The Powell Tribune has expanded its online content. Erik Prince doesn't live in the state, he's from the same party as the incumbent, Sen. John Barrasso, and he's best known for founding a private security firm, Blackwater, that was kicked out of . Over the past year and a half, The New York Times has reported on an effort by conservatives to train operatives in undercover spy techniques to infiltrate progressive groups, political campaigns, unions and the offices of Democratic and moderate Republican elected officials. GOLDMAN: Yeah, I would say an active - sure, an active player in certain parts of Trump's world, yeah, or conservative - the conservative world. We know that political operatives will gather opposition research as it's called - right? GOLDMAN: These were videos - you can find them on Project Veritas', you know, website or on YouTube now. Mr. Prince a former C.I.A. DAVIES: That's a really fascinating example of the power of, you know, database reporting now because you knew they were doing the thing in Georgetown, but their campaign contributions in Wyoming have to be publicly reported. 1-307-754-2221. They went after a Democratic staffer in Washington. So they were looking to mine that, to exploit that territory. She and Mr. In fact, I wrote a memo about what I had found. Ms. Jorge, 25, did not respond to email addresses associated with her Liberty University account. How Times reporters cover politics. Presented with the details of the operation, Ledeen told the Times she was just a messenger, "not part of a plot.". It also seems, to me, murky. In a book published in 2018, Mr. OKeefe wrote that Mr. Trump years earlier had encouraged him to infiltrate Columbia University and obtain Mr. Obamas records. document.write ("&loc=" + escape(window.location)); In particular, you know, Sofia targeted a employee with the GAO. Now, you mentioned Project Veritas. All rights reserved. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. So I thought to myself, why are they giving money to these people, these Democratic politicians? The Powell Tribune was unable to learn Prince's voter history from 2002 and 2017. And they targeted - Project Veritas had a whole series. In a Jan. 15 order, U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson of Cheyenne tossed out Prince's defamation lawsuit against The Intercept. 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. And they start trying to make inroads in the Wyoming Democratic Party. One February 2019 report said that a new undercover will be joining the team and tasked with targeting Mr. Harshman. 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. And, you know, eventually she starts using this to meet other prominent Democrats in the state. 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. 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. They had a private security firm. And ultimately, it did blow up in their face. DAVIES: They targeted ACORN. 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. 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. #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. 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 said, well, you know, she worked for Project Veritas. 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. 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. He worked with the former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn during the presidential transition. 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. Well, that and - by the way, at some point - I don't know the time period. The whole thing was completely - was really weird. GOLDMAN: The Georgetown house in D.C. was used as a base to, you know, essentially launch these undercover operations in the summer of '18, I guess, into the fall and maybe later. The Trump Foundation gave $20,000 to Project Veritas in 2015, the year that Mr. Trump began his bid for the presidency. We are speaking with Adam Goldman. So flesh out the picture a bit. They targeted The Washington Post. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. Im not ashamed of the methods that we use or the recordings that we use, he said. Adam Goldman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New York Times. She was involved in that. Attorneys for the outlet say The Intercept has no particular connection to the state and Princes ties are uncertain. 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. Prince and former British spy Richard Seddon both did work for the organization. And this website is devoted to revealing the identities of Project Veritas operatives. 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. zoneId = 'Array'; DAVIES: Did any of them have opinions about whether these two had done damage? } 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. 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: Right. 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. 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. And it's not clear to us if he was making any money off of this. . - 500, 1000. DAVIES: Coming up, rock critic Ken Tucker reviews new songs by veteran artist Tom Jones, Jackson Browne and John Mayer. 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.. Read more about the operation and its cast of characters at The New York Times. Regardless, Princes residency is not the real issue in the case. And he was pitching that plan, but it never got anywhere. On Sept. 30, Prince personally visited the Park County Elections Office, registered and cast a general election ballot, according to the clerks office. And they - the purpose for - they themselves will launch this undercover operation and then, you know, secretly record you - audio, video - and then make a video out of it and, you know, expose what they describe as wrongdoing. They were, in fact, undercover spies who had been building a cover as eager Democrats when, in fact, they were anything but that. We're still trying to fully understand how Project Veritas, which is founded by James O'Keefe, actually came into contact with Erik Prince. 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. Mr. Seddon launched his privately funded spying effort after leaving Project Veritas in 2018. Why did they want to embarrass him and get him out of the government? He owns a home on a lot adjoining his familys Double E Ranch in Wapiti. 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." document.write ("?zoneid="+zoneId+"&block=1&blockcampaign=1"); GOLDMAN: Beau does. That's a strawman campaign donation. The campaign discovered the operative and fired her. This is FRESH AIR. Princes parents, Elsa Prince and the late Edgar Prince, bought the 940-acre Double E Ranch in the Wapiti Valley in the early 1990s. DAVIES: Let me reintroduce you again. GOLDMAN: No. He passed away recently. And they - you know, I think they - it seemed like they were seeking revenge. We are speaking with Adam Goldman. One of the people involved in the McMaster plot was Barbara Ledeen, a longtime Republican staffer on the Senate Judiciary Committee before retiring, she says, earlier this year. 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. You know, this is something we haven't seen, right? He's, you know, the private military contractor. 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? Seddon left the project in 2018, before O'Keefe started releasing low-impact "unmasking the deep state" videos. He's a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New York Times. "He's a very nice man," Prince said of Barrasso in the Breitbart interview. DAVIES: Right. And I got swept away reporting on that and eventually was able to come back to it. We're going to take a break here. I have a Wyoming drivers license, I am a Wyoming resident, and exploration is underway, Prince said of his potential Senate bid. To it, he said story that you wrote with Mark Mazzetti of the that... And when we say they targeted these public officials or FBI agents, would! Money off of this Michael T. Flynn during the presidential transition ) ) ;:... 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