His attorney did not provide an on-the-record response to questions about his clients voting history while elections officials in Virginia said any requests for voter information must be made in person, at the location where the individual registered. DAVIES: We need to take a break here. Did you receive the spare camera yet?. But I don't know how close they are. He's a reporter for The New York Times. It's not clear to us why Prince decided to help Project Veritas. 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. New details reveal the ambitions of an operation intended to infiltrate opponents of Donald Trump, including moderate Republicans as well as progressives and Democrats. Mr. Seddon was not. And we've written about that. But it was not her real name. You know, we had - we talked to many, many people who worked there, and, you know, they described Seddon as wanting to do more long-term operations - right? I know that, you know, one of the first instances of his association with this - or maybe the first instance of his association - was in an Intercept article in which O'Keefe had posted a picture of himself firing a pistol with a silencer on Instagram. Blackwater founder Erik Prince used the rise of Donald Trump to stage an unlikely comeback that apparently included funding spy training for far-right propagandist James O'Keefe and his Project. The Times previously reported that, in 2016 and 2017, Mr. Prince a former C.I.A. But we were unaware of that. Cole pointed to various records, including a campaign finance document from earlier this year, in which Prince listed his address as being in Virginia. 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. 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. 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. 1-307-754-2221. You'd have to ask Mr. O'Keefe. 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. Seddon left the project in 2018, before O'Keefe started releasing low-impact "unmasking the deep state" videos. Mr. DAVIES: He was at a meeting in the Seychelles, the islands in the Indian Ocean, January of 2017. And Beau's mom is the ranch cook at the Erik Prince family's ranch near Cody, Wyo. If you would like to purchase a subscription click here. Efforts to locate Mr. Thomas were unsuccessful. They also did the secret interviews at the airport in Cody in the - at the Prince hangar. Prince said he thought hed registered to vote when hed obtained a Wyoming drivers license in October 2017. And he ends up giving, you know, $6,000 to Wyoming Democratic Party and also money to other political figures. DAVIES: What are Erik Prince's contacts or associations with Donald Trump and the Trump family? Erik Prince Recruits Ex-Spies to Help Infiltrate Liberal Groups, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/07/us/politics/erik-prince-project-veritas.html. DAVIES: Wow. It also seems, to me, murky. I'm Dave Davies, in for Terry Gross, who's off this week. In 2016, a Project Veritas operative infiltrated Democracy Partners using a fake name and fabricated rsum and made secret recordings of the staff. And I think the Intercept geolocated that photo and determined it was Erik Prince's ranch. And I realized they were giving money to Democrats in Wyoming, Arizona and Colorado. The Powell Tribune was unable to learn Prince's voter history from 2002 and 2017. The year after the sting, Democracy Partners sued Project Veritas, and its lawyers have since deposed Mr. OKeefe. This is when there was the special Senate election in Alabama, 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.. Prince is under investigation by the Justice Department over whether he lied to a congressional committee examining Russian interference in the 2016 election, and for possible violations of American export laws. It is, instead, an entity dedicated to a specific political agenda.. And, you know, Seddon was out at the farm. DAVIES: When Richard Seddon and Erik Prince got connected with Veritas and cooperated on some of these operations, what was the effect on Veritas? But "one of the most brazen operations of the campaign" was an attempt to take down H.R. - 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. According to its latest publicly available tax filing, Project Veritas received $8.6 million in contributions and grants in 2018. 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. GOLDMAN: To my understanding, there was a disagreement in how Project Veritas should be run. That same day Oct. 9, 2017 Prince obtained a Wyomings drivers license, which he touted in another interview with Breitbart a few days later. DAVIES: Coming up, rock critic Ken Tucker reviews new songs by veteran artist Tom Jones, Jackson Browne and John Mayer. You know, was it effective? And I got swept away reporting on that and eventually was able to come back to it. Over the past year and a half, The New York Times has reported on an effort by conservatives to train operatives in undercover spy techniques to infiltrate progressive groups, political campaigns, unions and the offices of Democratic and moderate Republican elected officials. People have probably heard of this organization. And, you know, and he is - you know, he's an international businessman. You know, they were always - you know, always on the lookout for connections they could make. Mr. //]]>-->. 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 . For example, a 2017 meeting he attended with a crown prince of the United Arab Emirates and an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin became a part of the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, whom he has served as informal adviser. (Last week, Trump pardoned the four Blackwater guards who were convicted of crimes in connection with the killings in Baghdad.). But, you know, over 18, they - it grew closer. I'm not sure that just because he's a conservative, this is something he wanted to help. I think it was called "Deep State Exposed" or "Deep State Uncovered." Remind us who he is. We'll talk more about his stories on undercover operations by conservatives to infiltrate Democratic and progressive groups after a short break. 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. Prince has previously been involved in trying to find dirt on Democratic politicians. Mr. Halderman was copied on several messages providing updates about the Michigan operation, and in one message, he gave instructions to Ms. Jorge. Two other employees, Gaz Thomas and Samuel Chamberlain, were also identified in emails and appeared to play important roles in the Michigan operation. 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. Neither party wants to be, you know, exposed to this kind of spycraft - right? DAVIES: They targeted ACORN. And so Sofia's picture was up there. I believe he was involved in an effort to battle pirates in Somalia. 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. Mr. They need some spy training and covert military, paramilitary training at his ranch. He comes in late '16 or '17 - around that time period. The McMaster operation was aborted after he, unrelated to Project Veritas, resigned under pressure from Trump. At the time, Ms. Spanberger was running to unseat a sitting Republican congressman in a race both parties considered important for control of the House. Mr. Seddon owns a cabin that he keeps stocked with guns, food and other supplies as preparation for a cataclysmic event in the United States. And Glenn Beck, Beau's uncle, gave a toast. Wyoming is not the place for security contractor Erik Prince to sue a New York-based publication, a federal judge says. Adam Goldman reports on the FBI and national security for the Times and was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for national reporting on Russia's meddling in the presidential election. } Prince had hired a former MI6 officer to help train the Project Veritas operatives, The Intercept wrote, but it did not identify the officer. And then he stays on working for a Project Veritas till roughly June of '18. Mr. Seddon and Ms. Gore did not respond to messages. The campaign discovered the operative and fired her. The training was done by a guy - a lot of the training was done by a guy named Richard Seddon, S-E-D-D-O-N. Who is he? More stories from theweek.comThe Republican theory of unemployment is classic MarxThere's growing speculation that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will name their daughter 'Philippa'A short history of White House cats, American businessman and founder of Blackwater USA (born 1969), New Zealand politician and Prime Minister (18451906), 26th United States National Security Advisor, Read more about the operation and its cast of characters at, The Republican theory of unemployment is classic Marx, There's growing speculation that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will name their daughter 'Philippa', Chicago Mayor Lightfoot ousted; Vallas, Johnson in runoff, King asks Duke and Duchess of Sussex to move out of Frogmore so Prince Andrew can move in, Biden Mocks Marjorie Taylor Greene With 1 Simple Hand Gesture, A Nebraska high-school cheerleader competed on her own after the rest of her squad quit. 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 . You know, Princes are pretty savvy. Erik Prince, founder of the private military firm Blackwater, helped raise money for a political-intelligence operation run by Richard Seddon, a former British spy. And in the end, you know, O'Keefe would release them and, you know, make a big deal out of them. Ms. Jorge, 25, did not respond to email addresses associated with her Liberty University account. But then January 6 happened, you know, the insurrection. The scope of that investigation is unclear. It is unclear how many potential donors Mr. 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. Amid his globe-trotting, however, Prince says he does most of his work from Wyoming and calls Park County home. officer who went on to win an important House seat in Virginia as a Democrat. Trump, of course, wanted to pull out. GOLDMAN: Project Veritas is founded by James O'Keefe. - trying to find, you know, damaging information on, you know, on political rivals, you know, using, you know, private investigative firms. Prince and Mr. Seddon said the goal of the private spying operation was to gather dirt both on Democrats and RINOs slang in conservative circles for Republicans in name only. The plan was to begin in Wyoming, they said, and expand operations from there. After Mr. Gordon won a close Republican primary battle against Mr. Friess, the billionaire, in August 2018, Mr. Friess blamed his loss on Democrats switching parties on Election Day to vote for Mr. Gordon. 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