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Two Democratic Party operatives have stepped away from the presidential campaign after a sting operation by a conservative activist's group. Video footage appeared to show them boasting about planting people at Trump rallies to incite violence. Mr. Trump made a show of this at Wednesday's debate, where he also declined to answer whether he would respect the outcome of the election and suggested it was rigged. Here's a primer on the controversy and who's involved in it.
What Trump said at the debate
Violence that occurred at his campaign rallies "was started by" Hillary Clinton, whose operatives paid people to "cause fights, do bad things," Mr. Trump said. He said the proof of this was "all on tape."
Fact check: Is that true?
Unclear. A selectively edited video released on Wednesday by conservative activist James O'Keefe does show Democratic operative Scott Foval appearing to boast about provoking violent reactions at Trump rallies. But Mr. Foval was not directly employed by either the Clinton campaign or the Democratic National Committee.
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Mr. Foval, a Wisconsin-based liberal operative, is portrayed in the footage as boasting about his connections to the party and the Clinton campaign, and claiming to have arranged for people to incite violence at Trump rallies. Sometimes those people are union workers, he said, and sometimes they're mentally ill and homeless people. At one point, Mr. Foval appears to say the hired agitators should have their medical and legal bills covered. As with much of the video's content, it's impossible to say with certainty what Mr. Foval meant, because the video is edited in a way so that it's not clear what led to the comment.
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The other key figure in the videos is Robert Creamer, a longtime liberal activist based in Washington and the husband of Illinois Democratic Representative Jan Schakowsky. In July, the Democratic National Committee paid about $26,000 to Mobilize, Mr. Creamer's consulting firm. His contract called for him to stage Democratic events outside Trump rallies, and he hired Mr. Foval as a subcontractor.
Who made this video?
PROJECT VERITAS ACTION/YOUTUBE
Mr. O'Keefe and his group, Project Veritas, have a long track record of targeting Democratic groups, often by hiding their identities and using hidden cameras. A previous O'Keefe sting led to the demise of ACORN, a community organizing group that Mr. O'Keefe portrayed as engaged in criminal activity via hidden camera videos. Mr. O'Keefe was convicted in 2010 as part of a scheme to illegally make recordings at the office of then-Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, a Democrat.
How the two operatives responded
Mr. Foval told The Associated Press in an e-mail that O'Keefe's associates had set him up:
This scheme to cast legitimate organizing activities as a sinister plot is nothing but a ruse. Despite our attempts to redirect the conversation and actions towards positive, results-oriented, legal and ethical political organizing, O’Keefe’s crew of impostors continued to walk down a path of deception and manipulation.
Mr. Creamer told The New York Times he would no longer work with Mr. Foval and that his firm would stop working on the Democratic campaign:
We regret the unprofessional and careless hypothetical conversations that were captured on hidden cameras of a temporary regional contractor for our firm, and he is no longer working with us.
How the Democrats have responded
Both the Clinton campaign and the DNC have denounced Mr. Foval's comments. DNC chairwoman Donna Brazile says she doesn't believe that people working for Democrats incited violence or employed the tactics Mr. Foval described. Ms. Brazile also accepted Mr. Creamer's decision to end his contract work.
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Clinton campaign spokesman Zac Petkanas said the campaign supports the decision to cut ties with the operatives ensnared by Mr. O'Keefe, saying "some of the language and tactics referenced in the video are troubling even as a theory or proposal never executed."
Trump's vote-rigging claims
The O'Keefe video has emerged at a point in the campaign where Mr. Trump, falling behind in the polls, is ramping up suggestions that the outcome is rigged. Asked directly at Wednesday's debate if he would respect the election's outcome if Ms. Clinton wins, Mr. Trump dodged the question twice. "I will look at it at the time," Mr. Trump bobbed. Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News pressed the question again. "I will tell you at the time," Mr. Trump weaved. "I'll keep you in suspense."
He later alleged that voting irregularities called the election into question:
If you look at your voter rolls, you will see millions of people … that are registered to vote that shouldn’t be registered to vote.
There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in U.S. elections.
Ms. Clinton described Mr. Trump's assertions that the election is rigged as "horrifying" and part of a pattern of conspiracy theories:
It’s funny but it’s also really troubling. This is not the way our democracy works. We’ve accepted the outcomes when we might not have liked them. … He is talking down our democracy and I, for one, am appalled.
With reports from Joanna Slater and The New York Times News Service