http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/251995-conservative-group-releases-hillary-sting-videoAugust 26, 2015, 11:54 am
Conservative group releases Hillary sting video
By Bradford Richardson
A conservative group on Wednesday released an undercover video purporting to show Hillary Clinton campaign officials “skirting” state election law in Iowa.
The video was filmed secretly by a Project Veritas operative posing as a Hillary for America volunteer.
One campaign official is shown telling volunteers to ask people whether they support Clinton before offering to register them to vote, saying “we don’t want to make our focus — voter registration.”
“If you open up a conversation as like, ‘Hey, are you registered to vote?’ And they’re, like, ‘no,’ and they want to register, you have to register them,” the official says.
“And so that’s why I want to keep our primary focus on, ‘Hey, are you a Hillary supporter?’ And then if not, then great move on, you know?” she continued.
The video also depicts one volunteer putting this training into practice.
“Do you guys plan on supporting [Clinton] this coming year?” the volunteer asks two women.
“I’m sorry, I’m a fan of Bernie Sanders,” one responds.
“Another Bernie Sanders curse,” the Clinton volunteer says as he passes out campaign fliers and walks away.
The video cites Iowa election law 39A.2 (1)(b)(5), which states that “A person commits the crime of election misconduct in the first degree if the person willfully … deprives, defrauds, or attempts to deprive of defraud the citizens of this state of a fair and impartially conducted election process.”
A Republican field staffer who requested anonymity told TIME that asking people whether they support a certain candidate before offering to register them to vote is standard operating procedure and does not violate election law.
The Clinton campaign went on high alert last week after officials reported suspicious activity in several offices.
Project Veritas is a conservative group led by James O’Keefe that specializes in undercover sting videos.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” O’Keefe says at the end of the video, promising to release more content.
“In fact, stay tuned, Hillary, because we’re shortly going to release a stunning story of election malfeasance at the highest levels of your campaign,” O’Keefe continues. “Check your email.”
O’Keefe has previously recorded workers at the now-defunct Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) appearing to give advice on how to run an underage sex trade. ACORN was later cleared of any wrongdoing related to the videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgHEClMxnpg
