Erik Prince recruited retired US and Brit spies to run illegal missions
on Trump foes
An explosive March 7 New
York Times report revealed that notorious war
profiteer Erik Prince recruited former American and British spies to work with
the right-wing group Project Veritas to infiltrate at least one Democratic
congressional campaign and organizations "considered hostile" to
President Donald Trump's agenda.
Prince is the brother
of Education Secretary Betsy
DeVos and founder of the mercenary firm Blackwater.
Through a spokesperson, he declined the Times' request for comment on the piece, which is based on interviews and documents obtained by the newspaper, including internal Project Veritas emails.
Through a spokesperson, he declined the Times' request for comment on the piece, which is based on interviews and documents obtained by the newspaper, including internal Project Veritas emails.
"Both Project Veritas and Mr. Prince have ties to
President Trump's aides and family," the Times noted.
"Whether any Trump administration officials or advisers to the president
were involved in the operations, even tacitly, is unclear.
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. Trump's agenda."
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. Trump's agenda."
The results of
the Times' investigation were described by readers on social media
as "chilling," "stunning," and "insane." Jacobin magazine
assistant editor Alex Press declared, "My paranoid fantasies are all
true!" In response to a tweet about the reporting, author and activist
Naomi Klein simply wrote, "Read."
The consumer watchdog
group Allied Progress responded with a statement Saturday night, calling on the
House Oversight Committee to conduct an immediate investigation into what DeVos
knew about Prince's activities.
"There's not a
lot of dots to connect here," said Allied Progress director Derek Martin.
"Secretary DeVos' brother was directly involved in a spying scheme in her home state against a teachers' union she's been hostile with for years. If this doesn't clear the bar for an immediate Congressional investigation, nothing does."
"Secretary DeVos' brother was directly involved in a spying scheme in her home state against a teachers' union she's been hostile with for years. If this doesn't clear the bar for an immediate Congressional investigation, nothing does."
"We already know
Secretary DeVos is no friend of public education, but if she gave the go-ahead
to enlist former intelligence officers to steal documents from public education
advocates that she disagrees with, it steps well beyond policy disagreement and
into criminal territory," Martin added.
"If Secretary DeVos was in any way involved, it will confirm that she stops at nothing to undermine public schools."
"If Secretary DeVos was in any way involved, it will confirm that she stops at nothing to undermine public schools."
According to the Times:
One of the former
spies, an ex-, 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.
Mr. Seddon directed an undercover operative to secretly tape the union's local leaders and try to gather information that could be made public to damage the organization, documents show.
Mr. Seddon directed an undercover operative to secretly tape the union's local leaders and try to gather information that could be made public to damage the organization, documents show.
Using a different
alias the next year, the same undercover operative infiltrated the
congressional campaign of Abigail Spanberger, then a former CIA officer who
went on to win an important House seat in
Virginia as a Democrat. The campaign discovered the operative and fired her.
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.
Mr. Seddon's role in the teachers' union operation—detailed in internal Project Veritas emails that have emerged from the discovery process of a court battle between the group and the union—has not previously been reported, nor has Mr. Prince's role in recruiting Mr. Seddon for the group's activities.
Mr. Seddon's role in the teachers' union operation—detailed in internal Project Veritas emails that have emerged from the discovery process of a court battle between the group and the union—has not previously been reported, nor has Mr. Prince's role in recruiting Mr. Seddon for the group's activities.
The Times reported
that it is unclear whether Seddon was involved in the Spanberger operation and
the former British intelligence officer—who is married to American diplomat
Alice Seddon—did not respond to the newspaper's request for comment.
James O'Keefe of
Project Veritas told the Times that his group is a "proud
independent news organization" and "no one tells Project Veritas who
or what to investigate."
Although he declined to discuss the details of the report, he also claimed that various sources are "providing confidential documents, insights into internal processes, and wearing hidden cameras to expose corruption and misconduct."
Although he declined to discuss the details of the report, he also claimed that various sources are "providing confidential documents, insights into internal processes, and wearing hidden cameras to expose corruption and misconduct."
Past targets of
Project Veritas have included the nonprofit healthcare organization Planned Parenthood, the political group Disrupt J20, and recently, David Wright, a 20-year veteran political
correspondent at ABC News.
Project Veritas has also recorded undercover video of a Times editor and approached the Washington Post with a false story about Roy Moore, a Republican Senate candidate in Alabama.
Project Veritas has also recorded undercover video of a Times editor and approached the Washington Post with a false story about Roy Moore, a Republican Senate candidate in Alabama.
The Project Veritas
operative inside AFT Michigan was Liberty University graduate Marisa Jorge,
according to the Times. O'Keefe and Seddon used the code name
"LibertyU" for Jorge when discussing the operation over email.
Jorge, who also reportedly infiltrated the Spanberger campaign by posing as a volunteer, did not respond to the newspaper's request for comment. The federal lawsuit that AFT Michigan brought against Project Veritas is scheduled to go to trial later this year.
Jorge, who also reportedly infiltrated the Spanberger campaign by posing as a volunteer, did not respond to the newspaper's request for comment. The federal lawsuit that AFT Michigan brought against Project Veritas is scheduled to go to trial later this year.
In a statement to
the Times, AFT president Randi Weingarten said: "Let's be
clear who the wrongdoer is here: Project Veritas used a fake intern to lie her
way into our Michigan office, to steal documents and to spy—and they got
caught. We're just trying to hold them accountable for this industrial
espionage."
Weingarten added on
Twitter Saturday, "They didn't succeed in their attempt to hurt our union
but note what the right wing will do to try to eliminate workers' voice."
The Intercept co-founder Jeremy Scahill—who released the book Blackwater: The
Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army in 2007—wrote on Twitter Saturday that with this
piece, the Times "pushes the 2017 story from [The
Intercept's Matthew Cole] forward about Erik Prince attempts to infiltrate
liberal groups via Project Veritas."
Last year, Cole published an article for The
Intercept titled "The Complete Mercenary: How Erik Prince Used
the Rise of Trump to Make an Improbable Comeback."
Noting that Trump gave Project Veritas thousands of dollars through his foundation and met with O'Keefe shortly after announcing his run for president, Cole reported:
It is unclear if
Trump's support of Project Veritas spurred Prince's interest in the group, but
in late 2015 or early 2016, Prince arranged for O'Keefe and Project Veritas to
receive training in intelligence and elicitation techniques from a retired
military intelligence operative named Euripides Rubio Jr.
According to a former Trump White House official who discussed the Veritas training with Rubio, the former special operative quit after several weeks of training, complaining that the Veritas group wasn't capable of learning. Rubio did not respond to requests for comment.
According to a former Trump White House official who discussed the Veritas training with Rubio, the former special operative quit after several weeks of training, complaining that the Veritas group wasn't capable of learning. Rubio did not respond to requests for comment.
In the winter of 2017, Prince arranged for a former British MI6 officer to provide more surveillance and elicitation training for Veritas at his family's Wyoming ranch, according to a person with direct knowledge of the effort.
Prince was trying to turn
O'Keefe and his group into domestic spies. For his part, O'Keefe posted photos (⬅) on
Instagram and Twitter from the Prince family ranch of himself holding a handgun
with a silencer attached and wearing pseudo-military clothing. He described the ranch as a "classified location" where he was learning "spying and self-defense," in an effort to make Project Veritas "the next great intelligence agency."
"Erik was
weaponizing a group that had close ties to the Trump White House," said
the former White House official familiar with Prince's relationship with
O'Keefe and Project Veritas.
Cole acknowledged
the Times reporting on Twitter Saturday and highlighted a
summary of it tweeted by The Atlantic's Adam Serwer:
Currently, the Times noted,
"Prince is under investigation by the Justice Department over whether he
lied to a congressional committee examining Russian interference in the 2016
election, and for possible violations of American export laws."
Former FBI assistant
director and current NBC News national security contributor
Frank Figliuzzi shared the Times report
on Twitter Saturday and commented that "there are likely numerous criminal
violations here."
This post has been
updated with comment from the consumer watchdog group Allied Progress.