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GOLDMAN: They were thwarting the president's agenda. And he was pitching that plan, but it never got anywhere. 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. And they - you know, I think they - it seemed like they were seeking revenge. 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. And they will get, you know, negative information from public records. He worked with the former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn during the presidential transition. - trying to find, you know, damaging information on, you know, on political rivals, you know, using, you know, private investigative firms. He said that numerous sources were coming to the group providing confidential documents, insights into internal processes and wearing hidden cameras to expose corruption and misconduct.. Efforts to locate Mr. Thomas were unsuccessful. He said that he did not think so. You know, I think part of Mr. O'Keefe's motto - I think it's important for him to have regular and consistent content - right? Prince a former C.I.A. And GOLDMAN: Involving Roy Moore - exactly. - not one expose every year. 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 were doing this - it appears that they were doing this from the house where Beau and Sofia lived with others. There were steps taken to advance this plan, but in the end, it didn't happen because McMaster was fired. #Veritas pic.twitter.com/4IFvjKurGK, In the pending defamation case, Princes attorneys have cited that reporting as evidence The Intercept knew Prince did his business from Wyoming, going as far as to allege the articles unstated focus was on Princes reputation and livelihood in Wyoming., The Intercept attorneys, however, pointed to past statements from Prince and records indicating he lives in Virginia. Cole pointed to various records, including a campaign finance document from earlier this year, in which Prince listed his address as being in Virginia. Mr. OKeefe earned about $387,000. She was attending, you know, Democratic fundraisers. '&charset='+document.characterSet : '')); Accuracy and availability may vary. GOLDMAN: In some instances, they were on, you know, these social - these dating apps, right? That was certainly a catalyst. 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. Between 1992 and 2001, Prince often listed Park County as his home, consistent with his voting records. '&charset='+document.charset : (document.characterSet ? 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. DAVIES: And then Beau and Sofia married, right? 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, 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. 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.. McMaster. You know, I've covered politics for a long time myself, mostly at the state and local level. With @Project_Veritas's special training, we will be the next great intelligence agency. 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 intelligence-gathering operations that included infiltrating Democratic congressional campaigns, labor organizations and other groups considered hostile to the Trump agenda, according to interviews and documents. Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Thomas were on the list. McMaster? The documents give new details about efforts to manipulate the politics of Wyoming. One of the documents indicates that Marti Halverson, a former Wyoming state lawmaker, provided a list of people for the operatives to target. 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. 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. Mr. Seddon regularly updated Mr. OKeefe about the operation against the Michigan teachers union, according to internal Project Veritas emails, where the language of the groups leaders is marbled with spy jargon. GOLDMAN: To my understanding, there was a disagreement in how Project Veritas should be run. DAVIES: What was on those videos? 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 . But it was not her real name. 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 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. What are traditional political dirty tricks? And they admitted doing, you know - engaging in political activity while working for these government institutions, which Project Veritas asserted was, you know, wrong or even, you know - I can't remember if they said it was illegal or not. 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. Mr. Seddon was not. What were they trying to get? GOLDMAN: I think - yeah, I think the latest is - you know, he's worked - his latest adventure is in Libya. But Trump would, from time to time, cite Project Veritas videos in his, you know, comments, public comments and speeches, right? The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. You know, this is something we haven't seen, right? Regardless, Princes residency is not the real issue in the case. Prince a former C.I.A. We're speaking with New York Times reporter Adam Goldman, one of a team of Times reporters who've been writing about an effort by conservatives to train operatives in undercover operations to infiltrate progressive groups, unions and the offices and campaigns of Democratic and moderate Republican candidates and elected officials. How Times reporters cover politics. This espionage operation was aimed at perceived enemies of Trump and included a planned sting operation against former national security adviser H.R. 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. We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. Prince had hired a former MI6 officer to help train the Project Veritas operatives, The Intercept wrote, but it did not identify the officer. Now, you mentioned Project Veritas. 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. He's been reporting on an effort by conservatives to train operatives in undercover operations to infiltrate progressive groups and Democrats. GOLDMAN: Yeah. His attorneys allege the outlet is trafficking in lies, showed an obvious and intentional disregard for the truth and effectively made Prince out to be a traitor. if (document.MAX_used != ',') document.write ("&exclude=" + document.MAX_used); And that one was made public. And then he stays on working for a Project Veritas till roughly June of '18. 'https://powellbanners.creativecirclemedia.com/www/delivery/ajs.php':'http://powellbanners.creativecirclemedia.com/www/delivery/ajs.php'); So O'Keefe's Instagram photo, you know, led people to realize that, you know, Prince had played a role, at least in letting Project Veritas use the ranch for training. 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. 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. But they thanked us for bringing, you know, putting some sunlight on this. So there has been - the two have interacted, I think, even before Trump was president. 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. GOLDMAN: It's my understanding that they met during a training at the Prince ranch in Wyoming in the spring of '17 and then grew closer over time. 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. That's how you found them, and that's what raised the question? 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. So, you know, this is not something I had ever done as a - you know, this is not something journalists do. Months later, in June 2019, a report said we are expecting a big haul, including new lines of intelligence on the Republican side of the house.. The McMaster operation was aborted after he, unrelated to Project Veritas, resigned under pressure from Trump. And they start trying to make inroads in the Wyoming Democratic Party. For example, the co-authors of the piece in dispute, Cole and Alex Emmons, say theyre New York and Washington, D.C., residents whove never been to Wyoming. If you already have a web account, but need to reset it, you can do so by clicking here. They were, in fact, going to use a former Project Veritas operative named Tarah Price, who lives in the Dallas area, to, you know, possibly ensnare McMaster at a restaurant, get him to say something ill toward or maybe negative about Trump, something that would compromise him. But if the case was transferred to New York, that states laws could apply. And in the end, you know, O'Keefe would release them and, you know, make a big deal out of them. They broke into the DNC. 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. GOLDMAN: I believe that O'Keefe has interacted with Trump. 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. 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. So he's going to pop up in all sorts of different places. To do so would potentially reveal the sources identity, in breach of a promise of confidentiality made to the source, and creating personal risk for the source, they wrote, adding Princes real motive in bringing this lawsuit obtaining the identity of [The Intercepts] confidential source is plain., Further, if Prince is allowed to take discovery of The Intercept, the lawyers say they should be allowed to probe Princes ties to Virginia versus Wyoming, since he already has been forced to admit [his sworn statements] contained certain falsehoods.. In fact, I wrote a memo about what I had found. What kind of inroads did they make? Why did they want to embarrass him and get him out of the government? Reaching out to several intelligence veterans and occasionally using Mr. Seddon to make the pitch Mr. 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. While the state is currently solidly Republican, Mr. Seddon and Ms. Gore believed it was in danger of turning toward the Democrats, as Colorado has. 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. In particular, you know, Sofia targeted a employee with the GAO. 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? His uncle is the conservative commentator Glenn Beck. And they would find people, and they would go out with them. [I] was a Wyoming resident for many years, he told Brietbart. 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. That was the idea. Copyright 2021 NPR. DAVIES: Right. It was unclear whether Mr. Seddon was involved in planning that operation. var m3_u = (location.protocol=='https:'? var width = jQuery(window).width(); During the 2018 meeting with Ms. Gore, according to one person familiar with it, Mr. O'Keefe writes about it in his book. Is that what these interviews were about? 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. 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