Israeli help reportedly sought in ’16 race
Trump aide is said to have considered fake online identities, social media sway
WASHINGTON — A top official in President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign requested proposals in 2016 from an Israeli company to create fake online identities, to use social media manipulation and to gather intelligence to help defeat Republican primary race opponents and Democrat Hillary Clinton, according to interviews and copies of the proposals.
The Trump campaign’s interest in the work began as Russians were escalating their effort to aid Trump. Though the Israeli company’s pitches were narrower than Moscow’s interference campaign and appear unconnected, the documents show that a senior Trump aide saw the promise of a disruption effort to swing voters in Trump’s favor.
The campaign official, Rick Gates, sought one proposal to use bogus personas to target and sway 5,000 delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention by attacking Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Trump’s main opponent at the time. Another proposal describes opposition research and “complementary intelligence activities” about Clinton and people close to her, according to copies of the proposals obtained by The New York Times and interviews with four people involved in creating the documents.
A third proposal by the company, Psy-Group, which is staffed by former Israeli intelligence operatives, sketched out a monthslong plan to help Trump by using social media to help expose or amplify division among rival campaigns and factions. The proposals, part of what Psy-Group called “Project Rome,” used code names to identify the players — Trump was “Lion” and Clinton was “Forest.” Cruz, who Trump campaign officials feared might lead a revolt over the Republican presidential nomination, was “Bear.”
There is no evidence that the Trump campaign acted on the proposals, and Gates ultimately was uninterested in Psy-Group’s work, a person with knowledge of the discussions said, in part because other campaign aides were developing a social media strategy. Psy-Group’s owner, Joel Zamel, did meet in August 2016 with Donald Trump Jr., Trump’s eldest son.
Investigators working for Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russia’s campaign to disrupt the 2016 election and whether any Trump associates conspired, have obtained copies of the proposals and questioned PsyGroup employees, according to people familiar with those interviews.
Gates first heard about PsyGroup’s work during a March 2016 meeting at the Mandarin Oriental hotel along the Washington waterfront with George Birnbaum, a Republican consultant with close ties to current and former Israeli government officials. Gates had joined the Trump campaign days earlier with Paul Manafort, his longtime business partner, to try to prevent a revolt of Republican delegates from Trump toward Cruz.
The special counsel’s office indicted Manafort and Gates last year on multiple charges of financial fraud and tax evasion. Gates pleaded guilty to several of the charges this year, and he is cooperating with Mueller’s investigation.
Though it appears that Trump campaign officials declined to accept any of the proposals, Zamel pitched the company’s services in at least general terms during a meeting on Aug. 3, 2016, at Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr. That meeting, revealed in May by The Times, was also attended by George Nader, an emissary from the ruler of the United Arab Emirates.
Former Psy-Group employees said that, in anticipation of the Trump Tower meeting, Zamel asked them to prepare an updated version of the third proposal. A lawyer for Zamel said that Zamel had not personally discussed specific proposals with Donald Trump Jr. or anyone else from the Trump campaign.
Nader and Zamel have given differing accounts over whether Zamel ultimately carried out the social media effort to help the Trump campaign and why Nader paid him $2 million after the election, according to people who have discussed the matter with the two men.
The reason for the payment has been of keen interest to Mueller, according to people familiar with the matter.