The Trump Foundation gave $20,000 to Project Veritas in 2015, the year that Mr. Trump began his bid for the presidency. Last week, our guest, reporter Adam Goldman, co-authored a story about a couple who ingratiated themselves with Democrats in Wyoming, often making substantial political contributions to ensure their access to valuable information. zoneId = 'Array'; As the founder of Blackwater USA, now Academi, a private military company, Prince headed the organization. GOLDMAN: To my understanding, there was a disagreement in how Project Veritas should be run. He's been reporting on an effort by conservatives to train operatives in undercover operations to infiltrate progressive groups and Democrats. Park County records show he also skipped Augusts primary election, but Prince said he had intended to vote in Wyoming this year. Prince said he learned he wasnt registered when I went to cast my early vote for the general election in late September. Both operations were run by Project Veritas, a conservative group that has gained attention using hidden cameras and microphones for sting operations on news organizations, Democratic politicians and liberal advocacy groups. var m3_r = Math.floor(Math.random()*99999999999); GOLDMAN: Yeah. The job put her in a position to gain valuable information about which Republican candidates the group was supporting with independent advertising. 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. In the case of the FBI, you know, they were looking for bias to see if somebody - they could get somebody to say something anti-Trump, which, of course, fit the theme at the time because, you know, these infamous text messages between these two FBI officials who had worked on the Russia investigation - the FBI's Russia investigation had come out, right? And, yeah, people steal lawn signs. So I thought to myself, why are they giving money to these people, these Democratic politicians? Prince also allowed Project Veritas to use his familys Wyoming ranch for training. DAVIES: Let me reintroduce you again. Prince registered to vote in Park County back in 1992, but that registration lapsed after he failed to vote in the countys 2002 elections, according to county records. And as I was reporting this, somebody said, well, you know, her picture, you know, she's on that website. And then, you know, they both end up giving to the DNC. You know, Princes are pretty savvy. And I think the Intercept geolocated that photo and determined it was Erik Prince's ranch. So Erik Prince, the private security contractor who is an ally and avid supporter of President Trump, connects with Project Veritas, who does these videos, and then they develop this whole different operation. DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. They were certainly using attractive women to lure people out on dates. Did you receive the spare camera yet?. Prince recruited Mr. Seddon to join the conservative group Project Veritas to teach espionage skills to its operatives and manage its undercover operations. You know, there seemed to be - what it showed was, you know, Prince is well-traveled and is always looking for business opportunities. And they will attend their rival's news conferences, public events and gather information. However, in all of the 74 campaign donations hes made since 2002 including a $3,042.86 donation to the Wyoming Republican Party in 2016 Prince has been identified with a Virginia address. But they thanked us for bringing, you know, putting some sunlight on this. And then as I sort of gathered - started to gather information on this, I knew this was going to be a story. GOLDMAN: Well, I think it was - our latest story revealed, you know, at least one person who had been working for the Democrats thought that Sofia likely might have gotten some damaging information about Democratic efforts to help, you know, moderate Republicans. And that was their logo. DAVIES: When Richard Seddon and Erik Prince got connected with Veritas and cooperated on some of these operations, what was the effect on Veritas? Mr. OKeefe earned about $387,000. She was attending, you know, Democratic fundraisers. It's not clear to me how close he is to Trump. DAVIES: Right. He is married to an American diplomat, Alice Seddon, who is serving in the American consulate in Lagos, Nigeria. (SOUNDBITE OF FRANK ZAPPA'S "EAT THAT QUESTION"). 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. DAVIES: He was at a meeting in the Seychelles, the islands in the Indian Ocean, January of 2017. If you're a print subscriber, but do not yet have an online account, click here to create one. Anyone can read what you share. GOLDMAN: I believe that O'Keefe has interacted with Trump. You know, he's a businessman. DAVIES: What was on those videos? Well, that and - by the way, at some point - I don't know the time period. 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. DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR, and our guest is Adam Goldman. 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. Prince have ties to President Trumps aides and family. There were steps taken to advance this plan, but in the end, it didn't happen because McMaster was fired. Erik Prince, the former head of Blackwater Worldwide and the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, has at times served as an informal adviser to Trump administration officials. And, you know, typically they would have a male individual working for Project Veritas who would accompany these women on these dates as sort of, like, security. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. [I] was a Wyoming resident for many years,, That same day Oct. 9, 2017 Prince obtained a Wyomings drivers license, which he touted, 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, Other outlets, however, have continued writing about the contractor. In 2016, Republican operatives believed they had obtained deleted Hillary Clinton emails from the dark web, and sought Mr. Princes assistance to authenticate them, an episode investigated by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel in the Trump-era Russia inquiry. According to Prince, the tech adviser determined that the emails were not authentic.. Reaching out to several intelligence veterans and occasionally using Mr. Seddon to make the pitch Mr. Beau picks up - starts working this marijuana legalization angle to try to make contacts with people - elected officials who are, in fact, pushing this bill to legalize marijuana. - not quick-hit videos or, you know, shorter-term operations, which I think people say Mr. O'Keefe wanted to do. Prince and former British spy Richard Seddon both did work for the organization. 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. An attorney for The Intercept reportedly told Princes lawyer in the spring the piece was one in a series of planned articles concerning Mr. Princes activities, though it has not published any further pieces to date. The ex-undercover British spy, Richard Seddon, trained conservative operatives first at the Prince family ranch in Wyoming, then at a large, $10,000-a-month house near Georgetown University. The documents also show that, beyond Ms. Gore, other prominent Republicans in Wyoming were involved in Mr. Seddons spying operation. DAVIES: Adam Goldman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New York Times. However, he ultimately did not challenge Barrasso in 2018 nor did he vote in those off-year elections, Prince acknowledged in Octobers revised declaration. He'll be back to talk more about his stories on undercover operations by conservatives to infiltrate democratic and progressive groups after this short break. 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. And so these people were brought on to help manage these many, many, many, many operations. 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. Richard Seddon, in 2018, I guess, decided to stop working with Project Veritas. 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. WASHINGTON Erik Prince, the security contractor with close ties to the Trump administration, has in recent years helped recruit former American and British spies for secretive. That's a strawman campaign donation. A document that month said that Mr. Seddons operatives had identified three potential sources in the new governors administration and have begun accelerated cultivations with a view to early recruitment., Later in January, the operatives wrote that they had successfully recruited another source with a role in the new governors administration, adding that the source has agreed to provide insights, help expose corruption and assist with eventual placement of undercovers.. James OKeefe, a conservative activist, founded Project Veritas. But it was not her real name. He's a former British intelligence officer who served in Washington, D.C., and in Pakistan and eventually leaves the British Secret Intelligence Service and develops some relationship with Erik. WASHINGTON Erik Prince, the security contractor with close ties to the Trump administration, has in recent years helped recruit former American and British spies for secretive. Erik Prince, Betsy DeVos's brother, is also deeply steeped in far-right militancy. GOLDMAN: Well, again, this is a little murky. Along with gathering intel, Maier and LaRocca sought to bait individuals associated with Better Wyoming into making statements they could secretly record and hand over to their clients. Set some context for us here. A former British spy and Republican mega-donor Erik Prince, a founder of the private military contractor Blackwater (now rebranded as "Academi) and brother to former U.S. Education Secretary. So he's going to pop up in all sorts of different places. That got a lot of attention, was investigated by Robert Mueller. What are traditional political dirty tricks? And he ends up giving, you know, $6,000 to Wyoming Democratic Party and also money to other political figures. Jim Mattis, then the defense secretary, rejected the idea. Prince appears to have become interested in using former spies to train Project Veritas operatives in espionage tactics sometime during the 2016 presidential campaign. Funneling money surreptitiously to campaigns through other donors known as straw man donations would violate federal campaign finance laws. And they were deeply critical of Trump. She actually got a contract fundraising gig with the Democrats, right? For instance, Princes 2014 memoir said he splits his time between homes in Virginia and Abu Dhabi, where he pursues a variety of business ventures.. The scope of that investigation is unclear. Mr. Seddon wrote that Ms. Jorge copied a great many documents from the file room, and Mr. OKeefe bragged that the group would be able to get a ton more access agents inside the educational establishment.. He did not respond to follow-up phone messages or an email. Mr. Seddons recruitment of Mr. But I didn't reveal that I knew Beau and Sofia had lived at that house at the time because we were working - concurrently, we were working on this larger story about them. What was this about? 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. [CDATA[ They provide additional insight into the ambition of the operation to use undercover operatives to target Republicans seen as insufficiently conservative, as well as to, as one document describes it, research, penetrate and infiltrate the radical left networks.. And they will get, you know, negative information from public records. GOLDMAN: The plan was to - it was basically - you know, in some ways, it was a classic sort of honey trap. 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. The Powell Tribune was unable to learn Prince's voter history from 2002 and 2017. GOLDMAN: No. - and, you know, that probably in terms of, you know, Iran - not pulling out of the agreement with Iran, the JCPOA, and, you know, McMaster, you know, wanting to keep, I guess, troops in Afghanistan. And, you know, I'm not sure when the relationship started. DAVIES: It was a risk because she couldn't effectively work undercover if they'd been exposed by this organization that's critical of Veritas? DAVIES: Right. Mr. They make significant political contributions, right? You know, in this recent story that you wrote with Mark Mazzetti of the Times, you introduce us to a couple. But he was extremely wealthy conservative in Wyoming named Foster Friess, who had actually run for governor in '18. This is when there was the special Senate election in Alabama, right? Mr. GOLDMAN: Well, as we started reporting on Erik Prince and Richard Seddon, I became deeply interested in learning who, in fact, was working for this organization. Mr. Wyoming is not the place for security contractor Erik Prince to sue a New York-based publication, a federal judge says. Efforts to locate Mr. Thomas were unsuccessful. 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. And, I mean, they were both active, but she was literally, you know, infiltrating these Democratic groups. For his part, Prince swears he never met with anyone from Wagner Group a denial The Intercept included in its reporting. DAVIES: So an active player in the Trump world. But (laughter) this seemed to be the training out in Wyoming. Emails sent to Mr. Seddon went unanswered. The emails refer to other operations, including weekly case updates, along with training activities that involved operational targeting. Project Veritas redacted specifics about those operations from the messages. DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. I mean, this is - you know, he no doubt sees them as a conservative ally, like other conservative networks. 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. Our understanding of the operation is that Mr. Seddon, while employed, in fact, at Project Veritas, was involved in this. And if they were given money, if the money was distributed by this former spy, Richard Seddon, and they pulled from that pot of money, which was part of that operation, that could also be problematic. At the time, Prince was exploring the possibility of mounting a Republican primary challenge to incumbent U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. But the effort is a glimpse of a vigorous private campaign to try to undermine political groups or individuals perceived to be in opposition to Mr. Trumps agenda. 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. In Wyoming were involved in Mr. Seddons spying operation an email will attend their rival 's news conferences, events! 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