Project Veritas films undercover video of Kyrsten Sinema and staffers

A right-wing operation that creates secretly recorded videos targeted Democratic U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who’s running a tight race for U.S. Senate, releasing a video Monday with several clips of the representative and her campaign workers making candid off-the-cuff comments.

In the 15-minute video released Monday by Project Veritas, a controversial group led by conservative activist James O’Keefe, multiple staffers talk about how Sinema is running a moderate, centrist campaign to get elected but actually holds more left-leaning, progressive views.

Project Veritas has conducted “stings” of multiple politicians and media organizations, under false pretenses, over the past few years. Those have included sending in his staff to take undercover video footage of unsuspecting people discussing topics from abortion to news decisions. The group’s operatives often identify themselves with fake personas as potential volunteers or donors. 

The group’s videos have been discredited by many partly because they are heavily edited. It’s unknown what full clips of comments from Sinema or her staff would contain, as the video posted by Project Veritas on YouTube is edited and includes commentary from O’Keefe. 

Sinema is facing Republican U.S. Rep. Martha McSally in the general election in a race considered a toss-up. The race has been monitored closely by national interests and has seen millions pour in from out-of-state groups. 

Before Sinema became a representative, her history in state politics was much more left-leaning, though as a member of Congress, her politics have moved to the center. In running for the Senate, she has cast herself as a centrist Democrat, shying away from other Democrats to the point that she won’t endorse the Democratic candidate for governor, David Garcia. Some progressives have dinged Sinema, questioning what exactly she stands for, but polls show she is neck-and-neck with McSally. 

Right-wing groups and conservative media began sharing and discussing the Project Veritas video and story on social media Monday.

But in the video’s clips, the comments made by Sinema or her staffers do not appear to strongly contrast with her public opinions on issues. 

In the video, Sinema’s district director Michelle Davidson said she thinks Sinema’s approach to running her campaign is important, and said the Sinema campaign “can’t be talking about an assault weapons ban” if she wants to win. Instead, Sinema can lead on issues like background checks, the gun-show loophole and making it harder for people convicted of domestic violence to get guns, the clip of Davidson says. 

In a separate comment, Sinema makes an offhand remark about guns to the Project Veritas operative. 

“When I say ban guns in California, we’re all like, yeah, ban them, but you say ban guns out here?” the unidentified Project Veritas staffer asks Sinema.

“They’ll actually shoot you,” Sinema responds. 

In another clip, Sinema discusses undocumented immigrants with a Project Veritas representative. 

“I believe we should offer citizenship to every person who’s in this country who isn’t bad,” Sinema said. “You know, if you haven’t committed a bad crime, you know, then you should get a path to citizenship. That’s what I believe.”

On Sinema’s website, she writes that she’s in favor of “commonsense immigration solutions would secure our border, protect our DREAMers, keep families together, and strengthen Arizona’s economy.”

The video also includes comments on Sinema from low-level staffers and a donor.

“She’s going to stand up and protect Arizona’s values, whatever the (expletive) that means,” one person identified on the video as a “field organizer” is recorded saying.

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At The Republic, candidates Martha McSally and Kyrsten Sinema talk about attack ads and Sinema’s controversial comment on a talk radio show from 2003.
Arizona Republic

In response to the videos, Sinema’s campaign pointed to McSally’s record on health care. 

“Congresswoman McSally voted to gut protections for pre-existing conditions and to jeopardize Medicare and Social Security, and these partisan, discredited stunts are the latest attempt to distract from her harmful record,” Sinema campaign spokeswoman Helen Hare said in a written statement.

Last year, O’Keefe’s group unsuccessfully tried to dupe TheWashington Post by sending a staffer who falsely claimed to a Post reporter that she was impregnated by Roy Moore, then a Senate candidate in Alabama, when she was a teen. The Post caught the lie. 

Earlier this month, a Project Veritas employee posed as an intern for Missouri Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, creating videos of her comments on gun control. McCaskill’s campaign struck back, filing documents with the state’s attorney general saying the fake intern had access to sensitive voter information and may have committed fraud when filming the videos.

O’Keefe has faced legal consequences in the past for taping these videos. He pleaded guilty in 2010 to a misdemeanor charge for entering a federal building under false premises after he and others posed as telephone workers to gain entry to a Democratic senator’s office. 

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