erik prince wyoming ranch

erik prince wyoming ranch

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. - 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. 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. 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 . He was the one who replaced Michael Flynn after he was fired. They targeted somebody from the Justice Department, and I wrote they also targeted FBI employees. 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. Using a different alias the next year, the same undercover operative infiltrated the congressional campaign of Abigail Spanberger, then a former C.I.A. But what is clear is if Beau and Sofia made these campaign contributions - right? And we all sort of wracked our brains to try to figure out if, like, has this been done before? Funneling money surreptitiously to campaigns through other donors known as straw man donations would violate federal campaign finance laws. Prince said he thought hed registered to vote when hed obtained a Wyoming drivers license in October 2017. Why were they targeting H.R. DAVIES: And then Beau and Sofia married, right? DAVIES: Right. As further evidence of his ties to Wyoming and the business he conducts in the state, Princes initial declaration said he owned several operating entities registered to his residence in Wapiti. The whole thing was completely - was really weird. DAVIES: That's an airport in Cody, Wyo. You know, was it effective? - not one expose every year. It was Maria (ph). This espionage operation was aimed at perceived enemies of Trump and included a planned sting operation against former national security adviser H.R. Mr. OKeefe earned about $387,000. And so these people were brought on to help manage these many, many, many, many operations. Anyone can read what you share. After Mr. DAVIES: Right. Once a small operation running on a shoestring budget, Project Veritas in recent years has had a surge in donations from both private donors and conservative foundations. Their attorneys wrote that the story did not focus its efforts on or in Wyoming, nor would it have any reason to do so . Adam Goldman, welcome back to FRESH AIR. 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. Do we know why? There was a year-long lease that was signed that allowed Project Veritas to put its operatives in that fancy house. DAVIES: Wow. Those contentions have become a key point of early proceedings in the case. But Trump would, from time to time, cite Project Veritas videos in his, you know, comments, public comments and speeches, right? 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. Seddon left the project in 2018, before O'Keefe started releasing low-impact "unmasking the deep state" videos. The document is dated December 2018 and said that Mr. Talbott was another of the names of corrupt individuals from Marti.. The Powell Tribune has expanded its online content. And he was pitching that plan, but it never got anywhere. They broke into the DNC. And, I mean, they were both active, but she was literally, you know, infiltrating these Democratic groups. Erik Prince Recruits Ex-Spies to Help Infiltrate Liberal Groups, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/07/us/politics/erik-prince-project-veritas.html. Why did they want to embarrass him and get him out of the government? The year after the sting, Democracy Partners sued Project Veritas, and its lawyers have since deposed Mr. OKeefe. They - you know, there's a wide range of targets, and many of them have been exposed. And they admitted doing, you know - engaging in political activity while working for these government institutions, which Project Veritas asserted was, you know, wrong or even, you know - I can't remember if they said it was illegal or not. DAVIES: That's the Government Accountability Office. Prince a former C.I.A. var m3_u = (location.protocol=='https:'? And his supporters have vilified us. And they thought McMaster had fired, you know, several people who the president had brought on and - or Mike Flynn, his former - his first national security adviser had brought on. The New York Times published an article chronicling a Wapiti, Wyoming-based espianoge effort. GOLDMAN: Well, as we started reporting on Erik Prince and Richard Seddon, I became deeply interested in learning who, in fact, was working for this organization. You'd have to ask Mr. O'Keefe. Prince declined to comment. You mentioned that he was recruited by Erik Prince. They also did the secret interviews at the airport in Cody in the - at the Prince hangar. And, you know, Seddon then reached out to, you know, a family - an old friend who had worked at the FBI. Did you receive the spare camera yet?. That's how you found them, and that's what raised the question? He was leading training. if( width > 480 ){ DAVIES: We need to take a break here. By Derek Royden - July 2, 2021 2466 SOURCE NationofChange DAVIES: Let's talk about some of the people who are behind this. 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. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Mark Gordon, who was viewed as a RINO in some Wyoming conservative circles. GOLDMAN: Yes, the Government Accountability Office. And then Mark Mazzetti, you know, my colleague, who just is an extraordinary journalist, we - you know, we managed to suss out what was going - we think - to a great degree what was going on in Wyoming and these other states. 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. And Glenn Beck, Beau's uncle, gave a toast. And then I talked to somebody else. "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. He said that numerous sources were coming to the group providing confidential documents, insights into internal processes and wearing hidden cameras to expose corruption and misconduct.. 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. As the founder of Blackwater USA, now Academi, a private military company, Prince headed the organization. That was certainly a catalyst. 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. The website for Mr. OKeefes coming wedding listed Donald Trump Jr. as an invited guest. 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. Prince have ties to President Trumps aides and family. And this is FRESH AIR. But before the parties get to the lawsuits merits, The Intercept is contending, among other arguments, that Wyoming is not the right place for the case to be heard. This is FRESH AIR. They had a private security firm. 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 . We'll continue our conversation in just a moment. DAVIES: What are Erik Prince's contacts or associations with Donald Trump and the Trump family? Prince might have approached for money for Mr. Seddons venture besides Ms. Gore. Mr. At the time, Prince was exploring the possibility of mounting a Republican primary challenge to incumbent U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. These were videos of - you know, in one case, Democrats or people working for the government who were - you know, it seemed like they were slow rolling the president's agenda or trying to thwart it or using - they were part of, you know, the DSA, the Democratic Socialists of America. There's a long backstory there. And, you know, I'm not sure when the relationship started. Read more about the operation and its cast of characters at The New York Times. 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. 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? It was unclear whether Mr. Seddon was involved in planning that operation. It is, instead, an entity dedicated to a specific political agenda.. Several of them confirmed their donations. 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. 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. GOLDMAN: Yes. If you would like to purchase a subscription click here. Mr. And I think the end goal was make a video and, if necessary, try to get the White House to fire McMaster. This item is available in full to subscribers. If you're a print subscriber, but do not yet have an online account, click here to create one. 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. He owns a home on a lot adjoining his familys Double E Ranch in Wapiti. DAVIES: But the idea was that these public officials or FBI agents were secretly - they were part of the deep state. Along with gathering intel, Maier and LaRocca sought to bait individuals associated with Better Wyoming into making statements they could secretly record and hand over to their clients. Cole pointed to various records, including a campaign finance document from earlier this year, in which Prince listed his address as being in Virginia. For his part, Prince swears he never met with anyone from Wagner Group a denial The Intercept included in its reporting. I think Trump pardoned at least one. You know, this is something we haven't seen, right? And they received what was essentially clandestine training at a ranch in Wyoming that's owned by the family of Erik Prince. You know, and each time, you know, money is wired in furtherance of that crime, you know, that's also - that could be a possible count of mail fraud. '&charset='+document.characterSet : '')); 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. We know that because Glenn put it up on his Instagram account. //]]>-->. The group has also become intertwined with the political activities of Mr. Trump and his family. GOLDMAN: Yeah. For instance, Princes 2014 memoir said he splits his time between homes in Virginia and Abu Dhabi, where he pursues a variety of business ventures.. Both Project Veritas and Mr. 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. But what we know is there was an arrangement made, and Erik Prince allowed Project Veritas to use his farm to train its operatives. GOLDMAN: That's a good question. And they both say they didnt interview anyone in the state for the article. AFT Michigan sued Project Veritas in federal court, alleging trespassing, eavesdropping and other offenses. 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. They've targeted CNN. DAVIES: He was at a meeting in the Seychelles, the islands in the Indian Ocean, January of 2017. 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. They were critical of Donald Trump and his agenda. 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. From 1986 through the present, hes made roughly 100 contributions totaling more than $630,000 to Republican causes and Congressional candidates, according to Federal Election Commission records. 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. Prince, Mr. Seddon and other topics, but he called his group a proud independent news organization that is involved in dozens of investigations. 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. And as I was reporting this, somebody said, well, you know, her picture, you know, she's on that website. Set some context for us here. I knew something was off immediately. And they targeted a reporter, a Washington - a very good Washington Post reporter named Stephanie McCrummen, who - they picked up on it very, very, very quickly GOLDMAN: And figured out that this woman was not who she said she was. 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: Beau does. He's a reporter for The New York Times. 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. Erik Prince, founder of private . Previously, he covered national security for The Washington Post and worked on the investigative team at the Associated Press, where he and his colleagues revealed the New York Police Department's Muslim spying programs. You know, O'Keefe has clearly raised a lot of money, you know, millions of dollars. You know, there was one exercise, I believe, where they had a cop - you know, a local cop who was there. GOLDMAN: I think - yeah, I think the latest is - you know, he's worked - his latest adventure is in Libya. GOLDMAN: In some instances, they were on, you know, these social - these dating apps, right? Citing his ties to the state, his attorneys opted to file Princes defamation case against The Intercept in Wyomings U.S. District Court in May. The Times previously reported that, in 2016 and 2017, Mr. Wyoming is not the place for security contractor Erik Prince to sue a New York-based publication, a federal judge says. At the time, Prince was exploring the possibility of mounting a Republican primary challenge to incumbent U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. 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. DAVIES: So he is the guy who hires this British spy, Richard Seddon, to train operatives to, you know, gather intelligence from, you know, Democrats and progressives. Their names are Beau Maier and Sofia LaRocca, and they're in Las Vegas for a Democratic primary debate. DAVIES: Right. The list included John Cox, then the director of the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, and Scott Talbott, then the director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. So he's certainly moved in this world before. 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. Mr. Halderman was copied on several messages providing updates about the Michigan operation, and in one message, he gave instructions to Ms. Jorge. According to the documents, Mr. Seddons operatives also aimed to dig up information on Steve Harshman, the Republican speaker of the House in Wyoming at the time, who was also seen by some conservatives as not sufficiently supportive of Mr. Trump. GOLDMAN: The plan was to - it was basically - you know, in some ways, it was a classic sort of honey trap. Is he actually providing those kinds of services? There was eventually litigation about that, wasn't there? Overall, how do conservatives regard Project Veritas? The Trump Foundation gave $20,000 to Project Veritas in 2015, the year that Mr. Trump began his bid for the presidency. These two are conservatives, right? "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. 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. Were just trying to hold them accountable for this industrial espionage.. 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. Attorneys for the outlet say The Intercept has no particular connection to the state and Princes ties are uncertain. That got a lot of attention, was investigated by Robert Mueller. You know, they targeted the teachers unions. 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. 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. He's been reporting on an effort by conservatives to train operatives in undercover operations to infiltrate progressive groups and Democrats. Well, that and - by the way, at some point - I don't know the time period. Between 1992 and 2001, Prince often listed Park County as his home, consistent with his voting records. 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? And another individual named Barbara Ledeen, who worked for a prominent senator, his committee - Chuck Grassley - she admitted her involvement, and she had actually said she had met with a Project Veritas operative. GOLDMAN: Yeah, and the Justice Department prosecuted a number of individuals. They provide additional insight into the ambition of the operation to use undercover operatives to target Republicans seen as insufficiently conservative, as well as to, as one document describes it, research, penetrate and infiltrate the radical left networks.. DAVIES: Right.