All rights reserved. And then I talked to somebody else. In 2017, Prince invited O'Keefe and Project Veritas employees to his family's Wyoming ranch and arranged for an unnamed former British MI6 officer to provide training for the group, The . It was Maria (ph). 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. You'd have to ask Mr. O'Keefe. 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. Erik Prince, the founder of private military company Blackwater, whose sister Betsy DeVos was Trump's education secretary, trained the spies Their job was to find out who was disparaging Trump. Read more about the operation and its cast of characters at The New York Times. 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. 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, there was one exercise, I believe, where they had a cop - you know, a local cop who was there. The New York Times broke the news of Princes potential run on Oct. 8, 2017, saying hed recently traveled to Wyoming to explore ways to establish residency there., The following day, Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow asked Prince whether the Times report was real or fake news, mentioning, Im not 100% positive on your connection to Wyoming.. 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. What was going on there? Prince and Mr. Seddon met in August 2018 with Susan Gore, a Wyoming heiress to the Gore-Tex fortune, Ms. Gore became the projects main benefactor. 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. DAVIES: Right. 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. How Times reporters cover politics. "He's a very nice man," Prince said of Barrasso in the Breitbart interview. GOLDMAN: Well, some people have speculated this was some sort of back channel to Russia because there was a - I believe there was a Russian investment manager there who has ties to Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia. Neither party wants to be infiltrated like this. And I got swept away reporting on that and eventually was able to come back to it. They targeted The Washington Post. He is married to an American diplomat, Alice Seddon, who is serving in the American consulate in Lagos, Nigeria. And I think the end goal was make a video and, if necessary, try to get the White House to fire McMaster. Now, this couple weren't really the committed Democrats they presented themselves as, right? Prince said he thought hed registered to vote when hed obtained a Wyoming drivers license in October 2017. And it all kind of went south when the Post exposed it. Is he actually providing those kinds of services? When a muckraking news site published a story alleging private security contractor and Blackwater founder Erik Prince had offered his services to a Russian mercenary firm, the connections to Wyoming were not obvious; the state was never mentioned in the piece. Ledeen said "someone she trusted" contacted her to help with the McMaster operation. He said that he did not think so. That's a strawman campaign donation. Published October 16, 2017. I know that, you know, one of the first instances of his association with this - or maybe the first instance of his association - was in an Intercept article in which O'Keefe had posted a picture of himself firing a pistol with a silencer on Instagram. At the center of the scheme was an unusual cast: a former British spy connected to the security contractor Erik Prince, a wealthy heiress to the Gore-Tex fortune and undercover operatives like. Prince invited Project Veritas operatives including Mr. OKeefe to his familys Wyoming ranch for training in 2017, The Intercept reported last year. (Photo: Gerry Broome/AP) MIDDLEBURG, Va. A cheery fire warmed the glass-walled conservatory of the Goodstone Inn in Virginia's. Although he owns a home in Wapiti, Prince is not generally known as a Wyoming businessman. DAVIES: They targeted ACORN. McMaster? GOLDMAN: Yeah, I would say an active - sure, an active player in certain parts of Trump's world, yeah, or conservative - the conservative world. 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 . And, you know, these were - they were not really long-term operations. GOLDMAN: They were thwarting the president's agenda. And they start trying to make inroads in the Wyoming Democratic Party. I'm Dave Davies, in for Terry Gross, who's off this week. #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. Prince to help him secure funding is just one of the new details about Mr. Seddons operation revealed in documents obtained by The Times and interviews with people familiar with his plans. 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. Prince might have approached for money for Mr. Seddons venture besides Ms. Gore. On Sept. 30, Prince personally visited the Park County Elections Office, registered and cast a general election ballot, according to the clerks office. 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 . DAVIES: Wow. Prince a former C.I.A. 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. DAVIES: Right. document.write ("?zoneid="+zoneId+"&block=1&blockcampaign=1"); We are speaking with Adam Goldman. 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? There was a year-long lease that was signed that allowed Project Veritas to put its operatives in that fancy house. 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. 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. Using a different alias the next year, the same undercover operative infiltrated the congressional campaign of Abigail Spanberger, then a former C.I.A. Mr. Why did they want to embarrass him and get him out of the government? And Glenn Beck, Beau's uncle, gave a toast. And, you know, we wrote the story about the operation targeting McMaster and Georgetown. And we actually - I, you know, I - Mark and I reached out to our - one of great political reporters, Jonathan Martin, and asked him, you know. GOLDMAN: To my understanding, there was a disagreement in how Project Veritas should be run. I don't know. But "one of the most brazen operations of the campaign" was an attempt to take down H.R. Seddon left the project in 2018, before O'Keefe started releasing low-impact "unmasking the deep state" videos. Last week, our guest, reporter Adam Goldman, co-authored a story about a couple who ingratiated themselves with Democrats in Wyoming, often making substantial political contributions to ensure their access to valuable information. Their attorneys wrote that the story did not focus its efforts on or in Wyoming, nor would it have any reason to do so . He's a reporter for The New York Times. And they will get, you know, negative information from public records. 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. And, you know, typically they would have a male individual working for Project Veritas who would accompany these women on these dates as sort of, like, security. At the time, Ms. Spanberger was running to unseat a sitting Republican congressman in a race both parties considered important for control of the House. You know, she attended that. 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. He recruited a British commando to help - this guy Gaz Thomas, who I guess had knew Seddon through his days at MI6. And, I mean, they were both active, but she was literally, you know, infiltrating these Democratic groups. Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Thomas were on the list. 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. 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. DAVIES: But the idea was that these public officials or FBI agents were secretly - they were part of the deep state. People have probably heard of this organization. So flesh out the picture a bit. Princes parents, Elsa Prince and the late Edgar Prince, bought the 940-acre Double E Ranch in the Wapiti Valley in the early 1990s. I knew something was off immediately. "Somebody who had his calendar conveyed to me that he goes to Tosca all the time," she said, and she passed the information on to a man she believed to be a Project Veritas operative with a fake name. 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. DAVIES: What are Erik Prince's contacts or associations with Donald Trump and the Trump family? 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. And they were deeply critical of Trump. DAVIES: Right. You know, he's a businessman. It's a conservative organization. What does that tell us about Erik Prince? After Mr. Prince said he wanted the Project Veritas employees to learn skills like how to recruit sources and how to conduct clandestine recordings, among other surveillance techniques. Trump, of course, wanted to pull out. An attorney for The Intercept reportedly told Princes lawyer in the spring the piece was one in a series of planned articles concerning Mr. Princes activities, though it has not published any further pieces to date. In 2018, an operative working for Project Veritas infiltrated the campaign of Abigail Spanberger, who went on to win a congressional seat. Even if it is true that Prince now genuinely considers himself a Wyoming resident, it cannot be said that [The Intercept] could fairly anticipate being [hauled] into court in Wyoming, the attorneys wrote in a September filing. 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. Later that year, Mr. But then January 6 happened, you know, the insurrection. DAVIES: Adam Goldman, thank you so much for speaking with us. And then as I sort of gathered - started to gather information on this, I knew this was going to be a story. And Beau's mom is the ranch cook at the Erik Prince family's ranch near Cody, Wyo. James OKeefe, the head of Project Veritas, declined to answer detailed questions about Mr. Anyone can read what you share. Park County records show he also skipped Augusts primary election, but Prince said he had intended to vote in Wyoming this year. Prince said he learned he wasnt registered when I went to cast my early vote for the general election in late September. How Times reporters cover politics. DAVIES: We need to take a break here. Prince noted he owned a home in Wyoming and had been connected to the state since 1992. It was unclear whether Mr. Seddon was involved in planning that operation. Several of them confirmed their donations. 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. There was eventually litigation about that, wasn't there? //]]>-->. She was attending, you know, Democratic fundraisers. Mr. Prince recruited Mr. Seddon to join the conservative group Project Veritas to teach espionage skills to its operatives and manage its undercover operations. Prince grew up in Michigan, where their father made a fortune in the auto parts business. (SOUNDBITE OF GOGOL BORDELLO'S "NOT A CRIME"). if (!document.MAX_used) document.MAX_used = ','; And Las Vegas was the - you could almost say it was the pinnacle, the apex of their operation. Tell us about them. And they would find people, and they would go out with them. The McMaster operation was aborted after he, unrelated to Project Veritas, resigned under pressure from Trump. Prince also allowed Project Veritas to use his familys Wyoming ranch for training. Mr. Seddon and Ms. Gore did not respond to messages. MATTHEW COLE: In. GOLDMAN: I believe that O'Keefe has interacted with Trump. And, of course, that was an entree into a larger circle of prominent Democrats. This is FRESH AIR. Accuracy and availability may vary. He was asked whether he had provided any of the groups secret recordings of Democracy Partners to the Republican National Committee or any member of the Trump family. They had a private security firm. The financial document also listed the names of others who gave much smaller amounts to Project Veritas last year. They were certainly using attractive women to lure people out on dates. In more recent years, Prince has remained a mover and shaker and a controversial figure on the international stage. GOLDMAN: The plan was to - it was basically - you know, in some ways, it was a classic sort of honey trap. O'Keefe did not respond to the substance of the Times' report but did accuse the newspaper of running a "smear piece" on Project Veritas. You know, this is something we haven't seen, right? DAVIES: So how did you come upon this couple, Beau and Sofia? In 2017, he met with White House and Pentagon officials to pitch a plan to privatize the Afghan war using contractors in lieu of American troops. And then, you know, they both end up giving to the DNC. This espionage operation was aimed at perceived enemies of Trump and included a planned sting operation against former national security adviser H.R. And so Sofia's picture was up there. And they received what was essentially clandestine training at a ranch in Wyoming that's owned by the family of Erik Prince. Let me reintroduce you. But if the case was transferred to New York, that states laws could apply. 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. By Derek Royden - July 2, 2021 2466 SOURCE NationofChange [CDATA[ 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. GOLDMAN: Well, they - you know, they - Beau is from Cody, Wyo., so he had some Wyoming roots. One target in particular was Gov. Part of it involved a rented, rather large house in Georgetown in Washington, D.C., right? var m3_u = (location.protocol=='https:'? The Trump Foundation gave $20,000 to Project Veritas in 2015, the year that Mr. Trump began his bid for the presidency. I'm not sure that just because he's a conservative, this is something he wanted to help. The Powell Tribune was unable to learn Princes voter history from 2002 and 2017. He's a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New York Times. 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. Mr. DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. It's not clear, though, if any of that was actually used in a way that thwarted anybody's candidacy or damaged their political reputation. Good stuff, Mr. Seddon wrote back. The plan was reportedly to send a female operative to Tosca, a restaurant McMaster frequented, to engage him in drinks and conversation and record him disparaging Trump or making other inappropriate remarks on camera.