An undercover investigation by conservative research organization Project Veritas Action shows Democratic operatives admitting to planting agitators at Republican rallies.
The undercover recordings released on Oct. 17 show the operatives explaining in detail the work they do and how they coordinate their actions with Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
In the video, which combines clips from recordings taken at different times, Scott Foval, national field director of the liberal group Americans United for Change, revealed a practice he called “bird-dogging.” The practice involves planting agitators at Trump rallies to try to elicit violent responses from Trump supporters, thus attracting negative media attention.
Foval and Bob Creamer, co-founder of consulting group Democracy Partners, each explain how they strategize to cause commotion at Trump rallies.
“One of the things we do is we stage very authentic grassroots protests right in their faces at their own events. Like, we infiltrate,” Foval says in the video.
In explaining more about bird-dogging, Foval said: “You put people in the line, at the front, which means that they have to get there at six in the morning because they have to get in front at the rally, so that when Trump comes down the rope line, they’re the ones asking him the question in front of the reporter.
“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.”
He then explained how infiltrators initiated conflict at rallies by “having leading conversations with people.”
“I mean honestly, it is not hard to get some of these [expletive] to pop off. It’s a matter of showing up ... in a Planned Parenthood T-shirt, or ‘Trump is a Nazi,’ you know. You can message to draw them out, and draw them to punch you,” says Foval.
He also admitted to employing “mentally ill people” and people found on the street. “Over the last 20 years, I’ve paid off a few homeless guys to do some crazy stuff,” he added.
“Wherever Trump and Pence are gonna be, we have events ... and we have a whole team across the country that does that,” says Creamer, who has since stepped back from his position at Democracy Partners, following the release of the video.
Democracy Partners said in an emailed statement: “We condemn violence and election tampering in all their forms.”
Foval, who was fired after the video was released, explained how the DNC coordinated with other groups.
“The campaign pays DNC, DNC pays Democracy Partners, Democracy Partners pays the Foval Group, the Foval Group goes and executes the [expletive] on the ground,” he said.
The Clinton campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment by press time.
