{"id":52830,"date":"2016-10-19T21:04:44","date_gmt":"2016-10-20T01:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=52830"},"modified":"2016-10-19T21:09:27","modified_gmt":"2016-10-20T01:09:27","slug":"democratic-heads-roll-after-video-shows-agitators-planted-at-trump-rallies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=52830","title":{"rendered":"Democratic heads roll after video shows agitators planted at Trump rallies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"rally_s878x584\"<\/a>
\nBy Valerie Richardson<\/span> – The Washington Times<\/span><\/p>\n

Two top Democratic strategists have exited the presidential campaign after explosive undercover videos showed them discussing voter fraud and their roles in planting paid agitators at campaign events for Republican candidate Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Robert Creamer<\/a>, founder of Democracy Advocates<\/a> and the husband of Rep. Janice D. Schakowsky, Illinois Democrat, stepped down from the campaign Tuesday, a day after Scott Foval<\/a> was fired from his post as national field director of Americans United for Change.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump<\/a>, who has long complained of a \u201crigged\u201d election system, said at a Tuesday rally in Colorado that the video released by the conservative group Project Veritas Action confirmed his suspicions of Democrat-sponsored political chicanery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe protesters are paid a lot of money by the [Democratic National Committee<\/a>], and they kept saying, \u2018I wonder why those people are here, because they never seem to have much on their mind other than stand up and protest,\u2019\u201d Mr. Trump<\/a> told a crowd in Colorado Springs. \u201cAnd yesterday it came out, but it was barely covered by the media. But it\u2019s all over the internet. They were busted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brad Woodhouse, Americans United for Change president, said in a late-Monday statement that Mr. Foval<\/a> \u201cis no longer associated with Americans United for Change.\u201d<\/p>\n

He insisted that the Democratic political consulting firm has \u201calways operated according to the highest ethical and legal standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Creamer<\/a>, a four-decade Democratic strategist who pleaded guilty in 2005 to charges of bank fraud and tax violations, said in a statement that he was \u201cunwilling to become a distraction to the important task of electing Hillary Clinton.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe regret the unprofessional and careless hypothetical conversations that were captured on hidden cameras of a temporary regional contractor for our firm, and he is no longer with us,\u201d said Mr. Creamer<\/a>, who is also featured in the videos.<\/p>\n

The two 16-minute videos were released Monday and Tuesday after a yearlong undercover investigation headed by Project Veritas\u2019 James O\u2019Keefe, known for his hidden-camera probes into Planned Parenthood, ACORN and voter fraud.<\/p>\n

Mr. O\u2019Keefe said the investigation reveals \u201ccompelling evidence of a dark-money conspiracy\u201d and that he would continue to release videos as part of a series titled \u201cRigging the Election\u201d until voters go to the polls on Nov. 8.<\/p>\n

The first video shows Democratic strategists discussing how they hire agitators \u2014 including union members, homeless people and the mentally ill \u2014 to incite violence by provoking Trump<\/a> supporters on camera at campaign stops.<\/p>\n

Project Veritas released a second video Tuesday showing Mr. Foval<\/a> brainstorming over ways to commit voter fraud, such as by busing people from one state to another, while appearing to indicate that it had already been done in Iowa.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty easy thing for Republicans to say, \u2018Well, they\u2019re busing people in,\u2019\u201d Mr. Foval<\/a> said. \u201cWell, you know what? We\u2019ve been busing people in to deal with you f\u2013ing assholes for 50 years, and we\u2019re not going to stop now. We\u2019re just going to find a different way to do it. So, I mean I grew up with that idea. They used to bus people out to Iowa. If they needed people, there we\u2019d bus people out to Iowa.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same video shows Mr. Creamer<\/a> discussing a proposal by a Project Veritas investigator to register people to vote illegally by setting up a shell corporation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to write down these options,\u201d Mr. Creamer<\/a> said. \u201cLet me see if I can chat with the people who are most involved in Hispanic voter registration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Foval<\/a>, who has worked for the George Soros-funded People for the American Way, said his paid agitators fueled a Chicago protest in March that forced the Trump campaign to cancel its event.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re starting confrontations in the line, right?\u201d said Mr. Foval<\/a>. \u201cThey\u2019re not starting confrontations in the rally. Because once they\u2019re inside the rally, they\u2019re under Secret Service\u2019s control. When they\u2019re outside the rally, the media will cover it no matter where it happens. The key is initiating the conflict by having leading conversations with people who are naturally psychotic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inciting Trump<\/a> supporters was easy, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, honestly, it\u2019s not hard to get some of these assholes to pop off,\u201d Mr. Foval<\/a> said. \u201cIt\u2019s a matter of showing up, to want to get into the rally, in a Planned Parenthood T-shirt. Or, \u2018Trump<\/a> is a Nazi,\u2019 you know. You can message to draw them out and draw them to punch you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another operative, Aaron Black, who identified himself as \u201cdeputy rapid response director for the DNC<\/a>for all things Trump<\/a> on the ground,\u201d said he was with Mr. Creamer<\/a>\u2019s group Democracy Partners but that his work was supposed to be a secret.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody\u2019s really supposed to know about me,\u201d Mr. Black said. \u201cSo the Chicago protest, when they shut all that, that was us. It was more [Mr. Creamer<\/a>] than me, but none of this is supposed to come back to us because we want it coming from people. We don\u2019t want it to come from the party.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the idea is for the protests to appear spontaneous, not orchestrated by the DNC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if we do a protest and if it\u2019s branded a DNC<\/a> protest, right away the press is going to say, \u2018partisan,\u2019\u201d said Mr. Black, also known as \u201cAaron Minter,\u201d according to the video.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if I\u2019m in there coordinating with all the groups on the ground and sort of playing field general but they are the ones talking to the cameras, then it\u2019s actually people, but if we send out press advisories with DNC<\/a> on them and Clinton campaign, it just doesn\u2019t have the same effect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The same day the video was released, Mr. Black posted a photo on Twitter showing protesters outside Trump Tower holding signs with messages such as, \u201cTrump Demeans Women.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keeping the protesters\u2019 connection to the DNC<\/a> hidden from the press was a priority, Mr. Foval<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be really careful because what we don\u2019t need is for it to show up on CNN that the DNC<\/a>\u00a0paid for X people to \u2014 that\u2019s not going to happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. O\u2019Keefe said the first video raises questions about whether the Clinton campaign is coordinating with super PACs and independent expenditure committees in violation of campaign finance rules.<\/p>\n

The Clinton campaign, DNC<\/a>, Americans United for Change and Democracy Partners did not return requests for comment Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The only public criticism of the videos has come from foes of Mr. O\u2019Keefe\u2019s past work such as Salon\u2019s Brendan Gauthier, who said Project Veritas has been criticized for \u201cstrategically editing footage to make false accusations.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the video, Mr. Foval<\/a> made clear his connections to the DNC<\/a> and the Clinton campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are contracted directly with the DNC<\/a> and the campaign both. I am contracted to [Mr. Creamer<\/a>]. But I answer to the head of special events for the DNC<\/a> and the head of special events and political for the campaign,\u201d said Mr. Foval<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He goes on to say, \u201cThe campaign pays DNC<\/a>, DNC<\/a> pays Democracy Partners, Democracy Partners pays the Foval Group, the Foval Group goes and executes the sh\u2014 on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Creamer<\/a> indicated that he was in close contact with the Clinton campaign, saying, \u201cWe have a call with the campaign every day to go over the focuses that need to be undertaken.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWherever Trump<\/a> and Pence are going to be, we have events,\u201d Mr. Creamer<\/a> said. \u201cAnd we have a whole team across the country that does that. Both consultants and people from the Democratic Party and the Democratic Party apparatus and people from the campaign, the Clinton campaign. And my role in the campaign is to manage all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another activist, Zulema Rodriguez, told the Project Veritas investigators, \u201cI just had a call today with the campaign and the DNC<\/a>. Every day at 1 o\u2019clock.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also took credit for being involved with two anti-Trump<\/a> events in March: the Chicago rally and another in Arizona in which anti-Trump<\/a> protesters blocked a highway.<\/p>\n

Federal Election Commission records unearthed by Project Veritas show that Ms. Rodriguez was paid nearly $2,000 on Feb. 29 by the Hillary for America campaign.<\/p>\n

In conversations with Project Veritas reporters, Mr. Foval<\/a> described his operation as \u201cbird dogging,\u201d meaning that he places hired protesters in key positions at Republican campaign events, often in front of rallies or lines.<\/p>\n

He said he has training centers in New York, Washington, Las Vegas, Colorado and Minneapolis, and that trainees include the mentally ill and homeless people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m saying we have mentally ill people that we pay to do sh\u2014, make no mistake,\u201d Mr. Foval<\/a> said. \u201cOver the last 20 years. I\u2019ve paid off a few homeless guys to do some crazy stuff, and I\u2019ve also taken them for dinner and I\u2019ve also made sure they had a hotel and a shower and I\u2019ve put them in a program. I\u2019ve done that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also has contacts with unions such as the AFL-CIO. \u201cBut the reality is, a lot of people, especially our union guys, a lot of union guys, they\u2019ll do whatever you want,\u201d Mr. Foval<\/a> said. \u201cThey\u2019re rock \u2018n\u2019 roll.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Foval<\/a> also made it clear that he viewed Mr. Creamer<\/a> as a mentor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI work for Bob Creamer one to one,\u201d Mr. Foval<\/a> said in the video. \u201cI\u2019m the white hat. Democracy Partners is kind of dark hat. Bob Creamer is diabolical, and I love him for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Note: Graphic language in the video.)<\/em><\/p>\n