And that one was made public. And the operatives had to give a - you know, had to give a cover story under duress. I mean, people did shoot guns. How Times reporters cover politics. And this was not - you know, James O'Keefe has said Project Veritas was unaware of this, and they adamantly deny knowing anything about this. You know, O'Keefe has clearly raised a lot of money, you know, millions of dollars. Female undercover operatives tried to entrap FBI agents, sometimes using fake dating app profiles, and State Department employees, the Times reports. And then Seddon - you know, he stays on. You know, there was one exercise, I believe, where they had a cop - you know, a local cop who was there. Drawing on information from three unnamed sources, The Intercept reported Prince met with a top official from Russias Wagner Group at an undisclosed location earlier this year and offered his mercenary forces to support the firms operations in Libya and Mozambique.. 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. 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. 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: But the idea was that these public officials or FBI agents were secretly - they were part of the deep state. His willingness to support Mr. Seddons operation is fresh evidence of his engagement in political espionage projects at home during a period when he was an informal adviser to Trump administration officials. And I got swept away reporting on that and eventually was able to come back to it. What kind of inroads did they make? Beyond involving a different pool of jurors and a different judge, Prince may have a better chance of learning the identity of The Intercepts sources if the case stays in Wyoming, where there is no specific shield law protecting the confidentiality of reporters sources. Presiding Judge Johnson, who is based in Cheyenne, has himself signaled some uncertainty about whether Wyoming is the right place for Princes case to be heard; in early November, Johnson asked the parties to submit additional briefs on either transferring the case to another district or delving further into the issues related to jurisdiction. He's a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New York Times. And so we're all familiar with that, I think, to some extent. And, you know, eventually she starts using this to meet other prominent Democrats in the state. And this is FRESH AIR. Beau picks up - starts working this marijuana legalization angle to try to make contacts with people - elected officials who are, in fact, pushing this bill to legalize marijuana. Most notably, Prince had incorrectly asserted under the penalties of perjury he had been registered to vote in Wyoming since 2017.. 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. 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. Mr. Seddon was not. Between 1992 and 2001, Prince often listed Park County as his home, consistent with his voting records. Erik Prince conducts business around the globe, but in a pending lawsuit, he says he does the bulk of his work from Wyoming. McMaster was thwarting the president's agenda - right? And GOLDMAN: Involving Roy Moore - exactly. James OKeefe, the head of Project Veritas, declined to answer detailed questions about Mr. But he was extremely wealthy conservative in Wyoming named Foster Friess, who had actually run for governor in '18. To win his case, Prince will ultimately have to show the story was false and he may also have to prove the publication knew the story was false or showed a reckless disregard as to whether it was accurate. 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. Project Veritas has said its activities are legal and protected by the First Amendment, and the case is scheduled to go to trial in the fall. There is little publicly available information about the company, but multiple Prince ventures, including Blackwater, have been based out of Moyock, North Carolina. And they will get, you know, negative information from public records. She said the support she got from other teams was 'overwhelming. But then they got reversed stung by the Post, which was quite a moment. In 2018, Ms. Jorge infiltrated the congressional campaign of Ms. Spanberger, posing as a campaign volunteer. But, you know, his sister is Betsy DeVos, and she was Secretary of Education during the Trump administration. Mr. Seddon and Ms. Gore did not respond to messages. And ultimately, it did blow up in their face. The two men had known each other since Mr. Princes days running Blackwater, and shared an affinity for guns and the American West. And they would find people, and they would go out with them. Mr. DAVIES: Right. DAVIES: Let me reintroduce you again. And then on a parallel but different track, you know, Sofia is trying to make her way through the Young Democrats of Wyoming, the Wyoming Democratic Party, you know, building her bona fides as an eager, young Democrat. DAVIES: Right. #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 job put her in a position to gain valuable information about which Republican candidates the group was supporting with independent advertising. We still don't know everything about it, and we're trying to learn more about exactly who was behind this and if money was paid and so on. They were going to bug it. 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. The Defense Department didn't go for it. Mr. contractor who is best known as the founder of the private military firm Blackwater and whose sister, Betsy DeVos, was Mr. Trump's education secretary has drawn. 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. 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. They were undercover conservative operatives, the paper discovered, who had been trained at a ranch belonging to Blackwater founder Erik Prince by a former MI6 officer with ties to the right-wing . It argues the article was not defamatory and the challenged statements would be protected as opinion based on disclosed facts., The dispute over jurisdiction could have a direct impact on the case. DAVIES: Right. Seddon left the project in 2018, before O'Keefe started releasing low-impact "unmasking the deep state" videos. In an archived version of her LinkedIn page, Ms. Jorge wrote she had a deep interest in the conservative movement and hoped one day to serve on the Supreme Court after attending law school. Prince and Mr. Seddon said the goal of the private spying operation was to gather dirt both on Democrats and RINOs slang in conservative circles for Republicans in name only. The plan was to begin in Wyoming, they said, and expand operations from there. At the time, Prince was exploring the possibility of mounting a Republican primary challenge to incumbent U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. Mr. These two are conservatives, right? Adam Goldman reports on the FBI and national security for the Times and was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for national reporting on Russia's meddling in the presidential election. Our understanding of the operation is that Mr. Seddon, while employed, in fact, at Project Veritas, was involved in this. 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. Prince have ties to President Trumps aides and family. She and Mr. And by the way, as we began reporting this, we started learning more about Beau's connection to people. GOLDMAN: Well, they - you know, they - Beau is from Cody, Wyo., so he had some Wyoming roots. 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. The life of Erik Prince has been a complicated globe-trotting journey complete with extensive mercenary activities, spying on American citizens, brokering arms deals with despotic regimes and essentially taking advantage of any situation he can in order to line his personal pockets. Erik Prince, Betsy DeVos's brother, is also deeply steeped in far-right militancy. The Intercept, however, wants the complaint dismissed. It's a conservative group, and they conduct undercover operations, for instance, to expose bias or what they would describe as, you know, wrongdoing primarily in liberal circles. Prince noted he owned a home in Wyoming and had been connected to the state since 1992. They broke into the DNC. It's a conservative organization. DAVIES: Right. They targeted The Washington Post. DAVIES: Right. There was a billionaire in - well, a very - I don't know if he was a billionaire. 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. GOLDMAN: What - the training they got was when they worked for an outfit called Project Veritas. People have probably heard of this organization. And Beau eventually divorced his wife. And, you know, Seddon then reached out to, you know, a family - an old friend who had worked at the FBI. And, you know, and he is - you know, he's an international businessman. (SOUNDBITE OF BRUNO COULAIS' "SPINK AND FORCIBLE"). Project Veritas tax filings list Mr. Halderman as a project manager.. [I] was a Wyoming resident for many years, he told Brietbart. 'https://powellbanners.creativecirclemedia.com/www/delivery/ajs.php':'http://powellbanners.creativecirclemedia.com/www/delivery/ajs.php'); And, I mean, they were both active, but she was literally, you know, infiltrating these Democratic groups. But, you know, over 18, they - it grew closer. 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