And it's not clear to us if he was making any money off of this. They - you know, there's a wide range of targets, and many of them have been exposed. But then January 6 happened, you know, the insurrection. 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. GOLDMAN: These were videos - you can find them on Project Veritas', you know, website or on YouTube now. Erik Prince conducts business around the globe, but in a pending lawsuit, he says he does the bulk of his work from Wyoming. Richard Seddon, in 2018, I guess, decided to stop working with Project Veritas. You know, she attended that. //]]>-->. It's not clear to us why Prince decided to help Project Veritas. 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. 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. And we're speaking with New York Times reporter Adam Goldman. ADAM GOLDMAN: They went there after making sizable donations to the DNC, the Democratic National Committee - $10,000 each - at the request of a Colorado businessman who was a - he's a fundraiser for the Democrats and basically said, if you make this donation, you can come and hang out in Las Vegas. 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. And, of course, that was an entree into a larger circle of prominent Democrats. And I think the end goal was make a video and, if necessary, try to get the White House to fire McMaster. Prince have ties to President Trumps aides and family. 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. 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. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Prince took on the role of celebrity pitchman, according to interviews and documents, raising money for Mr. Seddons spying operation, which was aimed at gathering dirt that could discredit politicians and activists in several states. In apparent response to inquiries from the Tribune about the two companies ties to Wyoming, Princes revised declaration said he misidentified the names of the entities. if (document.context) document.write ("&context=" + escape(document.context)); If you already have a web account, but need to reset it, you can do so by clicking here. 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 . So it was a fascinating moment in time last year when I realized what I suspected Beau and Sofia were doing. Their names are Beau Maier and Sofia LaRocca, and they're in Las Vegas for a Democratic primary debate. 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. They make significant political contributions, right? Ms. Jorge was eventually exposed and kicked out of the campaign office. It is, instead, an entity dedicated to a specific political agenda.. And by the way, as we began reporting this, we started learning more about Beau's connection to people. DAVIES: So how did you come upon this couple, Beau and Sofia? Currently, Prince leads a Hong Kong-based firm providing security, logistics, insurance and infrastructure services in parts of Africa and other high-conflict areas. Mr. James OKeefe, a conservative activist, founded Project Veritas. Prince declined to comment. Last year, the group received a $1 million contribution made through the law firm Alston & Bird, a financial document obtained by The New York Times showed. They were certainly using attractive women to lure people out on dates. People have probably heard of this organization. GOLDMAN: Yeah, I would say an active - sure, an active player in certain parts of Trump's world, yeah, or conservative - the conservative world. And I certainly don't think he thought he was going to get dragged into this. She actually got a contract fundraising gig with the Democrats, right? He comes in late '16 or '17 - around that time period. 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. DAVIES: They targeted ACORN. 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. Blackwater Worldwide founder Erik Prince is considering a Republican primary challenge to Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, a senior member of the Senate GOP leadership team, in a race that could pit the party's establishment against insurgents inspired by allies of President Donald Trump. 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. There's a long backstory there. However, he ultimately did not challenge Barrasso in 2018 nor did he vote in those off-year elections, Prince acknowledged in Octobers revised declaration. And, you know, Seddon then reached out to, you know, a family - an old friend who had worked at the FBI. This is FRESH AIR. GOLDMAN: What - the training they got was when they worked for an outfit called Project Veritas. He's, you know, the private military contractor. AMY GOODMAN: In Wyoming. Part of it involved a rented, rather large house in Georgetown in Washington, D.C., right? Prince, Mr. Seddon and other topics, but he called his group a proud independent news organization that is involved in dozens of investigations. GOLDMAN: Richard Seddon is a former MI6 spy. And as part of this effort, Richard Seddon was brought on to handle training and really professionalize Project Veritas' undercover operations. 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. No one tells Project Veritas who or what to investigate, he said. Mr. Seddon directed an undercover operative to secretly tape the unions local leaders and try to gather information that could be made public to damage the organization, documents show. [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. And his supporters have vilified us. Erik Prince, Betsy DeVos's brother, is also deeply steeped in far-right militancy. How Times reporters cover politics. The special counsels report said that Mr. 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. Why are they there? And in the end, you know, O'Keefe would release them and, you know, make a big deal out of them. 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. 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. And they targeted - Project Veritas had a whole series. You know, they targeted the teachers unions. And, you know, eventually she starts using this to meet other prominent Democrats in the state. 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. But then they got reversed stung by the Post, which was quite a moment. And he ends up giving, you know, $6,000 to Wyoming Democratic Party and also money to other political figures. This espionage operation was aimed at perceived enemies of Trump and included a planned sting operation against former national security adviser H.R. Princes parents, Elsa Prince and the late Edgar Prince, bought the 940-acre Double E Ranch in the Wapiti Valley in the early 1990s. Accuracy and availability may vary. DAVIES: And when we say they targeted these public officials or FBI agents, what would they do? On Sept. 30, Prince personally visited the Park County Elections Office, registered and cast a general election ballot, according to the clerks office. But, yeah, this kind of actual infiltration and spying, I don't think I've run across that. 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. Prince appears to have become interested in using former spies to train Project Veritas operatives in espionage tactics sometime during the 2016 presidential campaign. Prince had hired a former MI6 officer to help train the Project Veritas operatives, The Intercept wrote, but it did not identify the officer. 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. I also think that - I think recently, too, O'Keefe, did a photo op or made a video with Donald Trump. 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. [I] was a Wyoming resident for many years, he told Brietbart. [CDATA[ 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. I think Trump pardoned at least one. During the 2018 meeting with Ms. Gore, according to one person familiar with it, Mr. - not quick-hit videos or, you know, shorter-term operations, which I think people say Mr. O'Keefe wanted to do. You mentioned that he was recruited by Erik Prince. We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. She said the support she got from other teams was 'overwhelming. document.write ("
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