two political operatives working with the democratic national committee have stepped aside after a conservative group released videos that appear to show one of them discussing plans to incite violence at republican opponent donald trump <u+2019>s rallies and to engage in voter fraud. in one of the videos, a dnc subcontractor is purportedly heard discussing how to provoke trump supporters with planted agitators. <u+201c>i mean, honestly, it is not hard to get some of these a--holes to pop off. it<u+2019>s a matter of showing up to want to get into the rally in a planned parenthood t-shirt. or, you know, <u+2018>trump is a nazi,<u+2019> you know. you can message to draw them out, and draw them to punch you,<u+201d> a figure identified as subcontractor scott foval is heard saying. mr. foval could not be reached for comment. in another clip, mr. foval is heard seemingly talking about ways to get around regulations meant to prevent voter fraud. <u+201c>if the car has a wisconsin license plate and it<u+2019>s owned by a third entity, then it<u+2019>s much harder to prove that these people drove in from out of state,<u+201d> he is heard saying. <u+201c>there<u+2019>s no bus involved, so you can<u+2019>t prove conspiracy.<u+201d> the videos were published by project veritas action, a conservative organization headed by james o<u+2019>keefe that targets liberal groups by secretly taping their staffers. mr. o<u+2019>keefe describes himself as a <u+201c>guerrilla journalist<u+201d> on his twitter biography, and in 2010 he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges after a ruse targeting then-sen. mary landrieu (d., la.) went awry. mr. foval worked for bob creamer, who also appeared on the videos discussing his consulting work with the dnc in a more generic way. mr. creamer runs mobilize, an organization the dnc hired in june 2016. the entity is part of the democracy partners political-consulting group. mr. creamer said in an interview that the sting operation found no evidence of actual wrongdoing but that he asked mr. foval to step down after seeing some of the video footage friday. on tuesday, mr. creamer told the dnc he too would step down from his work with the group to avoid becoming a distraction in the final weeks leading up to the election. democracy partners in a tuesday statement criticized the sting operation while also condemning violence and election tampering. <u+201c>our firm has recently been the victim of a well-funded, systematic spy operation that is the modern-day equivalent of the watergate burglars,<u+201d> the statement said. <u+201c>the plot involved the use of trained operatives using false identifications, disguises and elaborate false covers to infiltrate our firm and others in order to steal campaign plans and goad unsuspecting individuals into making careless statements on hidden cameras.<u+201d> the statement added, <u+201c>one of those individuals was a temporary regional subcontractor who was goaded into statements that do not reflect our values.<u+201d> mr. creamer isn<u+2019>t heard on the videos endorsing violence or fraud. at one point, he is heard responding to a plan articulated by an undercover conservative activist, <u+201c>my fear is that someone would decide that this was a big voter-fraud scheme.<u+201d> the video then cuts to another clip. the videos<u+2019> emergence plays into warnings by mr. trump that the election could be rigged, a notion generally dismissed by both parties. the videos use cinematic techniques to suggest criminal wrongdoing, including murky footage, emotional music and a narrator speaking <u+201c>of dark backroom dealings.<u+201d> zac petkanas, a spokesman for democratic presidential nominee hillary clinton <u+2019>s campaign, acknowledged some of the language on the videos was disturbing. <u+201c>while project veritas has been known to offer misleading video out of context, some of the language and tactics referenced in the video are troubling even as a theory or proposal never executed,<u+201d> mr. petkanas said. dnc interim chairwoman donna brazile said in a statement that the practices described in the videos by the <u+201c>temporary regional subcontractor<u+201d> don<u+2019>t represent the committee<u+2019>s values and that the committee doesn<u+2019>t believe any of the activities discussed in them actually occurred. ms. brazile also criticized mr. o<u+2019>keefe, describing him as <u+201c>a convicted criminal with a history of doctoring video to advance his ideological agenda.<u+201d> she said the dnc was conducting an internal investigation to determine whether mr. o<u+2019>keefe or his associates committed any illegal activities in the process of the sting operation. a spokesman for mr. o<u+2019>keefe<u+2019>s group, stephen gordon, denied that the group had taken mr. foval<u+2019>s comments out of context. <u+201c>if they want to criticize someone who<u+2019>s a convicted criminal, they should ask themselves why they hired bob creamer,<u+201d> mr. gordon said. mr. creamer in 2005 pleaded guilty to tax violations and bank fraud regarding his operation of public-interest groups in the 1990s. he is the husband of democratic illinois rep. jan schakowsky, who wasn<u+2019>t accused of wrongdoing. mr. o<u+2019>keefe earned notoriety in 2009 when he released a secretly taped video showing staffers from the antipoverty group acorn appearing to give advice to operatives posing as a prostitute and a pimp. critics called the video misleading, but congress stripped funding from acorn, and the group shut down the following year.
democratic national committee operatives step aside after release of videos  - wsj
kate o<u+2019>keeffe