--- title: Hillary Clinton Campaign On Guard For James O'Keefe Project Veritas description: Dirty tricks alleged as the campaign heats up canonical: https://time.com/4006454/hillary-clinton-video-project-veritas/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-21T18:40:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:42:28.530Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton Campaign On Guard For James O'Keefe Project Veritas og:description: Dirty tricks alleged as the campaign heats up og:url: https://time.com/4006454/hillary-clinton-video-project-veritas/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt955b5da6bd7c6285/6988606635ba6f20dfc0ecc6/hillary-clinton10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4566 og:image:height: 2568 og:image:alt: Hillary Rodham Clinton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton Campaign On Guard For James O'Keefe Project Veritas twitter:description: Dirty tricks alleged as the campaign heats up twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt955b5da6bd7c6285/6988606635ba6f20dfc0ecc6/hillary-clinton10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Clinton Campaign On Alert For Undercover Conservative Sting > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Clinton's Headache Grows With 305 New Emails Under Scrutiny [Watch (HLS stream): Clinton's Headache Grows With 305 New Emails Under Scrutiny](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6C3SDlWS.m3u8) (1:24)  _Published 2015-08-18. Hillary Clinton's email headache is growing as 305 more emails have reportedly been flagged for review over potentially containing classified info._ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Aug 21, 2015 6:40 PM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks to supporters during a rally before the Iowa Democratic Party's Hall of Fame Dinner, Friday, July 17, 2015, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks to supporters during a rally before the Iowa Democratic Party's Hall of Fame Dinner, Friday, July 17, 2015, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.Charlie Neibergall—AP by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Aug 21, 2015 6:40 PM UTC Hillary Clinton’s campaign offices around the country have been put on alert after at least two women approached Iowa staff under the guise of being supporters in an apparent effort to catch the campaign engaging in improper or illegal activity, a Clinton campaign official said. The motivations of the women is not known, but their alleged techniques match those of Project Veritas, the conservative group run by James O’Keefe, which specializes in undercover stings meant to embarrass liberal groups and politicians. The group declined to comment on the Clinton campaign’s allegations. “Project Veritas does not comment on investigations, real or imagined,” said Daniel Pollack, the director of communications for the group. A Clinton campaign official alleges that the women engaged in several efforts to entrap supporters. In one scheme, described by Clinton staff, a woman attempted to pass a cash donation to Clinton volunteers and interns. In another, a woman approached the campaign on Aug. 19 and said both her parents had donated to Clinton the legal maximum of $2700 each and wanted to funnel an additional donation through their daughter, a violation of federal law. On Aug. 13, a woman claiming to be Canadian approached another Clinton fellow to ask how to falsify an address for a campaign donation. In another instance, a woman volunteering with the Clinton campaign on voter registration efforts in Iowa City returned to the campaign’s office in Des Moines and asked whether it was okay that she refuse to register people who don’t support Clinton, the campaign official said. The Clinton campaign maintains that its policy is to register all voters, regardless of their preference in candidates. The women presented themselves as Allison Holmes, Jess Koski, and Jess Jones, according to the Clinton campaign, which collected names, email addresses, and phone numbers for the women. All gave the same phone number, which is listed on the website for the University of Minnesota-based Students for a Conservative Voice. Messages left at the number by TIME requesting comment were not returned. The women did not identify themselves as part of O’Keefe’s group, the campaign said. It is not clear if any Clinton staff or volunteers did anything improper or illegal in response to the approaches. A Clinton official said the campaign is confident it upheld the law. O’Keefe rose to fame in 2009 with edited videos appearing to show employees of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) encouraging criminal behavior, resulting in the freeze of federal funding to the organization. Photos provided by the Clinton campaign appear to identify one of the women as Laura Loomer, who filmed a video earlier this year at Barry University, which appeared to show a college official backing the creation of a charity to funnel money to the Islamic State called the Sympathetic Students in Support of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Attempts to reach Loomer through Veritas were not successful. Loomer appears in the photos wearing a navy baseball cap with the Hillary Clinton logo attending a rally for Clinton on July 17 before the Iowa Democratic Party Hall Fame Dinner in Cedar Rapids. That’s where Clinton officials allege she attempted to make cash donations to the campaign. The Federal Election Commission bans aggregate cash contributions over $100 from a single donor, while anonymous donations in cash of more than $50 may not be spent on federal elections. ### See Every Hillary Clinton TIME Cover  The September 14, 1992 issue of TIME Gregory Heisler  The May 10, 1993 issue of TIME Steve Liss  The March 21, 1994 issue of TIME Dirck Halstead  The March 18, 1996 issue of TIME Brad Markel  The July 1, 1996 issue of TIME TIME  The October 20, 1997 issue of TIME Patrick Demarchelier  The Feb. 9, 1998, issue of TIME. TIME  The August 31, 1998 issue of TIME Blake Sell—Reuters  The Sep. 28, 1998, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton at top center, behind Bill Clinton.) Cover Credit: DOUG MILLS-AP, KHUE BUI, DAN LOH-AP & STEVE HELBER-AP  The Feb. 15, 1999, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton inset at top right.) Cover Credit: MICHAEL O'NEILL  The February 22, 1999 issue of TIME TIME  The March 1, 1999 issue of TIME Aaron Shikler  The June 16, 2003 issue of TIME TIME  The August 28, 2006 issue of TIME Diana Walker for TIME  The Feb. 5, 2007, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton inset at top left.) Cover Credit: PHOTOGRAPH FOR TIME BY CHRISTOPHER MORRIS--VII  The November 19, 2007 issue of TIME John Ritter—Brooks Kraft  The Jan. 21, 2008, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton inset at top left.) Cover Credit: NICK WRIGHT  The February 18, 2008 issue of TIME Diana Walker, Doug Mills  The Feb. 25, 2008, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton inset at top.) Cover Credit: MATTHIAS CLAMER  The March 17, 2008 issue of TIME David Burnett  The Mar. 24, 2008, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton inset at top.) Cover Credit: ARTHUR HOCHSTEIN  The May 5, 2008 issue of TIME Callie Shell, Damon Winter  The May 12, 2008, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton under the second zero in "100.") Cover Credit: CHIP KIDD  The May 11, 2009, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton under the "E" in TIME.) TIME  The November 16, 2009 issue of TIME Marco Grob for TIME. Left inset: Getty Images  The November 7, 2011 issue of TIME Diana Walker for TIME  The Apr. 30, 2012, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton near top center.) TIME  The January 27, 2014 issue of TIME Photo-Illustration by Justin Metz for TIME. Pants: Don Farrall—Getty Images. Man: Bloom Image/Getty Images. Shoe: Yasinguneysu/Getty Images  The Mar. 23, 2015, issue of TIME Photograph by Spencer Platt–Getty Images  The Feb. 15, 2016, issue of TIME Photograph by James Nachtwey for TIME ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4006454/hillary-clinton-video-project-veritas/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4006454/hillary-clinton-video-project-veritas/"},"headline":"Clinton Campaign On Alert For Undercover Conservative Sting","datePublished":"2015-08-21T18:40:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:42:28.530Z","description":"Dirty tricks alleged as the campaign heats up","url":"https://time.com/4006454/hillary-clinton-video-project-veritas/","keywords":["Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","Iowa"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt955b5da6bd7c6285/6988606635ba6f20dfc0ecc6/hillary-clinton10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt955b5da6bd7c6285/6988606635ba6f20dfc0ecc6/hillary-clinton10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Hillary Rodham Clinton","caption":"Hillary Rodham Clinton","creditText":"Charlie Neibergall—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4006454/hillary-clinton-video-project-veritas/","name":"Clinton Campaign On Alert For Undercover Conservative Sting"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Clinton's Headache Grows With 305 New Emails Under Scrutiny","description":"Hillary Clinton's email headache is growing as 305 more emails have reportedly been flagged for review over potentially containing classified info.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/6C3SDlWS/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-08-18T14:00:43.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6C3SDlWS.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4006454/hillary-clinton-video-project-veritas/","duration":"PT1M24S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4006454/hillary-clinton-video-project-veritas/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```