He passed away recently. [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 more recent years, Prince has remained a mover and shaker and a controversial figure on the international stage. if (document.context) document.write ("&context=" + escape(document.context)); There was a massacre at a plaza in Iraq. zoneId = 'Array'; Prince invited Project Veritas operatives including Mr. OKeefe to his familys Wyoming ranch for training in 2017, The Intercept reported last year. GOLDMAN: Yeah, I think they nearly tripled the number of people they hired. Given Mr. Princes extensive personal and professional ties to Wyoming, it is certainly plausible that some or all of [The Intercepts] sources to the extent they exist at all were located in Wyoming, Princes legal team wrote. if (document.mmm_fo) document.write ("&mmm_fo=1"); I don't know. In that deposition, Mr. OKeefe defended the groups undercover tactics, saying they were part of a long tradition of investigative journalism going back to muckraking reporters like Upton Sinclair. From 1986 through the present, hes made roughly 100 contributions totaling more than $630,000 to Republican causes and Congressional candidates, according to Federal Election Commission records. And he ends up giving, you know, $6,000 to Wyoming Democratic Party and also money to other political figures. Do we know? But (laughter) this seemed to be the training out in Wyoming. DAVIES: They targeted ACORN. 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. As the founder of Blackwater USA, now Academi, a private military company, Prince headed the organization. He worked with the former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn during the presidential transition. The Powell Tribune has expanded its online content. But "one of the most brazen operations of the campaign" was an attempt to take down H.R. You'd have to ask Mr. O'Keefe. And Mr. O'Keefe disclosed that Foster Friess had actually given Project Veritas money. I mean, this is - you know, he no doubt sees them as a conservative ally, like other conservative networks. Well, that and - by the way, at some point - I don't know the time period. DAVIES: Let me reintroduce you again. After Mr. Did you receive the spare camera yet?. DAVIES: When Richard Seddon and Erik Prince got connected with Veritas and cooperated on some of these operations, what was the effect on Veritas? DAVIES: He was at a meeting in the Seychelles, the islands in the Indian Ocean, January of 2017. And as I was reporting this, somebody said, well, you know, her picture, you know, she's on that website. We're going to take a break here. And so Sofia's picture was up there. So flesh out the picture a bit. And as part of this effort, Richard Seddon was brought on to handle training and really professionalize Project Veritas' undercover operations. Cole pointed to various records, including a campaign finance document from earlier this year, in which Prince listed his address as being in Virginia. Many conservatives have gleefully pounced on Project Veritass disclosures, including one particularly influential voice: Donald Trump Jr., the presidents eldest son. DAVIES: Right. So they were looking to mine that, to exploit that territory. Their names are Beau Maier and Sofia LaRocca, and they're in Las Vegas for a Democratic primary debate. But in a pending lawsuit, Prince asserts the April 13 story from The Intercept was false, defamatory and aimed at Wyoming. Because of the article, Prince says his reputation and professional opportunities within Wyoming suffered, along with his business interests and reputation in general. He's, you know, the private military contractor. zoneId = '3'; Mr. Halderman was copied on several messages providing updates about the Michigan operation, and in one message, he gave instructions to Ms. Jorge. 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. Back in December, county commissioners approved a rezoning request for a multi-billionaire to develop an exclusive guest ranch in the southernmost part of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. GOLDMAN: Yes, very wealthy and very conservative. 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. 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. But it was not her real name. document.write ("?zoneid="+zoneId+"&block=1&blockcampaign=1"); 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.. What were they trying to get? And they targeted - Project Veritas had a whole series. ', Death toll keeps rising in Greece's deadliest train crash, US Attorney General Merrick Garland testifies before Senate Judiciary Committee, Lineup announced for this years Capitol Hill Block Party, There's no shortage of salt for NYC roads, Temple University students march and protest to demand better safety. You know, he's a businessman. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. The former Navy SEAL gained fame for the supporting role his Blackwater firm played in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the security contractor became infamous when its employees killed 14 Iraqi civilians and wounded 17 others in Baghdad in 2007. DAVIES: Right. But what is clear is if Beau and Sofia made these campaign contributions - right? This couple, Beau and Sofia - they spent real time and effort trying to ingratiate themselves with Democrats and progressives. It also seems, to me, murky. 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. WASHINGTON During the summer of 2018, as Richard Seddon, a former British spy, was trying to launch a new venture to use undercover agents to infiltrate progressive groups, Democratic campaigns and other opponents of President Donald J. Trump, he turned for help to a longtime friend and former colleague: Erik Prince, the private military contractor. 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. And, you know, we wrote the story about the operation targeting McMaster and Georgetown. Erik Prince Helped Raise Money for Conservative Spy Venture, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/08/us/politics/erik-prince-spy-operation-trump-democrats.html. We'll continue our conversation in just a moment. And he comes from a wealthy, conservative family in Michigan, right? Im not ashamed of the methods that we use or the recordings that we use, he said. GOLDMAN: Well, I don't know if he is primarily the guy. Those contentions have become a key point of early proceedings in the case. And then Seddon - you know, he stays on. In particular, you know, Sofia targeted a employee with the GAO. The New York Times published an article chronicling a Wapiti, Wyoming-based espianoge effort. 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.. DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR, and our guest is Adam Goldman. Ms. Jorge, 25, did not respond to email addresses associated with her Liberty University account. He said that he did not think so. Do we know why? 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. Although he owns a home in Wapiti, Prince is not generally known as a Wyoming businessman. You know, Princes are pretty savvy. 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. And we all sort of wracked our brains to try to figure out if, like, has this been done before? Set some context for us here. We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. And, you know, eventually she starts using this to meet other prominent Democrats in the state. And I think the end goal was make a video and, if necessary, try to get the White House to fire McMaster. And ultimately, it did blow up in their face. 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. They'd been recruited and trained in an operation led by a former British spy and security contractor Erik Prince, an avid supporter of Donald Trump. But Trump would, from time to time, cite Project Veritas videos in his, you know, comments, public comments and speeches, right? 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. A man named Samuel Chamberlain who matched the description of the one employed by Mr. OKeefe denied he worked for Project Veritas. Prince noted he owned a home in Wyoming and had been connected to the state since 1992. 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. Later that year, Mr. You know, they were always - you know, always on the lookout for connections they could make. 1-307-754-2221. GOLDMAN: Project Veritas is founded by James O'Keefe. The companys principal office is listed as being at the Prince familys ranch in Wapiti, though the mailing address is a property in Virginia. 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. 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. So he's certainly moved in this world before. 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. This is FRESH AIR. 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. Erik Prince, founder of the private security firm Blackwater, filed a defamation lawsuit against The Intercept last month over an article published in 2020 that examined his efforts to sell. In 2018, an operative working for Project Veritas infiltrated the campaign of Abigail Spanberger, who went on to win a congressional seat. 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. Key figures in the operation are a former British spy named Richard Seddon and private security contractor Erik Prince, a staunch supporter of Donald Trump. "He's a very nice man," Prince said of Barrasso in the Breitbart interview. What are traditional political dirty tricks? It's my understanding he designed the training exercises, which could have included, like, you know, going out to bars in Cody and trying to get people's names and numbers, how to pitch somebody in an elevator, how to spot people who could potentially provide you information. Prince and former British spy Richard Seddon both did work for the organization. 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. 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. 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. She actually got a contract fundraising gig with the Democrats, right? So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. So we had never seen something like that. baltimore aquarium food menu, iowa dhs child care forms, eastern oregon correctional institution roster, They could make Sofia LaRocca, and they targeted - Project Veritas money Veritas ' undercover.. 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