GOLDMAN: Beau does. DAVIES: And then Beau and Sofia married, right? Prince grew up in Michigan, where their father made a fortune in the auto parts business. DAVIES: Do we know of connections between Project Veritas and James O'Keefe and Trump, Donald Trump or the Trump family? So, you know, this is not something I had ever done as a - you know, this is not something journalists do. Efforts to locate Mr. Thomas were unsuccessful. You know, in this recent story that you wrote with Mark Mazzetti of the Times, you introduce us to a couple. Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Thomas were on the list. Now, this couple weren't really the committed Democrats they presented themselves as, right? The whole thing was completely - was really weird. He's proposed similar things in other countries, hasn't he? And he ends up giving, you know, $6,000 to Wyoming Democratic Party and also money to other political figures. 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. And it's a fascinating story. All rights reserved. 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. Private property rights are a major cornerstone to how Wyoming operates, but so is prioritizing a rural, quiet lifestyle - ultimately, the former won out in Sublette County. Our understanding of the operation is that Mr. Seddon, while employed, in fact, at Project Veritas, was involved in this. (Last week, Trump pardoned the four Blackwater guards who were convicted of crimes in connection with the killings in Baghdad.). But he was extremely wealthy conservative in Wyoming named Foster Friess, who had actually run for governor in '18. var width = jQuery(window).width(); if (document.context) document.write ("&context=" + escape(document.context)); McMaster? So what exactly was the plan to (laughter) catch McMaster saying something he shouldn't? The scope of that investigation is unclear. DAVIES: Adam Goldman, thank you so much for speaking with us. And they were deeply critical of Trump. No one tells Project Veritas who or what to investigate, he said. Good stuff, Mr. Seddon wrote back. DAVIES: Now, one of the more well-known operations - because, well, you reported on this - was an effort to embarrass Trump's national security adviser, H.R. 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. Prince have ties to President Trumps aides and family. Meanwhile, Prince is once again registered as a Park County voter. Funneling contributions through a third party is a feature of the federal election code and most state election codes. var m3_r = Math.floor(Math.random()*99999999999); We're still trying to fully understand how Project Veritas, which is founded by James O'Keefe, actually came into contact with Erik Prince. 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. DAVIES: Right. That's how you found them, and that's what raised the question? - and, you know, that probably in terms of, you know, Iran - not pulling out of the agreement with Iran, the JCPOA, and, you know, McMaster, you know, wanting to keep, I guess, troops in Afghanistan. Months later, in June 2019, a report said we are expecting a big haul, including new lines of intelligence on the Republican side of the house.. 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. Mr. Back in December, county commissioners approved a rezoning request for a multi-billionaire to develop an exclusive guest ranch in the southernmost part of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Wapiti resident Erik Prince is one of several people associated with a Wyoming-based effort to infiltrate political campaigns and get "dirt" to sabotage candidates. Anyone can read what you share. Mr. Seddon was not. So there has been - the two have interacted, I think, even before Trump was president. You know, they were angry too, right? However, lawyers for the publication say they should not have to reveal who told them about Princes alleged meeting with Wagner Group or where they were told it occurred. Accuracy and availability may vary. In fact, I wrote a memo about what I had found. 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. 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. But we were unaware of that. Prince might have approached for money for Mr. Seddons venture besides Ms. Gore. Mr. Seddons 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. Princes role in recruiting Mr. Seddon for the groups activities. 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. Why are they there? GOLDMAN: Yes. 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. 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. The job put her in a position to gain valuable information about which Republican candidates the group was supporting with independent advertising. And they were doing this - it appears that they were doing this from the house where Beau and Sofia lived with others. NY Times reporter Adam Goldman describes an undercover effort, headed up by an avid Trump supporter, that trained conservatives in espionage techniques and sent them to dig up dirt on progressives. 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. And this is FRESH AIR. Wyoming is not the place for security contractor Erik Prince to sue a New York-based publication, a federal judge says. By Derek Royden - July 2, 2021 2466 SOURCE NationofChange Prince noted he owned a home in Wyoming and had been connected to the state since 1992. - 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. We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. While he has not been actively involved in Wyoming politics specifically, Prince comes from a political family he is the brother of U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and is an active political donor. document.write ('&cb=' + m3_r); The training was done by a guy - a lot of the training was done by a guy named Richard Seddon, S-E-D-D-O-N. Who is he? DAVIES: That's an airport in Cody, Wyo. And Beau eventually divorced his wife. 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. Valued at roughly $12 million by the Park County Assessors Office, the property includes a 17,470-square-foot residence that ranks among the largest in the area; county records show Prince owns a smaller home on an adjoining 10-acre parcel. So what I'm saying is from Richard Seddon's standpoint, the fact that she had a picture up on Project Veritas Exposed, that was a real risk they were taking, right? Princes parents, Elsa Prince and the late Edgar Prince, bought the 940-acre Double E Ranch in the Wapiti Valley in the early 1990s. Seddon left the project in 2018, before O'Keefe started releasing low-impact "unmasking the deep state" videos. 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 hadnt voted in Wyoming since 2000. They need some spy training and covert military, paramilitary training at his ranch. It seems like the Democrats have figured out this party switch deal to their advantage, Mr. Friess wrote in an email obtained by Wyofile, a political news site in Wyoming. DAVIES: Right. And he comes from a wealthy, conservative family in Michigan, right? Last month, Project Veritas made public secretly recorded video of a longtime ABC News correspondent who was critical of the networks political coverage and its emphasis on business considerations over journalism. DAVIES: What did you learn about how Beau and Sofia met? And then he stays on working for a Project Veritas till roughly June of '18. Part of it involved a rented, rather large house in Georgetown in Washington, D.C., right? This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. However, he ultimately did not challenge Barrasso in 2018 nor did he vote in those off-year elections, Prince acknowledged in Octobers revised declaration. If you would like to purchase a subscription click here. Mr. 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. This is FRESH AIR. Blackwater founder Erik Prince used the rise of Donald Trump to stage an unlikely comeback that apparently included funding spy training for far-right propagandist James O'Keefe and his Project. A man named Samuel Chamberlain who matched the description of the one employed by Mr. OKeefe denied he worked for Project Veritas. That same day Oct. 9, 2017 Prince obtained a Wyomings drivers license, which he touted in another interview with Breitbart a few days later. Do we know why? She and Mr. And there was, you know, another individual from the Emirates who was there. So O'Keefe's Instagram photo, you know, led people to realize that, you know, Prince had played a role, at least in letting Project Veritas use the ranch for training. One of the documents indicates that Marti Halverson, a former Wyoming state lawmaker, provided a list of people for the operatives to target. At the time, Prince was exploring the possibility of mounting a Republican primary challenge to incumbent U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. We know that political operatives will gather opposition research as it's called - right? DAVIES: What was on those videos? He gave the examples of Jones Creek and CMNS Systems. However, neither of those entities appear to be registered to do business in Wyoming; the only reference the Tribune could find to a company named CMNS Systems was an LLC formed in Delaware in August months after Prince filed his suit. 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. 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. GOLDMAN: The plan was to - it was basically - you know, in some ways, it was a classic sort of honey trap. And as we quoted an expert in our story, you know, if there's a sudden pattern of somebody giving money to the Democrats and they had never done that before, you know, that could also raise suspicions. DAVIES: They'd gotten formal training in this. In particular, you know, Sofia targeted a employee with the GAO. So he's certainly moved in this world before. According to Prince, the tech adviser determined that the emails were not authentic.. He passed away recently. You know, they targeted the teachers unions. 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. This couple, Beau and Sofia - they spent real time and effort trying to ingratiate themselves with Democrats and progressives. 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. DAVIES: Right. The campaign discovered the operative and fired her. 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. We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. She said the support she got from other teams was 'overwhelming. Over two years, Mr. Seddons undercover operatives also developed networks in Colorado and Arizona, and made thousands of dollars in campaign donations posing as Democrats, both to the Democratic National Committee and individual campaigns. And, you know, Seddon then reached out to, you know, a family - an old friend who had worked at the FBI. You know, they were always - you know, always on the lookout for connections they could make. And it's not clear to us if he was making any money off of this. 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. State records show Moyock Medical Supplies was formed in Wyoming by an associate of Princes on April 15 two days after The Intercept published its article. If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free web account by clicking here. 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.. GOLDMAN: Yeah, and the Justice Department prosecuted a number of individuals. Prince declined to comment. You know, was it effective? Prince noted he owned a home in Wyoming and had been connected to the state since 1992. DAVIES: But the idea was that these public officials or FBI agents were secretly - they were part of the deep state. And they - you know, I think they - it seemed like they were seeking revenge. var m3_u = (location.protocol=='https:'? 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. GOLDMAN: Well, again, this is a little murky. Mr. Seddon wrote that Ms. Jorge copied a great many documents from the file room, and Mr. OKeefe bragged that the group would be able to get a ton more access agents inside the educational establishment.. 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 security contractor, and ends up being director of field operations at the conservative group known as Project Veritas. document.write ("&loc=" + escape(window.location)); Neither party wants to be infiltrated like this. While the state is currently solidly Republican, Mr. Seddon and Ms. Gore believed it was in danger of turning toward the Democrats, as Colorado has. Prince a former C.I.A. This is FRESH AIR. "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. Sofia is from Maryland. 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. Oct. 21, 2020. In August 2017, Ms. Jorge wrote to Mr. Seddon that she had managed to record a local union leader talking about Ms. DeVos and other topics. They used a code name LibertyU for their operative inside the organization, Marisa Jorge, who graduated from Liberty University in Virginia, one of the nations largest Christian colleges. 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. DAVIES: So how did you come upon this couple, Beau and Sofia? Neither party wants to be, you know, exposed to this kind of spycraft - right? And they will attend their rival's news conferences, public events and gather information. 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. 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.