Mr. Where we're not - what we hadn't really seen was an actual British spy, somebody trained in clandestine activities, launching a secret operation using undercovers with false - basically false cover stories to infiltrate political circles, gather information and collect it for whatever purpose, I guess, because ultimately, as our story says, this appeared to be a paper play. zoneId = 'Array'; DAVIES: Do we know of connections between Project Veritas and James O'Keefe and Trump, Donald Trump or the Trump family? WASHINGTON A British former spy recruited by Erik Prince, the security contractor close to the Trump administration, played a central role in a secretive effort to hire dozens . In a YouTube video, Mr. OKeefe described the lawsuit as frivolous and pointed to a portion of the deposition in which David Hecker, the president of AFT Michigan, said that one of the goals of the lawsuit was to stop Project Veritas from doing the kind of work that it does., Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement: Lets be clear who the wrongdoer is here: Project Veritas used a fake intern to lie her way into our Michigan office, to steal documents and to spy and they got caught. And so Sofia's picture was up there. - were directed to make them or reimbursed for them, then that's a potential crime. Accuracy and availability may vary. Later that year, Mr. DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. And Las Vegas was the - you could almost say it was the pinnacle, the apex of their operation. Connor Wroe Southard. Its among a number of issues and motions that will have to be sorted out before a judge or jury would consider the accuracy of The Intercepts April article. But Trump would, from time to time, cite Project Veritas videos in his, you know, comments, public comments and speeches, right? That's a strawman campaign donation. And it all kind of went south when the Post exposed it. It is, instead, an entity dedicated to a specific political agenda.. However, the story quoted a former U.S. Treasury official who suggested simply making an offer to assist Wagner might have violated current U.S. sanctions in place against the Russian firm. What are traditional political dirty tricks? This includes participating in marches or rallies in support of a movement or giving money to, or raising money for, any political candidate or election cause. There's a long backstory there. GOLDMAN: Yes, very wealthy and very conservative. Other outlets, however, have continued writing about the contractor. The Powell Tribune has expanded its online content. After Mr. As further evidence of his ties to Wyoming and the business he conducts in the state, Princes initial declaration said he owned several operating entities registered to his residence in Wapiti. What's interesting about that Instagram post - and you can see it yourself, it's still out there - they like to describe themselves as journalists. GOLDMAN: It's not clear to me. DAVIES: Wow. They were critical of Donald Trump and his agenda. The plan was reportedly to send a female operative to Tosca, a restaurant McMaster frequented, to engage him in drinks and conversation and record him disparaging Trump or making other inappropriate remarks on camera. I have a Wyoming drivers license, I am a Wyoming resident, and exploration is underway, Prince said of his potential Senate bid. And Glenn Beck, Beau's uncle, gave a toast. Mr. Seddon and Ms. Gore did not respond to messages. Erik Prince, the founder of controversial private military firm Blackwater and a supporter of former President Donald Trump, jumped into the COVID-19 business late last year with a deal to . He's been reporting on an effort by conservatives to train operatives in undercover operations to infiltrate progressive groups and Democrats. var m3_u = (location.protocol=='https:'? DAVIES: Right. He was leading training. One of the undercover operatives also got a job working for a consortium of wealthy liberal donors the Wyoming Investor Network which had made a strategic decision to support Republican moderate candidates over those more closely aligned with Mr. Trumps agenda, the documents say. And another individual named Barbara Ledeen, who worked for a prominent senator, his committee - Chuck Grassley - she admitted her involvement, and she had actually said she had met with a Project Veritas operative. DAVIES: That's a really fascinating example of the power of, you know, database reporting now because you knew they were doing the thing in Georgetown, but their campaign contributions in Wyoming have to be publicly reported. DAVIES: Let me reintroduce you again. Their names are Beau Maier and Sofia LaRocca, and they're in Las Vegas for a Democratic primary debate. The Defense Department didn't go for it. The scope of that investigation is unclear. This includes participating in marches or rallies in support of a movement or giving money to, or raising money for, any political candidate or election cause. They were going to bug it. Private property rights are a major cornerstone to how Wyoming operates, but so is prioritizing a rural, quiet lifestyle - ultimately, the former won out in Sublette County. - where you have people in your organization who aren't who they say they are, you know, collecting intelligence, if that's what you want to call it. Mr. Do we know why? We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. Let me reintroduce you. And as I was reporting this, somebody said, well, you know, her picture, you know, she's on that website. If you already have a web account, but need to reset it, you can do so by clicking here. They'd been recruited and trained in an operation led by a former British spy and security contractor Erik Prince, an avid supporter of Donald Trump. You know, a big question about the stories that you've described is, is this activity illegal, what the couple did in Wyoming, you know, presenting themselves as - dishonestly as active Democrats in order to get information? So flesh out the picture a bit. 'https://powellbanners.creativecirclemedia.com/www/delivery/ajs.php':'http://powellbanners.creativecirclemedia.com/www/delivery/ajs.php'); I mean, we know that Erik Prince was trying to sell a plan to the Trump administration to put these - for him, in fact, to put a private, you know, army of a bunch of mercenaries in Afghanistan and sort of take over those responsibilities from the government, sort of, in some ways, replace the U.S. forces on the ground there. Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber. GOLDMAN: They were thwarting the president's agenda. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The special counsels report said that Mr. This is FRESH AIR. Jim Mattis, then the defense secretary, rejected the idea. She was doing outreach to, you know, Democratic figures in Wyoming. Erik Prince Helped Raise Money for Conservative Spy Venture, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/08/us/politics/erik-prince-spy-operation-trump-democrats.html. Erik Prince, a Park County resident and founder of the controversial private military firm Blackwater, is suing a national news organization in federal court in Wyoming after it published an. These two are conservatives, right? He was dismayed, three former Project Veritas employees told the Times, with "O'Keefe's desire to produce quick media content rather than to run long-term infiltration operations." Mr. Seddon launched his privately funded spying effort after leaving Project Veritas in 2018. Remind us who he is. Read more about the operation and its cast of characters at The New York Times. This is FRESH AIR. And the operatives had to give a - you know, had to give a cover story under duress. He did not mention the inquiries from the Powell Tribune about his lapsed registration that preceded his vote. GOLDMAN: I think - yeah, I think the latest is - you know, he's worked - his latest adventure is in Libya. They make significant political contributions, right? There were steps taken to advance this plan, but in the end, it didn't happen because McMaster was fired. However, lawyers for the publication say they should not have to reveal who told them about Princes alleged meeting with Wagner Group or where they were told it occurred. Erik Prince, Betsy DeVos's brother, is also deeply steeped in far-right militancy. One of the documents indicates that Marti Halverson, a former Wyoming state lawmaker, provided a list of people for the operatives to target. Did it expand the number of people that they had? GOLDMAN: Yeah, I think they nearly tripled the number of people they hired. Funneling contributions through a third party is a feature of the federal election code and most state election codes. But if the case was transferred to New York, that states laws could apply. They were certainly using attractive women to lure people out on dates. His contributions to the 2022 Whitney Biennial, on view through Sept. 5 three fanciful portraits of Erik Prince, the financier and founder of the private security firm Blackwater depict a. And we're speaking with New York Times reporter Adam Goldman. "Somebody who had his calendar conveyed to me that he goes to Tosca all the time," she said, and she passed the information on to a man she believed to be a Project Veritas operative with a fake name. You know, I've covered politics for a long time myself, mostly at the state and local level. And it's a fascinating story. Defendants wrote and published a false and defamatory article about a Wyoming residents Wyoming-based business activities knowing that it would cause harm principally in Wyoming, New York attorney Matthew Schwartz charged in one filing. Ledeen said "someone she trusted" contacted her to help with the McMaster operation. Between 1992 and 2001, Prince often listed Park County as his home, consistent with his voting records. And his son - he brought his son, who was a former army officer, on board to help. DAVIES: But the idea was that these public officials or FBI agents were secretly - they were part of the deep state. In early 2017, Prince reportedly welcomed James OKeefe and others from the conservative group Project Veritas, which describes itself as an army of guerrilla journalists. That February, OKeefe tweeted an image of himself taking aim with a silenced handgun amid snowy mountains, saying the team was undergoing intense training from a classified location as we make Project Veritas the next great intelligence agency. The Intercept ultimately identified the site as the Prince ranch in a 2019 article. Money for conservative Spy Venture, https erik prince wyoming ranch //www.nytimes.com/2022/02/08/us/politics/erik-prince-spy-operation-trump-democrats.html out on dates get White... 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