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. Efforts to locate Mr. Thomas were unsuccessful. Im not ashamed of the methods that we use or the recordings that we use, he said. Copyright 2021 NPR. "He is not registered in Park County or [Wyoming] presently, unless he is not going by Erik Dean Prince and has changed his name," Park County Elections Deputy Pat Cole said in a Sept. 17 email; he said Prince hadn't voted in Wyoming since 2000. He's proposed similar things in other countries, hasn't he? By Derek Royden - July 2, 2021 2466 SOURCE NationofChange 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.. Prince, a contractor close to the Trump administration, contacted veteran spies for operations by Project Veritas, the conservative group known for conducting stings on news organizations and other groups. And, of course, that was an entree into a larger circle of prominent Democrats. 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. 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. 'https://powellbanners.creativecirclemedia.com/www/delivery/ajs.php':'http://powellbanners.creativecirclemedia.com/www/delivery/ajs.php'); In 2010, Mr. O Keefe and three others pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor after admitting they entered a government building in New Orleans under false pretenses as part of a sting. Cole pointed to various records, including a campaign finance document from earlier this year, in which Prince listed his address as being in Virginia. They broke into the DNC. It argues the article was not defamatory and the challenged statements would be protected as opinion based on disclosed facts., The dispute over jurisdiction could have a direct impact on the case. The life of Erik Prince has been a complicated globe-trotting journey complete with extensive mercenary activities, spying on American citizens, brokering arms deals with despotic regimes and essentially taking advantage of any situation he can in order to line his personal pockets. I mean, if the idea was to get inside information, which would be useful to, you know, Republicans and conservatives, did they succeed? Prince submitted his own declaration to presiding U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson in September, disputing The Intercepts reporting and laying out some of his bona fides as a Wyomingite. Now, you mentioned Project Veritas. DAVIES: So he is the guy who hires this British spy, Richard Seddon, to train operatives to, you know, gather intelligence from, you know, Democrats and progressives. They targeted NPR. She was attending, you know, Democratic fundraisers. Remind us who they are and what they've done. This espionage operation was aimed at perceived enemies of Trump and included a planned sting operation against former national security adviser H.R. They were going to bug it. How Times reporters cover politics. Of course. It was unclear whether Mr. Seddon was involved in planning that operation. DAVIES: Right. There's an annual one, Nellie T. Ross Banquet, and I believe it's in Cheyenne every February. Set some context for us here. (SOUNDBITE OF BRUNO COULAIS' "SPINK AND FORCIBLE"). And I think the Intercept geolocated that photo and determined it was Erik Prince's ranch. I'm Dave Davies. Tell us about them. 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 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. 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. Anyone can read what you share. DAVIES: And then Beau and Sofia married, right? Female undercover operatives tried to entrap FBI agents, sometimes using fake dating app profiles, and State Department employees, the Times reports. But, you know, his sister is Betsy DeVos, and she was Secretary of Education during the Trump administration. He's a reporter for The New York Times. This is FRESH AIR. To win his case, Prince will ultimately have to show the story was false and he may also have to prove the publication knew the story was false or showed a reckless disregard as to whether it was accurate. Mark Gordon, who was viewed as a RINO in some Wyoming conservative circles. It also seems, to me, murky. 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. No one tells Project Veritas who or what to investigate, he said. And it would - you know, and make an enormous amount of money. Neither party wants to be, you know, exposed to this kind of spycraft - right? The New York Times broke the news of Princes potential run on Oct. 8, 2017, saying hed recently traveled to Wyoming to explore ways to establish residency there., The following day, Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow asked Prince whether the Times report was real or fake news, mentioning, Im not 100% positive on your connection to Wyoming.. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. GOLDMAN: Yes, the Government Accountability Office. Other outlets, however, have continued writing about the contractor. Ms. Gore ended up rejecting the proposal because it was too expensive people with knowledge of the plan said it would start in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. (SOUNDBITE OF GOGOL BORDELLO'S "NOT A CRIME"). GOLDMAN: I believe that O'Keefe has interacted with Trump. But then they got reversed stung by the Post, which was quite a moment. document.write ("&loc=" + escape(window.location)); Prince, Mr. Seddon and other topics, but he called his group a proud independent news organization that is involved in dozens of investigations. Erik Prince, the failson face of privatized war If the face long associated with modern mercenaries were more successful at his business, we might already live in a much more dystopian world. They were, in fact, undercover spies who had been building a cover as eager Democrats when, in fact, they were anything but that. if (!document.MAX_used) document.MAX_used = ','; And this website is devoted to revealing the identities of Project Veritas operatives. GOLDMAN: Well, again, this is a little murky. GOLDMAN: In some instances, they were on, you know, these social - these dating apps, right? It's not clear to us why Prince decided to help Project Veritas. "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. This is FRESH AIR. And they thought McMaster had fired, you know, several people who the president had brought on and - or Mike Flynn, his former - his first national security adviser had brought on. Prince had hired a former MI6 officer to help train the Project Veritas operatives, The Intercept wrote, but it did not identify the officer. Mr. Seddon was a longtime British intelligence officer who served around the world, including in Washington in the years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Mr. Seddon used other former Project Veritas employees to help with the Wyoming operation, including James Artherton, a British operative code-named kimchi who was involved in a Project Veritas plan targeting an editor for The New York Times in London in 2017. To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, or purchase a subscription. However, after the Powell Tribune questioned some apparent inaccuracies in his Sept. 16 statement, Prince acknowledged misstating a couple of his connections to the state. 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: Do we know of connections between Project Veritas and James O'Keefe and Trump, Donald Trump or the Trump family? Erik Prince, Betsy DeVos's brother, is also deeply steeped in far-right militancy. But, yeah, this kind of actual infiltration and spying, I don't think I've run across that. And they will attend their rival's news conferences, public events and gather information. And they said, well, you know, she worked for Project Veritas. 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 . Why were they targeting H.R. 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. 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. Did it expand their operations? McMaster, Trump's second national security adviser. A spokesman for the firm said that Alston & Bird has never contributed to Project Veritas on its own behalf, nor is it a client of ours. The spokesman declined to say on whose behalf the contribution was made. This is FRESH AIR. DAVIES: You know, the other thing that I wanted to just clarify to the extent I can is how much of a driving force Erik Prince was in this. But, you know, over 18, they - it grew closer. People have probably heard of this organization. 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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. So it was a fascinating moment in time last year when I realized what I suspected Beau and Sofia were doing. GOLDMAN: It's not clear to me. You know, was it effective? 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. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. And he was pitching that plan, but it never got anywhere. Funneling contributions through a third party is a feature of the federal election code and most state election codes. - 500, 1000. 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. Princes parents, Elsa Prince and the late Edgar Prince, bought the 940-acre Double E Ranch in the Wapiti Valley in the early 1990s. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. And I think the end goal was make a video and, if necessary, try to get the White House to fire McMaster. If you would like to purchase a subscription click here. Did it expand the number of people that they had? So what I'm saying is from Richard Seddon's standpoint, the fact that she had a picture up on Project Veritas Exposed, that was a real risk they were taking, right? And they would find people, and they would go out with them. 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. And, you know, these were - they were not really long-term operations. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. That's a strawman campaign donation. And that one was made public. 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. Prince recruited Mr. Seddon to join the conservative group Project Veritas to teach espionage skills to its operatives and manage its undercover operations. According to the documents, Mr. Seddons operatives also aimed to dig up information on Steve Harshman, the Republican speaker of the House in Wyoming at the time, who was also seen by some conservatives as not sufficiently supportive of Mr. Trump. 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. On Sept. 30, Prince personally visited the Park County Elections Office, registered and cast a general election ballot, according to the clerks office. And then Seddon - you know, he stays on. 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. Neither party wants to be infiltrated like this. 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. 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? They went after a Democratic staffer in Washington. And, you know, Seddon then reached out to, you know, a family - an old friend who had worked at the FBI. Two other employees, Gaz Thomas and Samuel Chamberlain, were also identified in emails and appeared to play important roles in the Michigan operation. Is he actually providing those kinds of services? And I realized they were giving money to Democrats in Wyoming, Arizona and Colorado. 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. Once a small operation running on a shoestring budget, Project Veritas in recent years has had a surge in donations from both private donors and conservative foundations. GOLDMAN: To my understanding, there was a disagreement in how Project Veritas should be run. 1-307-754-2221. I also think that - I think recently, too, O'Keefe, did a photo op or made a video with Donald Trump. What does that tell us about Erik Prince? Using a different alias the next year, the same undercover operative infiltrated the congressional campaign of Abigail Spanberger, then a former C.I.A. Between 1992 and 2001, Prince often listed Park County as his home, consistent with his voting records. Of course, everybody's familiar with Watergate, right? I believe he was involved in an effort to battle pirates in Somalia. And his son - he brought his son, who was a former army officer, on board to help. And Beau's mom is the ranch cook at the Erik Prince family's ranch near Cody, Wyo. What was this about? And her picture wasn't her name GOLDMAN: It was a fake name, Maria. We'll talk more about his stories on undercover operations by conservatives to infiltrate Democratic and progressive groups after a short break. You mentioned that he was recruited by Erik Prince. I don't know. Prince invited Project Veritas operatives including Mr. OKeefe to his familys Wyoming ranch for training in 2017, The Intercept reported last year. Mr. Princes role in the effort, which has not been previously disclosed, sheds further light on how a group of ultraconservative Republicans employed spycraft to try to manipulate the American political landscape. The Times previously reported that, in 2016 and 2017, Mr. And as I was reporting this, somebody said, well, you know, her picture, you know, she's on that website. 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. Jim Mattis, then the defense secretary, rejected the idea. And that was their logo. DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. GOLDMAN: Yeah. New details reveal the ambitions of an operation intended to infiltrate opponents of Donald Trump, including moderate Republicans as well as progressives and Democrats. During the 2018 meeting with Ms. Gore, according to one person familiar with it, Mr. Regardless, Princes residency is not the real issue in the case. And, you know, and he is - you know, he's an international businessman. They targeted somebody from the Justice Department, and I wrote they also targeted FBI employees. DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR, and our guest is Adam Goldman. And Mr. O'Keefe disclosed that Foster Friess had actually given Project Veritas money. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Do we know why? McMaster. Mr. And they start trying to make inroads in the Wyoming Democratic Party. DAVIES: Right. The document is dated December 2018 and said that Mr. Talbott was another of the names of corrupt individuals from Marti.. And Prince comes up in the special council report - Robert Mueller's report. And they were doing this - it appears that they were doing this from the house where Beau and Sofia lived with others. So there has been - the two have interacted, I think, even before Trump was president. You know, there seemed to be - what it showed was, you know, Prince is well-traveled and is always looking for business opportunities. - not one expose every year. So what exactly was the plan to (laughter) catch McMaster saying something he shouldn't? We are speaking with Adam Goldman. }else{ And I got swept away reporting on that and eventually was able to come back to it. 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 . DAVIES: Adam Goldman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New York Times. 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. We'll continue our conversation in just a moment. Other Project Veritas employees on the emails include Joe Halderman, an award-winning former television producer who in 2010 pleaded guilty to trying to extort $2 million from the comedian David Letterman. The next year, during a presidential debate with Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump claimed without substantiation that videos released by Mr. OKeefe showed that Mrs. Clinton and President Barack Obama had paid people to incite violence at rallies for Mr. Trump. That's how you found them, and that's what raised the question? "He's a very nice man," Prince said of Barrasso in the Breitbart interview. For his part, Prince swears he never met with anyone from Wagner Group a denial The Intercept included in its reporting. But, you know, O'Keefe brags on the Instagram photo that they're going to be the world's best intelligence agency - I believe that's what it says - not the world's best journalists. They had a - someone came to the Post. 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.. 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. 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 if the case was transferred to New York, that states laws could apply. Prince said he wanted the Project Veritas employees to learn skills like how to recruit sources and how to conduct clandestine recordings, among other surveillance techniques. And it's not clear to us if he was making any money off of this. DAVIES: That's an airport in Cody, Wyo. document.write ("
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