Ms. Jorge, 25, did not respond to email addresses associated with her Liberty University account. Prince have ties to President Trumps aides and family. Prince a former C.I.A. DAVIES: Let's talk about some of the people who are behind this. - 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. DAVIES: Right - Erik Prince, the security contractor who we'll talk more about. They broke into the DNC. Oct. 21, 2020. 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. DAVIES: They targeted ACORN. 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. At the time I signed my [September] declaration I believed Jones Creek and CMNS to be Wyoming entities, but I have subsequently learned they are not; I believe they are Delaware entities, Prince wrote in the document, which he signed from California. GOLDMAN: Yes. And it's not clear to us if he was making any money off of this. Overall, how do conservatives regard Project Veritas? DAVIES: Right. '&charset='+document.charset : (document.characterSet ? DAVIES: But the idea was that these public officials or FBI agents were secretly - they were part of the deep state. And I think the Intercept geolocated that photo and determined it was Erik Prince's ranch. This is FRESH AIR. She went to meetings. Mr. 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. 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. They received training for covert operations at a ranch near Cody owned by Blackwater founder Erik Prince, where Maier's mother works as a cook. The financial document also listed the names of others who gave much smaller amounts to Project Veritas last year. DAVIES: What was on those videos? There's an annual one, Nellie T. Ross Banquet, and I believe it's in Cheyenne every February. Mr. OKeefe and others shared social media photos of taking target practice with guns at the ranch, including one post from Mr. OKeefe saying that with the training, Project Veritas will be the next great intelligence agency. Mr. And Glenn Beck, Beau's uncle, gave a toast. Funneling money surreptitiously to campaigns through other donors known as straw man donations would violate federal campaign finance laws. Accuracy and availability may vary. It's not clear to me how close he is to Trump. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. So flesh out the picture a bit. But if the case was transferred to New York, that states laws could apply. 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 . Citing his ties to the state, his attorneys opted to file Princes defamation case against The Intercept in Wyomings U.S. District Court in May. But what we know is there was an arrangement made, and Erik Prince allowed Project Veritas to use his farm to train its operatives. And by the way, as we began reporting this, we started learning more about Beau's connection to people. I think it was called "Deep State Exposed" or "Deep State Uncovered." if (!document.MAX_used) document.MAX_used = ','; 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. According to its latest publicly available tax filing, Project Veritas received $8.6 million in contributions and grants in 2018. And GOLDMAN: Involving Roy Moore - exactly. He did not mention the inquiries from the Powell Tribune about his lapsed registration that preceded his vote. Erik Prince, a political novice and former Navy SEAL who made a fortune in contracting security services to the U.S. Military, said in an interview with Breitbart that he will announce in the coming weeks whether he will challenge Barrasso in the Republican primary. And they start trying to make inroads in the Wyoming Democratic Party. 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. 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. DAVIES: Adam Goldman, thank you so much for speaking with us. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. 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. And Prince comes up in the special council report - Robert Mueller's report. Attorneys for the outlet say The Intercept has no particular connection to the state and Princes ties are uncertain. 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. AMY GOODMAN: In Wyoming. Mr. And so I was able to piece that together. He was dismayed, three former Project Veritas employees told the Times, with "O'Keefe's desire to produce quick media content rather than to run long-term infiltration operations." Now, you mentioned Project Veritas. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. She was involved in that. 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. You know, she used that to hobnob with people. And Beau eventually divorced his wife. contractor who is best known as the founder of the private military firm Blackwater and whose sister, Betsy DeVos, was Mr. Trump's education secretary has drawn. Prince has previously been involved in trying to find dirt on Democratic politicians. Prince said he should have named a different company Moyock Medical Supplies LLC as an example of an entity he owns thats registered to his address in Wapiti. DAVIES: And when we say they targeted these public officials or FBI agents, what would they do? 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. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. 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. GOLDMAN: Well, again, this is a little murky. Sofia makes a contribution - a small contribution to a woman she had befriended who ran, unsuccessfully, for the Wyoming state legislature. 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.. He recruited a British commando to help - this guy Gaz Thomas, who I guess had knew Seddon through his days at MI6. 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. Neither party wants to be infiltrated like this. 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. Mark Gordon, who was viewed as a RINO in some Wyoming conservative circles. 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. So they were interviewing people who wanted to become operatives. She actually got a contract fundraising gig with the Democrats, right? But, you know, over 18, they - it grew closer. contractor who is best known as the founder of the private military firm Blackwater and whose sister, Betsy DeVos, was Mr. Trump's education secretary has drawn. And then they married last week. GOLDMAN: Beau does. document.write ("'><\/scr"+"ipt>"); This espionage operation was aimed at perceived enemies of Trump and included a planned sting operation against former national security adviser H.R. That includes a pair of donations he made in March and October, in which he apparently listed his address as a post office box in Middleburg, Virginia. Part of it involved a rented, rather large house in Georgetown in Washington, D.C., right? 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. Adam Goldman, welcome back to FRESH AIR. DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR, and our guest is Adam Goldman. 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. 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. Beyond involving a different pool of jurors and a different judge, Prince may have a better chance of learning the identity of The Intercepts sources if the case stays in Wyoming, where there is no specific shield law protecting the confidentiality of reporters sources. DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. Mr. document.write ("?zoneid="+zoneId+"&block=1&blockcampaign=1"); In more recent years, Prince has remained a mover and shaker and a controversial figure on the international stage. 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? 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. You mentioned that he was recruited by Erik Prince. We are speaking with Adam Goldman. Efforts to locate Mr. Thomas were unsuccessful. Trump, of course, wanted to pull out. And, you know, there were a whole range of people they went after. if (document.MAX_used != ',') document.write ("&exclude=" + document.MAX_used); 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. MATTHEW COLE: In. Mr. Was he primarily the guy who got this thing moving? And they will get, you know, negative information from public records. document.write ("&loc=" + escape(window.location)); Sofia is from Maryland. Did it help, you know, Project Veritas raise more money? 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. 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. DAVIES: That's an airport in Cody, Wyo. I'm not sure that just because he's a conservative, this is something he wanted to help. They were going to bug it. 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. The Powell Tribune was unable to learn Prince's voter history from 2002 and 2017. DAVIES: But Sofia was just - she was active. Between 1992 and 2001, Prince often listed Park County as his home, consistent with his voting records. DAVIES: Did any of them have opinions about whether these two had done damage? You know, Princes are pretty savvy. And Mr. O'Keefe disclosed that Foster Friess had actually given Project Veritas money. 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. (SOUNDBITE OF BRUNO COULAIS' "SPINK AND FORCIBLE"). 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. And ultimately, it did blow up in their face. So, you know, this is not something I had ever done as a - you know, this is not something journalists do. She was doing outreach to, you know, Democratic figures in Wyoming. Both Project Veritas and Mr. Mr. He's a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New York Times. DAVIES: And then Beau and Sofia married, right? Blackwater founder Erik Prince arranged for political activist James O'Keefe's conservative group Project Veritas to receive more than one round of "training in intelligence and elicitation. "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. What does that tell us about Erik Prince? But what is clear is if Beau and Sofia made these campaign contributions - right? Their reporting on the department won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. I knew something was off immediately. 'https://powellbanners.creativecirclemedia.com/www/delivery/ajs.php':'http://powellbanners.creativecirclemedia.com/www/delivery/ajs.php'); 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. Princes parents, Elsa Prince and the late Edgar Prince, bought the 940-acre Double E Ranch in the Wapiti Valley in the early 1990s. 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.. Piece that together, again, this is FRESH AIR, and our guest is Adam Goldman thank!, who I guess had knew Seddon through his days at MI6, she used that to hobnob with.. He recruited a British commando to help - this guy Gaz Thomas, was.: Let 's talk about some of the people who wanted to become operatives: that 's an one! Intercept geolocated that photo and determined it was called `` Deep state Exposed or. 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