The same woman who approached the Washington Post with an apparently false allegation of sexual misconduct against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore (R) also rented an apartment in the home of a top Democratic operative, according to a follow-up report in the newspaper published Tuesday.
Jaime Phillips, who appears to be a recruit of controversial conservative activist James O’Keefe, rented out the basement of a Washington, D.C. home owned by former Democratic National Committee communications director Brad Woodhouse for two weeks in July, Woodhouse told the Post.
Her stay at Woodhouse’s home came shortly after she launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for her move to New York for a new gig where she would “combat the lies and deceipt [sic] of the liberal MSM.”
It was that remarkably transparent GoFundMe page that caused Post reporters to doubt the account she provided them of Moore initiating a sexual relationship with her when she was 15 years old and convincing her to have an abortion after she became pregnant. The Post has reported extensively on credible accusations of sexual assault and harassment against Moore by a number of Alabama women, including one who said she was 14 years old when he initiated a sexual encounter with her.
The newspaper’s reporters witnessed Phillips entering the New York office of O’Keefe’s group Project Veritas, which is known for promoting deceptively edited videos intended to smear or embarrass Democratic groups.
In a fundraising email this week, O’Keefe acknowledged that “our investigative journalist embedded within the [Post] had their cover blown.” He declined to answer the newspaper’s question about whether he told Phillips to rent the apartment in Woodhouse’s home.
The Democratic operative has felt the effects of O’Keefe’s “sting”-style operations before. Two people associated with the group where he previously served as president, Americans United for Change, were forced out shortly before the 2016 election after a Project Veritas worker secretly recorded them discussing how to disrupt GOP events.
But the group’s efforts are not always so successful. O’Keefe pleaded guilty in 2010 for breaking into former Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) office, and last year he accidentally left a message detailing his playbook to an employee of a non-profit associated with billionaire Democratic philanthropist George Soros.
