GOLDMAN: Richard Seddon is a former MI6 spy. He gave the examples of Jones Creek and CMNS Systems. However, neither of those entities appear to be registered to do business in Wyoming; the only reference the Tribune could find to a company named CMNS Systems was an LLC formed in Delaware in August months after Prince filed his suit. NY Times reporter Adam Goldman describes an undercover effort, headed up by an avid Trump supporter, that trained conservatives in espionage techniques and sent them to dig up dirt on progressives. The list included John Cox, then the director of the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, and Scott Talbott, then the director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Regardless, Princes residency is not the real issue in the case. (SOUNDBITE OF FRANK ZAPPA'S "EAT THAT QUESTION"). It was Maria (ph). She went to meetings. You know, again, as when Barbara Ledeen, the staffer for the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was run by Chuck Grassley, you know, was trying to find Hillary Clinton's missing emails, and Prince gets involved in that, too. GOLDMAN: No. And he ends up giving, you know, $6,000 to Wyoming Democratic Party and also money to other political figures. - trying to find, you know, damaging information on, you know, on political rivals, you know, using, you know, private investigative firms. She was attending, you know, Democratic fundraisers. You know, I've covered politics for a long time myself, mostly at the state and local level. DAVIES: Do we know of connections between Project Veritas and James O'Keefe and Trump, Donald Trump or the Trump family? Mark Gordon, who was viewed as a RINO in some Wyoming conservative circles. And they were deeply critical of Trump. But, you know, over 18, they - it grew closer. And, of course, this was really weird because they work for Project Veritas. For example, Rolling Stone published an investigative piece in October asserting Prince participated in a plan to dampen turnout among Black voters in the 2016 election. One of the former spies, an ex-MI6 officer named Richard Seddon, helped run a 2017 operation to copy files and record conversations in a Michigan office of the American Federation of Teachers, one of the largest teachers unions in the nation. Project Veritas has said its activities are legal and protected by the First Amendment, and the case is scheduled to go to trial in the fall. As education secretary, Ms. DeVos has been a vocal critic of teachers unions, saying in 2018 that they have a stranglehold over politicians at the federal and state levels. That was the idea. In a book published in 2018, Mr. OKeefe wrote that Mr. Trump years earlier had encouraged him to infiltrate Columbia University and obtain Mr. Obamas records. It's not clear, though, if any of that was actually used in a way that thwarted anybody's candidacy or damaged their political reputation. In August 2017, Ms. Jorge wrote to Mr. Seddon that she had managed to record a local union leader talking about Ms. DeVos and other topics. That's a strawman campaign donation. Read more about the operation and its cast of characters at The New York Times. Prince, Mr. Seddon and other topics, but he called his group a proud independent news organization that is involved in dozens of investigations. She and Mr. GOLDMAN: They were thwarting the president's agenda. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. Remind us who he is. In 2017, he met with White House and Pentagon officials to pitch a plan to privatize the Afghan war using contractors in lieu of American troops. In an archived version of her LinkedIn page, Ms. Jorge wrote she had a deep interest in the conservative movement and hoped one day to serve on the Supreme Court after attending law school. GOLDMAN: You know, individuals - we're not exactly sure who was behind this effort - but it's clear that they believe that, you know, H.R. The parties are currently awaiting a ruling from Judge Johnson, who could choose to allow the case to proceed in Wyoming; permit some more limited fact-gathering about the appropriate jurisdiction; transfer the case to New York; or throw it out entirely. You know, there seemed to be - what it showed was, you know, Prince is well-traveled and is always looking for business opportunities. They were critical of Donald Trump and his agenda. He did not respond to follow-up phone messages or an email. Adam Goldman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New York Times. Ms. Jorge was eventually exposed and kicked out of the campaign office. And Prince comes up in the special council report - Robert Mueller's report. Erik Prince, the founder of private military company Blackwater, whose sister Betsy DeVos was Trump's education secretary, trained the spies Their job was to find out who was disparaging Trump. And they - the purpose for - they themselves will launch this undercover operation and then, you know, secretly record you - audio, video - and then make a video out of it and, you know, expose what they describe as wrongdoing. For example, Rolling Stone published an investigative piece in October, The New York Times broke the news of Princes potential run on Oct. 8, 2017, in another interview with Breitbart a few days later, identified the site as the Prince ranch in a 2019 article, asserting Prince participated in a plan to dampen turnout among Black voters, Powered by Creative Circle Media Solutions. Comments ( 40) Last week, the New York Times reported that Erik Prince is considering running to represent Wyoming in the United States Senate. Good stuff, Mr. Seddon wrote back. So it was a fascinating moment in time last year when I realized what I suspected Beau and Sofia were doing. Prince noted he owned a home in Wyoming and had been connected to the state since 1992. '&charset='+document.charset : (document.characterSet ? And it was interesting to hear some of these Wyoming Republicans, you know, thank us for our reporting, you know, being The New York Times, because Trump has, you know, vilified us. In more recent years, Prince has remained a mover and shaker and a controversial figure on the international stage. You know, was it effective? You know, she used that to hobnob with people. And they start trying to make inroads in the Wyoming Democratic Party. So he's certainly moved in this world before. If Judge Johnson concludes he lacks jurisdiction to hear the case in Wyoming, Princes attorneys say the suit should be transferred to the Southern District of New York, where The Intercept is based. They had a - someone came to the Post. She was involved in that. 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. DAVIES: Did any of these result in resignations, firings, criminal investigations GOLDMAN: You know, and in the end, the people who were involved, I think, were, you know, slightly humiliated. if( width > 480 ){ Erik Prince conducts business around the globe, but in a pending lawsuit, he says he does the bulk of his work from Wyoming. var m3_r = Math.floor(Math.random()*99999999999); GOLDMAN: Project Veritas is founded by James O'Keefe. And then Mark Mazzetti, you know, my colleague, who just is an extraordinary journalist, we - you know, we managed to suss out what was going - we think - to a great degree what was going on in Wyoming and these other states. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Although he owns a home in Wapiti, Prince is not generally known as a Wyoming businessman. During a meeting in a Las Vegas suburb last April of employees of Ms. Gores organization, the Wyoming Liberty Group, Mr. Seddon pitched a proposal to build a website where other so-called preppers could buy their own supplies and communicate with each other in the event of what he called a Black Swan moment a major terrorist attack, another pandemic or a civil war. He owns a home on a lot adjoining his familys Double E Ranch in Wapiti. What are traditional political dirty tricks? And then I started Googling them and doing some research on them. When does he do this, and do we know why? Reaching out to several intelligence veterans and occasionally using Mr. Seddon to make the pitch Mr. The woman was claiming she had been impregnated by the Senate candidate, thinking that The Washington Post would be so excited to get dirt about a conservative that they would publish a bogus story. And so we're all familiar with that, I think, to some extent. ADAM GOLDMAN: They went there after making sizable donations to the DNC, the Democratic National Committee - $10,000 each - at the request of a Colorado businessman who was a - he's a fundraiser for the Democrats and basically said, if you make this donation, you can come and hang out in Las Vegas. And, you know, these were - they were not really long-term operations. We'll talk about Project Veritas in a moment. James OKeefe, a conservative activist, founded Project Veritas. And this photo of James O'Keefe, who's, you know, the founder of Project Veritas, firing a weapon with a silencer, apparently, at Erik Prince's ranch - were they being trained in firearms there? The McMaster operation was aborted after he, unrelated to Project Veritas, resigned under pressure from Trump. But what we know is there was an arrangement made, and Erik Prince allowed Project Veritas to use his farm to train its operatives. I have a Wyoming drivers license, I am a Wyoming resident, and exploration is underway, Prince said of his potential Senate bid. O'Keefe writes about it in his book. zoneId = 'Array'; And his supporters have vilified us. And then, you know, they both end up giving to the DNC. Presiding Judge Johnson, who is based in Cheyenne, has himself signaled some uncertainty about whether Wyoming is the right place for Princes case to be heard; in early November, Johnson asked the parties to submit additional briefs on either transferring the case to another district or delving further into the issues related to jurisdiction. Oct. 21, 2020. They - you know, there's a wide range of targets, and many of them have been exposed. Prince appears to have become interested in using former spies to train Project Veritas operatives in espionage tactics sometime during the 2016 presidential campaign. We're going to take a break here. - 500, 1000. DAVIES: Right. The teachers union is asking for more than $3 million in damages, accusing the group of being a vigilante organization which claims to be dedicated to exposing corruption. Our understanding of the operation is that Mr. Seddon, while employed, in fact, at Project Veritas, was involved in this. And as part of this effort, Richard Seddon was brought on to handle training and really professionalize Project Veritas' undercover operations. Mr. OKeefe and his group have taken aim at targets over the years including Planned Parenthood, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Democracy Partners, a group that consults with liberal and progressive electoral causes. But, you know, his sister is Betsy DeVos, and she was Secretary of Education during the Trump administration. So they were looking to mine that, to exploit that territory. 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. And so, you know, I can't tell you right now it hasn't, that somebody else isn't doing this. Mr. Neither party wants to be, you know, exposed to this kind of spycraft - right? Now, this couple weren't really the committed Democrats they presented themselves as, right? So, you know, this is not something I had ever done as a - you know, this is not something journalists do. And then Seddon - you know, he stays on. GOLDMAN: I think - yeah, I think the latest is - you know, he's worked - his latest adventure is in Libya. DAVIES: Right. At the center of the scheme was an unusual cast: a former British spy connected to the security contractor Erik Prince, a wealthy heiress to the Gore-Tex fortune and undercover operatives like. Mr. 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. We know that because Glenn put it up on his Instagram account. That's how you found them, and that's what raised the question? McMaster. Prince to help him secure funding is just one of the new details about Mr. Seddons operation revealed in documents obtained by The Times and interviews with people familiar with his plans. Prince recruited Mr. Seddon to join the conservative group Project Veritas to teach espionage skills to its operatives and manage its undercover operations. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. Prince, saying he lied about the circumstances of his meeting with a Russian banker in the Seychelles in January 2017. The special counsels report said that Mr. But I don't know how close they are. Anyone can read what you share. You know, you say in one of these stories, this operation's use of spy craft to manipulate the politics of several states over the years greatly exceeds the tactics of traditional political tricks operations. Erik Prince, founder of private security contractor Blackwater and brother of former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, recruited a former British spy in 2016 to professionalize the undercover. The Trump Foundation gave $20,000 to Project Veritas in 2015, the year that Mr. Trump began his bid for the presidency. In 2018, Ms. Jorge infiltrated the congressional campaign of Ms. Spanberger, posing as a campaign volunteer. Citing his ties to the state, his attorneys opted to file Princes defamation case against The Intercept in Wyomings U.S. District Court in May. That's a name some people will know. And, of course, that was an entree into a larger circle of prominent Democrats. Is he actually providing those kinds of services? met with White House and Pentagon officials. DAVIES: Let's talk about some of the people who are behind this. Despite making multiple comments about Princes ties to Virginia, The Intercepts legal team said its immaterial to their jurisdictional arguments, which center on the publications own lack of ties to Wyoming. Anyone can read what you share. 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. But then they got reversed stung by the Post, which was quite a moment. After Mr. Last year, the House Intelligence Committee made a criminal referral to the Justice Department about Mr. I think Trump pardoned at least one. 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. And in the end, you know, O'Keefe would release them and, you know, make a big deal out of them. But, yeah, this kind of actual infiltration and spying, I don't think I've run across that. - not quick-hit videos or, you know, shorter-term operations, which I think people say Mr. O'Keefe wanted to do. And we're speaking with New York Times reporter Adam Goldman. And his son - he brought his son, who was a former army officer, on board to help. It seems like the Democrats have figured out this party switch deal to their advantage, Mr. Friess wrote in an email obtained by Wyofile, a political news site in Wyoming. 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. Wapiti resident Erik Prince is one of several people associated with a Wyoming-based effort to infiltrate political campaigns and get "dirt" to sabotage candidates. DAVIES: They targeted ACORN. 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. var m3_u = (location.protocol=='https:'? 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. Erik Prince, founder of private . In 2017, Prince invited O'Keefe and Project Veritas employees to his family's Wyoming ranch and arranged for an unnamed former British MI6 officer to provide training for the group, The . And as the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press summarizes, New York provides absolute protection from forced disclosure of materials received in confidence by a professional journalist, including the identity of a source.. The group has also become intertwined with the political activities of Mr. Trump and his family. It's not clear to us why Prince decided to help Project Veritas. When a muckraking news site published a story alleging private security contractor and Blackwater founder Erik Prince had offered his services to a Russian mercenary firm, the connections to Wyoming were not obvious; the state was never mentioned in the piece. (SOUNDBITE OF BRUNO COULAIS' "SPINK AND FORCIBLE"). Not saying this is the case with Mr. O'Keefe, but it's sort of hard to fundraise that way if you're only doing one thing a year or if it's - you know, there are long periods of silence between each expose. 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. Did it help, you know, Project Veritas raise more money? document.write ("

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