Trump Foundation gave James O'Keefe $10,000 before videos 'proving' Clinton, Obama paid protesters surfaced

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published 20 October 2016

Donald Trump's foundation donated $10,000 to filmmaker James O'Keefe and his tax-exempt group, Project Veritas, in 2015, ThinkProgress reports — a donation that might raise eyebrows, especially as O'Keefe just released videos that allegedly show Hillary Clinton supporters bragging about trying to bait Trump supporters into attacks. Trump seized on the footage at the final presidential debate, claiming Clinton and President Obama "hired people" to "be violent, cause fights, [and] do bad things" at his rallies, although there is no evidence of either's involvement.

In fact, if anything it seems as if Trump is the one who comes out looking suspect:

Trump, who claimed in the same debate that Hillary Clinton "shouldn't be allowed to run" for president "based on what she did with e-mails and so many other things," was funding a convicted criminal. O'Keefe was sentenced to three years of probation, 100 hours of community service, and a $1,500 fine in 2010 after taking a plea bargain following a botched "sting" attempt at the office of then-Sen. Mary Landrieu.What's more, there is a great deal of reason to be skeptical of the videos themselves. O'Keefe has a long history of selectively editing videos to present a false impression to the viewer. His most famous video, an attack on the now-defunct community organizing group ACORN, supposedly showed employees agreeing to help him smuggle underage prostitutes into the country. It turned out the employees later had called the police and O'Keefe eventually paid $100,000 in a settlement after being sued for surreptitious recording of someone's voice and image. [ThinkProgress]

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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