Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/740688
ByJulieBykowicz TheAssociatedPress MIAMI Conservative ac- tivist James O'Keefe has released secretly recorded, selectively edited video footage that includes a Democratic activist brag- ging about deploying trou- blemakers at rallies held by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. After O'Keefe released the video this week, two Democratic operatives stopped working on the presidential race and both the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton's campaign denounced the tactics de- scribed in the footage. Both said the activities described never took place. O'Keefe's group, Project Veritas, promised to release additional videos ahead of the Nov. 8 election. The central character in the recordings is Scott Fo- val, a Wisconsin-based lib- eral operative. He is por- trayed in the footage as boasting about his con- nections to the party and the Clinton campaign, and claiming to have ar- ranged for people to incite violence at Trump rallies. Sometimes those people are union workers, he said, and sometimes they're mentally ill and homeless people. "I mean, honestly it's not hard to get some of these (expletive) to pop off," Fo- val is shown on the video as saying. At one point, Foval ap- pears to say the hired ag- itators should have their medical and legal bills cov- ered. As with much of the video's content, it's impos- sible to say with certainty what Foval meant, because the video is edited in a way so that it's not clear what led to the comment. Foval told The Associ- ated Press in an email that O'Keefe's associates had set him up. "This scheme to cast le- gitimate organizing activ- ities as a sinister plot is nothing but a ruse," he said. "Despite our attempts to re- direct the conversation and actions towards positive, results-oriented, legal and ethical political organizing, O'Keefe's crew of impostors continued to walk down a path of deception and ma- nipulation." O'Keefe and Project Veri- tas have a long track record of targeting Democratic groups, often by hiding their identities and using hidden cameras. A previous O'Keefe sting led to the de- mise of ACORN, a commu- nity organizing group that O'Keefe portrayed as en- gaged in criminal activity via hidden camera videos. O'Keefe was convicted in 2010 as part of a scheme to illegally make recordings at the office of then-Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Dem- ocrat. In this case, Foval ap- pears to have been several steps removed from the presidential race. In July, the Democratic National Committee paid about $26,000 to Mobilize, the consulting firm of Rob- ert Creamer, a longtime lib- eral activist based in Wash- ington and the husband of Illinois Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky. Creamer was also fea- tured in the latest O'Keefe video, although not saying anything that appeared to be unethical or illegal. His contract called for him to stage Democratic events outside Trump rallies, and he hired Foval as a subcon- tractor. He said that Democrats have, in fact, sought to limit their contact with Trump supporters, requesting po- lice barricades to avoid con- flicts. Creamer said he vol- untarily ended his DNC contract on Tuesday, say- ing he was doing so to avoid becoming an election-time "distraction." Americans United for Change, a liberal group that said it had a separate contract with Foval to work on Social Security issues, said it is no longer associ- ated with him. People For the American Way, another group that once employed Foval, said it has not worked with him in months. Both groups said that what Foval appeared to say in the video did not reflect their ethical standards. DNC Chair woman Donna Brazile accepted Creamer's decision to end his contract work and said in a statement the activi- ties described in the video "do not in any way comport with our long standing pol- icies on organizing events." She also said she does not believe anything "ar- ticulated in the video actu- ally occurred." Clinton campaign spokesman Zac Petkanas said the campaign supports the decision to cut ties with the operatives ensnared by O'Keefe, saying "some of the language and tactics referenced in the video are troubling even as a theory or proposal never executed." CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST Video: Dem activist bragged about disrupting Trump rallies PATRICKTEHAN—BAYAREANEWSGROUP Protestors surround a Trump supporter on S. Almaden Blvd. outside San Jose Convention Center as Presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a rally in San Jose in June. By Gary D. Robertson The Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. A group of North Carolina voters that wants to expand early in- person voting in the pres- idential battleground state lost its case before a fed- eral appeals court Wednes- day, while voters in Georgia and Virginia still held out hope of extending their reg- istration deadlines. A three-judge panel on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the emergency motion focused on five North Carolina counties that include cities such as Charlotte, Greens- boro, Winston-Salem and Wilmington. A trial court judge refused the same re- quest last week. The voters' lawyers ar- gued the counties weren't complying with the 4th Circuit's ruling in July striking down portions of a 2013 law that reduced the early-voting period by seven days. The period now covers 17 days, begin- ning Thursday. The vot- ers, however, said county or state election officials should have allowed addi- tional early voting on Sun- day, during the first seven days of the period, or on the Saturday afternoon before Election Day. Lawyers for the state and GOP Gov. Pat Mc- Crory told the courts that county and state election boards abided by the rul- ing, which reverted ballot- access laws to where they were before the 2013 law approved by Republican legislators. They also wrote this week that making 11th- hour changes would create more voting confusion and administrative burdens on election officials. The court clerk, on be- half of the three judges who struck down the 2013 law, filed a three-sentence order denying the voters' request. It wasn't imme- diately clear if the voters would seek relief at the U.S. Supreme Court. The panel ruled in July that Repub- licans had approved the 2013 law with "discrimina- tory intent" against black voters, who disproportion- ately support Democrats. A state judge already ex- tended a voter-registration deadline until Wednesday in the counties hardest hit by Hurricane Matthew. But that deadline only applies to people who wish to mail an absentee ballot or want to vote on Election Day. People can still register to vote and cast their bal- lots if they visit an early- voting center anywhere in the state, but residents pushed out of their homes by Matthew's record floods may find any of the voting options challenging. There are 6.8 million registered voters in North Carolina. Early in-person voting is very popular, rep- resenting 56 percent of the ballots cast in the 2012 presidential election. In addition to the pres- idential race this year, North Carolina has races for governor, U.S. Senate, Congress and several state- wide elected positions. Joining the motion for additional early voting was Marc Elias, the top lawyer for Hillary Clinton's pres- idential campaign. The campaign isn't a party in the case, but Republicans have pointed out the con- nection. In Georgia, U.S. District Court Judge William T. Moore Jr. said at a hearing Wednesday that he would rule later in the day on a request from the Ameri- can Civil Liberties Union to give six additional days for registration in six coastal Georgia counties that Gov. Nathan Deal ordered to evacuate ahead of Hurri- cane Matthew. The ACLU filed suit on behalf of two Georgia teens who had not yet registered and the state NAACP, which planned registra- tion drives during the final week to sign up new vot- ers for the Nov. 8 elections. The suit argued the Oct. 6 mandatory evacuation or- der closed local elections offices and effectively pre- vented residents of coastal counties with large Afri- can-American populations from joining the voter rolls during the busy final days. In Virginia, a civil rights group asked a court Tues- day to extend the registra- tion deadline by at least three days after technical problems with the state's online system prevented some residents from regis- tering to vote. Local news organiza- tions report that the law- suit was filed by the Law- yers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law on be- half of Kathy and Michael Kern, a Charlottesville cou- ple who failed to register by Monday's deadline after the website crashed. State elections commis- sioner Edgardo Cortes says the deadline is specified in state code, which provides no option for an extension. BATTLEGROUND STATES Vo ti ng e xt en si on d en ie d in N C; p en di ng i n Ge or gi a, V ir gi ni a By Jonathan Lemire and Bill Barrow The Associated Press LAS VEGAS Donald Trump'salliesstruggledlate Wednesdaytodefendhisre- fusalatthefinalpresidential debate to say he will honor the results of the Novem- ber election should he lose, withcondemnationarriving from both Republicans and Democrats alike. Sean Spicer, the chief strategist of the Republi- can National Committee, which is supplying much of the Trump campaign's get out the vote and voter out- reach efforts, said the na- tional party would "respect the will of the people." "I cannot speak for what he thinks," Spicer said. SouthCarolinaSen.Lind- sey Graham said in a state- mentthat"Mr.Trumpisdo- ing the party and the coun- try a great disservice" by suggesting the election is rigged, while Arionza Sen. Jeff Flake called the New Yorkbillionaire'sstatements "beyond the pale." After spending the past fewweeksclaimingwithout evidencethattheNovember election will be "rigged" in favor of Democratic nomi- nee Hillary Clinton, Trump was asked directly by Fox News anchor and debate moderator Chris Wallace if hewouldconcedeshouldhe lose to Clinton. "I will look at it at the time," Trump said. When pressed moments later, Trumpaddedsimply:"What I'm saying is that I will tell you at the time. I will keep you in suspense." Clinton called Trump's comments "horrifying." Billionaire Mark Cuban, oneofClinton'stopsupport- ers, called Trump's words "a slap in the face of every American in the history of this country, the Constitu- tion and our democracy." "That's what we're proud of," he said. "So, for him to questionthat,that'sdisqual- ifying."Trump'sremarkable comments came just hours after his running mate, In- dianaGovernorMikePence, said on CNN "that we'll cer- tainlyaccepttheoutcomeof this election." And Trump's daughter Ivanka, arguably his most influential adviser, said earlier Wednesday that her father would "do the right thing" when she was asked if he would concede after a defeat in November. The debate answer left his own team scrambling in the aftermath of the de- bate. Kellyanne Conway, his campaign manager, at first respondedto questions about the comment by say- ing he "would accept the re- sults, because he'll win the election." DEBATE Trump slammed for not promising to honor election results 741 Main Street, Suite #2 Red Bluff, CA 96080 1-800-287-2187 (530) 527-2187 OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK www.redbluffcoldwellbanker.com See All Tehama County Listings at If you are Considering Selling Your Home, Now is the Time! PropertyisSelling and Listings are in Short Supply! CallTehamaCountiesLargest Real Estate Office and let our Knowledgeable and Professional Realtors assist you Today! (530) 529-1220 100 Jackson St. Red Bluff MonthlySpecial $ 28 00 a month No Enrollment Fee Check Out Our Fall Class Schedule THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2016 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 3 B ★