Activists and Ex-Spy Said to Have Plotted to Discredit Trump 'Enemies' in Government

[Tommy Carcetti]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — A network of conservative activists, aided by a British former spy, mounted a campaign during the Trump administration to discredit perceived enemies of President Trump inside the government, according to documents and people involved in the operations.

The campaign included a planned sting operation against Mr. Trump’s national security adviser at the time, H.R. McMaster, and secret surveillance operations against F.B.I. employees, aimed at exposing anti-Trump sentiment in the bureau’s ranks.

The operations against the F.B.I., run by the conservative group Project Veritas, were conducted from a large home in the Georgetown section of Washington that rented for $10,000 per month. Female undercover operatives arranged dates with the F.B.I. employees with the aim of secretly recording them making disparaging comments about Mr. Trump.

The campaign shows the obsession that some of Mr. Trump’s allies had about a shadowy “deep state” trying to blunt his agenda — and the lengths that some were willing to go to try to purge the government of those believed to be disloyal to the president.



Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/13/us/politics/mcmaster-fbi-trump-project-veritas.html?referringSource=articleShare

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James O'Keefe, come on down!

[msfiddlestix]

1. names? does NYT provide identities?

[Eugene]

3. Erik, Prince of Darkness, features prominently in the scheme from the 5th paragraph onward.

Barbara Ledeen is named as a key insider and go-between. “I am not part of a plot,” she was only a messenger, she says.

Several Project Veritas people are named, but the a clear link to O'Keefe was not established.

[msfiddlestix]

4. Thank you, very interesting that Prince has been id'd . I don't know who Ledeen is,

but it all comes right on down Project Veritas. O'Keefe not named is very curious.

Hopefully the full monty will be revealed by tomorrow or the weekend.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Ledeen has popped up before, in connection with Kavanaugh and 'moles' in the Democrats

Flynn ally sought help from 'dark web' in covert Clinton email investigation

Barbara Ledeen, a staffer on the committee looking into Trump’s Russia ties and a friend of Mike Flynn, tried to launch her own investigation into Clinton’s emails

A close associate of Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn arranged a covert investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of state, and through intermediaries turned to a person with knowledge of the “dark web” for help.
...
Flynn is personally and ideologically linked to Barbara Ledeen, a longtime conservative activist who works for the Republican senator Chuck Grassley on the Senate judiciary committee – which is now investigating alleged links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Ledeen’s husband, Michael Ledeen, is also a confidant of Flynn, and co-authored a book with him last year.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/13/michael-flynn-clinton-email-investigation-russia-dark-web

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211107519
And the British ex-spy is Richard Seddon, who has featured in earlier NYT reporting on this, though that didn't mention Ledeen then:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213518133
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213055141

O'Keefe is named in this new NYT article, just not in the 1st 4 quoted paragraphs. They may be being careful how they mention him since, as he pointed out when asked for comment, Project Veritas is currently suing the NYT for defamation, so they don't want to jeopardise that case.

[msfiddlestix]

12. Whoa. Thank you. There are no shortages of these twisted psychopaths it seems, and with Grassley

staff sitting on the intelligence committee. How is it possible in our country these people infiltrated our intelligence communities, other than in connection with Russian Intelligence. The Russian "illegals" have infiltrated every agency it seems, and in almost every office.

just so much to wrap my head around.

[nykym]

2. Aw Gee!

wasn't that what he was whining about Obama surveilling him at Dump Tower.

[BigmanPigman]

5. I think Nicole Wallace was just discussing this.

[machoneman]

6. Hope those FBI'ers got laid by at least a pretty R-swingin' gal! LOL

[bucolic_frolic]

7. A spying operation on our own soil against our premier

law enforcement agency. Unbelievable.

[Champp]

8. Pure stinking, lying evil - republicans have divorced decency

shame on all of them

[Evolve Dammit]

9. Tip of the iceburg. Tentacles are into the military, Congress and all aspects of our society. nt

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

10. Project Ferret Ass

Spent a shitload of money for nothing.

[Kid Berwyn]

13. We am the Resistance.

Har har.