Blackwater founder Erik Prince helped enlist former American and British spies to help Project Veritas infiltrate liberal groups.
His role in recruiting ex-MI6 officer Richard Seddon and others was revealed in the discovery process of a legal battle between Project Veritas, a conservative organization, and the American Federation of Teachers, according to the New York Times.
Documents show Seddon directed a 2017 operation to make copies of files and make secret recordings in a Michigan office of the teachers’ union. He also oversaw an operation, using the same undercover operative, to infiltrate the 2018 Democratic congressional campaign of former CIA officer Abigail Spanberger, who won the contest. That operative, Liberty University graduate Marisa Jorge, was discovered and removed from the campaign.
ATF Michigan sued Project Veritas in 2017, accusing Jorge and Project Veritas of fraud, trespass, theft, conspiracy, and unauthorized surveillance. The union seeks more than $3 million in damages from the group that it described as a “vigilante organization which claims to be dedicated to exposing corruption. It is, instead, an entity dedicated to a specific political agenda.”
Project Veritas, which is led by James O’Keefe, claims its actions are protected by the First Amendment. The case is expected to go to trial in the fall.
Prince, a former Navy SEAL and former head of Blackwater Worldwide, is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who has criticized unions. Both grew up in Michigan.
Prince declined to comment for the report, and Seddon and Jorge did not respond to a request for comment. O’Keefe would not specifically address Prince or Seddon, but he called his group a “proud independent news organization.”
Last month, the Justice Department said it was reviewing a 10-month-old criminal referral by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff that accused Prince of misleading congressional investigators in their inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Matthew Schwartz, a lawyer for Prince, downplayed the Justice Department’s review.
“There is nothing new here. Erik Prince’s House testimony has been public for more than a year and was available at all times that Mr. Prince met with the Department of Justice during the special counsel’s investigation,” Schwartz, a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, told the Washington Examiner. “Mr. Prince cooperated completely with the special counsel’s investigation, as its report demonstrates. There is nothing new for the Department of Justice to consider, nor is there any reason to question the special counsel’s decision to credit Mr. Prince and rely on him in drafting its report.”
