A woman who works with an organization that uses deceptive tactics to secretly record conversations in an effort to embarrass its targets falsely claimed to The Washington Post that Roy Moore, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Alabama, impregnated her when she was 15 years old. The woman shared a story about an alleged sexual relationship with Moore that led to an abortion and asked the reporters to tell her what effects her claims could have on Moore’s candidacy if published.
The Washington Post never published her claims. The paper discovered inconsistencies in her story and journalists saw her on Monday morning entering the offices of Project Veritas, a conservative group that films undercover videos. The woman previously insisted that she was not working with any organization that targets journalists.
“The intent by Project Veritas clearly was to publicize the conversation if we fell into the trap. Because of our customary journalistic rigor, we weren’t fooled,” Martin Baron, executive editor at The Washington Post said.
The founder of Project Veritas, James O’Keefe, was convicted of a misdemeanor in 2010 for using a fake identity to enter a federal building during a previous sting. He did not want to answer questions related to the woman outside the organization’s offices shortly after the woman got inside.
“I am not doing an interview right now, so I’m not going to say a word,” O’Keefe said.
In a follow-up interview, O’Keefe did not want to disclose whether the woman was employed at Project Veritas or whether he was working with Moore, former White House adviser and Moore supporter Stephen K. Bannon, or Republican strategists.
The Post named the woman Jamie T. Phillips and reported that she did not respond to calls to her mobile phone on Monday. She contacted the paper in a mysterious email on November 9, only a few hours after The Post had published a story about Leigh Corfman, who said that she was 14 years old when Moore engaged in a sexual encounter with her.
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