Erik Prince, a contractor with close links to the Trump administration, reportedly helped recruit former British and American spies for the conservative activist group Project Veritas in an attempt to infiltrate left-wing groups, The New York Times reported Saturday. Prince, former CEO of the private security company Blackwater, is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and was previously an informal adviser to President Donald Trump. According to the Times, one of the former spies he recruited, an ex-MI6 officer, copied files and recorded conversations in a Michigan office of the American Federation of Teachers, one of the largest teachers’ unions in the nation. The same spy was later tasked with infiltrating the campaign of Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-CA).
Both operations were run by Project Veritas, a group famous for conducting stings on news organizations, Democratic congressional campaigns and labor organizations who are opposed to the Trump administration. The head of Project Veritas declined the Times’ request for comment but stated “no one tells Project Veritas who or what to investigate” as a news organization. A spokesman for Prince also declined to comment.
Read it at The New York Times
