就在美国民主党总统候选人提名战进行得如火如荼之时，《纽约时报》7日爆料称，和特朗普政府关系密切的黑水公司创始人普林斯，近年来通过招募前英美特工从事秘密情报搜集活动，对民主党竞选活动、劳工组织和其他被认为对特朗普怀有敌意的团体进行渗透。有专家8日对《环球时报》记者表示，美媒新的爆料可能引发更多的发酵性丑闻，但对特朗普的选情影响有限。
美总统前“影子顾问”雇间谍搞渗透
据《纽约时报》报道，受普林斯雇佣的英国前特工塞登，2017年指示一名卧底特工对美国教师联合会的地方领导人进行秘密录音，意图打击该组织。2018年，该特工使用另一化名渗透进了民主党人斯潘伯格的众议员竞选活动。斯潘伯格的竞选团队发现了这名特工并解雇了她。报道称，这两项行动都由一个叫“真理工程”的保守派组织负责，该组织利用隐蔽的摄像头和麦克风，刺探包括《纽约时报》《华盛顿邮报》等在内的新闻机构、民主党政客和自由派团体的情况。
普林斯和特朗普政府官员以及总统家人有着剪不断理还乱的关系。美国调查新闻网站“拦截”公布的资料显示，普林斯来自密歇根州的大家族，是教育部长贝齐·德沃斯的兄弟。贝齐嫁给安利集团继承人后，两大家族结合，成为激进的右翼团体以及部分共和党政治人士的主要金主。普林斯及其家族曾为特朗普和副总统彭斯的选举活动捐款。这位黑水公司的前总裁与特朗普的前高级顾问班农相识多年。通过班农，他成为特朗普的“影子顾问”，全程参加了特朗普的竞选活动。在特朗普胜选但还未上任前，普林斯与美国前总统国家安全事务助理弗林共事。2017年，他会见了白宫和五角大楼官员，提出了一项利用承包商代替美军将阿富汗战争私有化的计划。普林斯还与特朗普的儿子成了狩猎好友。此外，普林斯的妻子史黛西与帮助特朗普赢得大选的金主默瑟家族关系非同一般。
左派组织呼吁调查
目前尚不清楚是否有特朗普政府官员或总统顾问参与了这些间谍行动。据《纽约时报》报道,“真理工程”负责人奥基夫拒绝回答有关问题。不过他坚称，自己的组织是一家“自豪的独立新闻机构”，参与了数十起调查。他表示，许多消息来源向“真理工程”提供机密文件，还佩戴隐藏的摄像机拍摄相关人士的腐败和不当行为。普林斯目前正在接受美国司法部的调查，他被指控在“通俄门”调查中向美国国会撒谎。
《纽约时报》的报道刊发后，美国部分网民用“不寒而栗”“疯狂”等词形容普林斯的举动。美国左翼杂志《雅各布宾》编辑普雷斯惊呼：“我所有偏执的幻想原来都是真的!”美国左派非营利组织“联盟发展”7日发表声明，呼吁国会众议院立即对普林斯的活动进行调查。《滚石》杂志资深作者贾米尔·史密斯7日表示，整个事件就是糟糕透顶的腐败，让人难以容忍。民主党政治人士、前总统参选人玛丽安娜·威廉姆森称，《纽约时报》的报道“令人不安”。
当地时间2月2日，美国民主党总统竞选人、前副总统拜登在艾奥瓦首府得梅因竞选造势。
中新社记者 陈孟统 摄
影响特朗普竞选？
多家美媒认为《纽约时报》这次的爆料内容并不令人意外，只是此前媒体没有报道过普林斯和“真理工程”之间的关系。据“今日俄罗斯”电视台8日报道，对于任何了解“真理工程”的人来说，该组织进行的活动并不是什么新鲜事。这个保守派组织以秘密拍摄主流媒体人物以及桑德斯等候选人的相关视频而闻名。外交学院国际关系研究所教授李海东8日接受《环球时报》记者采访时表示，不管《纽约时报》报道的内容是否真实，整个事件说明美国的选举依旧是一个充满互泼脏水等肮脏伎俩的过程。他表示，爆料内容显示出一些团体对特朗普极度不满，试图以此削弱特朗普的连任竞选势头，相关报道可能引发更多的丑闻。
继“超级星期二”之后，民主党10日将迎来另一场预选重头戏，前副总统拜登与参议员桑德斯将在中西部6个州争夺党代表票。此次选举结果很可能进一步明确谁将是民主党总统选举候选人。随着大选之日的临近，美国两党斗争的“战场”也不断扩大，而《纽约时报》的报道是否会对特朗普的选情有影响呢？对此，李海东表示，这些爆料短期内可能对特朗普的民调产生一些影响，但不是决定性的，在某种程度上来说不是多么重要。他认为，特朗普今年的选举形势看起来比2016年更好，而民主党方面的候选人，不论是拜登还是桑德斯都不是击败特朗普的有力人选。
Former trump advisers have been sent to spy on the Democratic Party, with former British agents involved
When the Democratic presidential nomination war was in full swing, the New York Times reported on the 7th that prince, the founder of Blackwater, who has a close relationship with the trump government, had infiltrated the Democratic Party campaign, the labor organization and other groups considered hostile to trump by recruiting former British and American agents to engage in secret intelligence gathering activities in recent years. An expert told the global times on August 8 that new revelations from the US media may cause more fermentation scandals, but the impact on Trump's election is limited.
The former "shadow consultant" of the US President hired spies to infiltrate
According to the New York Times, seden, a former British agent hired by Prince, instructed an undercover agent in 2017 to secretly record the local leaders of the American teachers' union with the intention of cracking down on the organization. In 2018, the agent used another pseudonym to infiltrate the representative campaign of democratic spanberg. Spanberg's campaign found the agent and fired her. According to the report, both operations were led by a conservative group called truth project, which used hidden cameras and microphones to spy on news agencies, Democratic politicians and liberal groups, including the New York Times and the Washington Post.
Prince has a relationship with trump administration officials and the president's family. According to information released by the US investigative news website "intercept", Prince is from a large family in Michigan and the brother of education minister Betsy DeVos. After Betsy married the successor of Amway group, the two families combined and became the main financier of radical right-wing groups and some Republican politicians. Prince and his family contributed to trump's and vice president Burns's election campaign. The former president of Blackwater has known Mr. Bannon, a former senior advisor to trump, for many years. Through Bannon, he became Trump's "shadow consultant" and participated in Trump's campaign all the way. Prior to trump's victory but not yet in office, Prince worked with former U.S. presidential national security assistant Flynn. In 2017, he met with white house and Pentagon officials and proposed a plan to privatize the war in Afghanistan using contractors instead of the US military. Prince also became a hunting friend with Trump's son. In addition, Prince's wife Stacey has a special relationship with the Mercer family, who helped trump win the election.
Leftist groups call for an investigation
It is not clear whether trump administration officials or presidential advisers have been involved in these espionage operations. According to the New York Times, akif, the head of truth engineering, declined to answer questions. However, he insisted that his organization was a "proud independent news agency" involved in dozens of investigations. He said many sources provided confidential documents to "truth project" and also wore hidden cameras to take pictures of corruption and misconduct by people involved. Prince, who is currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of justice, is accused of lying to the U.S. Congress in the "Russia gate" investigation.
After the report of the New York Times was published, some Internet users in the United States described Prince's actions with the words "shudder" and "Crazy". "All my paranoid fantasies turned out to be true!" said James Presley, editor of the American left-wing magazine Jacobin, in a statement released on the 7th by alliance development, an American left-wing non-profit organization, calling on the house of representatives to immediately investigate Prince's activities. Jamil Smith, senior author of Rolling Stone magazine, said Thursday that the whole incident was terrible corruption and intolerable. Mariana Williamson, a democratic politician and former presidential candidate, said the New York Times report was "disturbing.".
Influence trump campaign?
A number of US media think that the New York Times' disclosure is not surprising, but the media has not reported the relationship between Prince and "truth project" before. According to "Russia today" TV station reported on August 8, for anyone who knows "truth project", the activities of the organization are nothing new. The conservative group is known for secretly filming videos of mainstream media figures and people Sanders is waiting for. Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of international relations at the school of foreign affairs, said in an interview with the global times on August 8 that whether the content reported by the New York Times is true or not, the whole incident shows that the election in the United States is still a process full of dirty tricks such as splashing dirty water on each other. He said the revelations showed that some groups were extremely dissatisfied with trump, trying to weaken the momentum of Trump's re-election campaign, and the relevant reports may cause more scandals.
Following the "Super Tuesday", the Democratic Party will usher in another primary drama on the 10th. Former Vice President Biden and Senator Sanders will compete for Party delegates in six Midwestern states. The election results are likely to further clarify who will be the candidates for the Democratic presidential election. As the election day approaches, the "battlefields" of the two parties' struggle in the United States continue to expand. Will the coverage of the New York Times have an impact on Trump's election situation? In this regard, Li Haidong said that these revelations may have some impact on Trump's polls in the short term, but they are not decisive and to some extent not very important. He believes that Trump's election situation this year looks better than that in 2016, and the Democratic candidates, whether Biden or Sanders, are not strong candidates to beat trump.
