A woman working for a conservative group that creates undercover “sting” videos infiltrated the campaign of a Democratic former CIA agent who is running for Congress in Virginia, campaign officials said.
A campaign manager for Abigail Spanberger confronted the woman Wednesday and asked her to leave, a video released by the campaign shows.
Spanberger is in a competitive race against Republican Rep. Dave Brat in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.
Spanberger spokesman Justin Jones told the Richmond Times-Dispatch the woman showed up at campaign headquarters a few weeks ago, said she was pregnant and wanted to volunteer. Staffers became suspicious after the woman began asking questions of junior-level staffers to try to get them to say things that weren’t true, Jones said.
A web search on a site which exposes people who work for Project Veritas helped campaign staff identify the woman who gave her name as “Monica Nelson” as Marisa Jorge of New York.
Jorge did not respond to a message from The Washington Post seeking comment.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch said the woman covertly recorded video inside the office, which regularly has hundreds of volunteers coming and going.
“Dirty tricks like these are the worst part of politics, and this is exactly what Abigail is running to change,” campaign manager Dana Bye said in a statement.
Asked why Spanberger was targeted, a spokesman for Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe said the group likes to tell voters about what politicians are saying and doing behind closed doors.
Brat campaign manager Katey Price said Brat’s campaign was neither involved nor aware of any alleged work by Project Veritas.
(AP)
3 Responses
Welp, I guess it’s true what they say, all’s fair in love, war, politics and crass stupidity.
Republicans – the party of integrity.
Somehow I don’t believe that Pres. Eisenhower would have approved of this. The Republican Party has been taken over by the Dixiecrats that Nixon welcomed to the party after the Civil Rights Act was passed. To show their gratitude, the ex-Democrats then staged a hostile takeover. The Republican party that I knew growing up is dead.
Yes, integrity. Since when is investigative journalism a bad thing? You never had any problem with it before, did you? Or how about the hidden recorder that caught Romney talking about the 47% who would never vote for him no matter what; did you object to that?
Finally, Eisenhower?! The worst president for Israel ever, worse even than 0bama, we should care what he would have approved of?!