in several surreptitiously<u+00a0>recorded video conversations, scott foval, the former national field director at americans united for change, admits to <u+201c>bird dogging<u+201d> <u+2014> planting agitators at <u+2014> donald trump<u+2019>s rallies to draw negative media attention.









foval describes colluding with bob creamer, co-founder of consulting group democracy partners, to <u+201c>put people in the line, at the front . . .<u+00a0>to get in front at the rally, so that when trump comes down the rope line, they<u+2019>re the ones asking him the question in front of the reporter, because they<u+2019>re pre-placed there.<u+201d>









<u+201c>to funnel that kind of operation, you have to start back with people two weeks ahead of time and train them how to ask questions,<u+201d> foval explains. <u+201c>you have to train them to bird dog.<u+201d>









among foval<u+2019>s trainees, he says, are <u+201c>mentally ill people, that we pay to do shit.<u+201d>









<u+201c>over the last 20<u+00a0>years, i<u+2019>ve paid off a few homeless guys to do some crazy stuff, and i<u+2019>ve also taken them for dinner, and i<u+2019>ve also made sure they had a hotel, and a shower.<u+00a0> and i put them in a program,<u+201d> he brags. <u+201c>like, i<u+2019>ve done that.<u+201d>









americans united for change subsequently cut ties with foval, according to a statement from the group<u+2019>s head, brad woodhouse.









o<u+2019>keefe and project veritas have been criticized in the past, however, for<u+00a0>strategically editing footage to make false accusations.









in 2013, o<u+2019>keefe<u+00a0>settled a suit for<u+00a0>$100,000 after editing a recording with an acorn employee who subsequently lost his job. similarly, after<u+00a0>o<u+2019>keefe and an<u+00a0>associate<u+00a0>posed as donors affiliated with the muslim brotherhood in<u+00a0>a sting operation at npr, the blaze examined the edited video against the raw footage and found manipulative editing.









and contrary to former new york city mayor rudy giuliani<u+2019>s hunch, political trickery (real or alleged) isn<u+2019>t exclusive to either party. in august, politico reported that steven wessel, a convicted con man unaffiliated with donald trump<u+2019>s campaign, <u+201c>catfished<u+201d><u+00a0>the republican presidential nominee<u+2019>s opponents<u+00a0>to gather information <u+201c>about the operatives and their intentions regarding trump.<u+201d> assuming a variety of fake online identities, including that of a female solicitor in england, wessel gushed in emails, phone calls and twitter messages about (made-up) extramarital affairs with the likes of the late lee atwater, showered marks with gift cards to the swanky mandarin oriental, and invited them to go pheasant-hunting in scotland <u+2014> all in an apparent attempt to glean more about the operatives and their intentions regarding trump. among wessel<u+2019>s targets: republicans rick wilson and cheri jacobus, and libertarian consultant liz mair. according to the report, <u+201c>the targets of the scheme do not believe that wessel, described by his own lawyer as mentally ill, was acting alone.<u+201d> <u+201c>the questions were of such a degree of granularity and specificity and political acumen that unless [wessel] had political experience it would be hard for him to come up with them,<u+201d> said wilson, head of a pro-sen. marco rubio super pac during the primaries. wilson <u+201c>suggested the possible involvement<u+201d> of the defunct<u+00a0>make america great again pac. the second installment of undercover videos is scheduled to drop tuesday.
james o<u+2019>keefe releases another project veritas video claiming hillary clinton campaign is <u+201c>bird dogging<u+201d>
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