I mean, if the idea was to get inside information, which would be useful to, you know, Republicans and conservatives, did they succeed? I'm Dave Davies, in for Terry Gross, who's off this week. Is this stuff a crime? DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR, and our guest is Adam Goldman. The special counsels report said that Mr. She was doing outreach to, you know, Democratic figures in Wyoming. Erik Prince, founder of private . Prince also allowed Project Veritas to use his familys Wyoming ranch for training. Prince a former C.I.A. 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DAVIES: Did any of these result in resignations, firings, criminal investigations GOLDMAN: You know, and in the end, the people who were involved, I think, were, you know, slightly humiliated. So, you know, this is not something I had ever done as a - you know, this is not something journalists do. Fast-forward to 2007, and Erik Prince was living in McLean, Virginia, and spending time on his Middleburg property, Blackwater Ranch, designed as a family retreat just as his parent's home in Cody had been originally. He's proposed similar things in other countries, hasn't he? If you would like to purchase a subscription click here. Mr. }else{ And Las Vegas was the - you could almost say it was the pinnacle, the apex of their operation. The whole thing was completely - was really weird. So it was a fascinating moment in time last year when I realized what I suspected Beau and Sofia were doing. In a YouTube video, Mr. OKeefe described the lawsuit as frivolous and pointed to a portion of the deposition in which David Hecker, the president of AFT Michigan, said that one of the goals of the lawsuit was to stop Project Veritas from doing the kind of work that it does., Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement: Lets 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. WASHINGTON During the summer of 2018, as Richard Seddon, a former British spy, was trying to launch a new venture to use undercover agents to infiltrate progressive groups, Democratic campaigns and other opponents of President Donald J. Trump, he turned for help to a longtime friend and former colleague: Erik Prince, the private military contractor. 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 start trying to make inroads in the Wyoming Democratic Party. I mean, we know that Erik Prince was trying to sell a plan to the Trump administration to put these - for him, in fact, to put a private, you know, army of a bunch of mercenaries in Afghanistan and sort of take over those responsibilities from the government, sort of, in some ways, replace the U.S. forces on the ground there. During the 2018 meeting with Ms. Gore, according to one person familiar with it, Mr. Between 1992 and 2001, Prince often listed Park County as his home, consistent with his voting records. McMaster. This is FRESH AIR. - trying to find, you know, damaging information on, you know, on political rivals, you know, using, you know, private investigative firms. Mr. Seddon was a longtime British intelligence officer who served around the world, including in Washington in the years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But Trump would, from time to time, cite Project Veritas videos in his, you know, comments, public comments and speeches, right? Prince noted he owned a home in Wyoming and had been connected to the state since 1992. And, you know, I'm not sure when the relationship started. Remind us who he is. We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. DAVIES: Right - Erik Prince, the security contractor who we'll talk more about. And they both say they didnt interview anyone in the state for the article. Why did they want to embarrass him and get him out of the government? I don't know. There's a long backstory there. Prince is separately under investigation by the Justice Department on unrelated matters, according to people familiar with the case. But then they got reversed stung by the Post, which was quite a moment. There was eventually litigation about that, wasn't there? DAVIES: But the idea was that these public officials or FBI agents were secretly - they were part of the deep state. And, you know, there were a whole range of people they went after. - not quick-hit videos or, you know, shorter-term operations, which I think people say Mr. O'Keefe wanted to do. DAVIES: They targeted ACORN. I'm Dave Davies, in for Terry Gross, who's off this week. Mr. Seddon was not. GOLDMAN: It's not clear they're actually being trained in firearms training. Those contentions have become a key point of early proceedings in the case. You know, they targeted the teachers unions. 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. Was he primarily the guy who got this thing moving? You'd have to ask Mr. O'Keefe. 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. if( width > 480 ){ Princes attorneys responded that, if the judge has any doubts about Wyoming being the appropriate venue for the case, they should be allowed to learn the identity of The Intercepts confidential sources. Amid his globe-trotting, however, Prince says he does most of his work from Wyoming and calls Park County home. zoneId = '8'; When does he do this, and do we know why? 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.. Funneling contributions through a third party is a feature of the federal election code and most state election codes. It's not clear to us why Prince decided to help Project Veritas. I mean, he - it seems that - it's our understanding that Prince introduced Seddon to Project Veritas. But "one of the most brazen operations of the campaign" was an attempt to take down H.R. Mr. Seddon and Ms. Gore did not respond to messages. 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. At the time, Prince was exploring the possibility of mounting a Republican primary challenge to incumbent U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. 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. Set some context for us here. DAVIES: Let me reintroduce you again. 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. And, I mean, they were both active, but she was literally, you know, infiltrating these Democratic groups. Mark Gordon, who was viewed as a RINO in some Wyoming conservative circles. 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. Mr. DAVIES: So how did you come upon this couple, Beau and Sofia?