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Trump has reportedly given at least $10,000 to Project Veritas. Since their funding is largely undisclosed, it presumably could be from anywhere, including Russia. They appear to have a track record of botched attempts to make their enemies look bad. See for instance “Botched Sting Attempt on Open Society Foundations“https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Project_Veritas

Project Veritas apparently tried to feed the Washington Post a fake sexual misconduct story in an attempt to undermine the credibility of earlier reports of sexual misconduct by Republican US Senate Candidate Moore. The Washington Post “broke the story about alleged sexual misconduct by Moore and his reported pursuit of teenage girls when he was in his 30s and an Alabama district attorney. Several woman gave similar accounts to the newspaper. Moore has denied the allegations and threatened to sue the newspaper. The Post said late Monday a woman identifying herself as Jaime Phillips told a reporter that Moore impregnated her when she was 15 and forced her to have an abortion…. But the newspaper found numerous holes and inconsistencies in her account and her background and declined to publish her sordid tale. Further investigation by The Post revealed that Phillips may have been working for Project Veritas — a New York organization that targets and tries to discredit mainstream media outlets and left-wing groups.” (VOA News, Nov. 27, 2017,see article below.)

Think Progress has a great title on this topic. The title appears true in more ways than one:
“A Trump-backed conservative group is trying undermine real sexual assault victims with fake ones, All in the name of electing an alleged serial child molester” reports Addy Baird of Think Progress, (NOV 27, 2017, 8:26 PM): https://thinkprogress.org/project-veritas-undermines-real-sexual-assault-victims-4b921148dcea/

“Roy Moore, GOP Senate nominee in Alabama, accused of sex acts with girls as young as 14” https://boingboing.net/2017/11/09/roy-moore.html

“Woman reconfirms Roy Moore allegations in her first television interview: Leigh Corfman, who says the Alabama Senate GOP nominee touched her sexually when he was 14 and he was 32….“https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/woman-reconfirms-roy-moore-allegations-in-her-first-television-interview/2017/11/20/e221ebfe-cdff-11e7-81bc-c55a220c8cbe_story.html

For those who missed the original Washington Post article:
“Woman says Roy Moore initiated sexual encounter when she was 14, he was 32: Alabama resident Leigh Corfman said that in 1979, when Moore was an assistant district attorney, he brought her to his home and touched her sexually. Three other women said that Moore – now a candidate for U.S. Senate — pursued them when they were teenagers and he was in his early 30s.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/woman-says-roy-moore-initiated-sexual-encounter-when-she-was-14-he-was-32/2017/11/09/1f495878-c293-11e7-afe9-4f60b5a6c4a0_story.html

Excerpt: “Under Alabama law in 1979, and today, a person who is at least 19 years old who has sexual contact with someone older than 12 and younger than 15 has committed sexual abuse in the second degree. Sexual contact is defined as touching of sexual or intimate parts. The crime is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail. The law then and now also includes a section on enticing a child younger than 16 to enter a home with the purpose of proposing sexual intercourse or fondling of sexual and genital parts. That is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.”

See too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statutory_rape

Trump officially started his campaign on June 16, 2015. Trump reportedly gave $10,000 to Project Veritas in May 2015: On page 9 of Trump’s “charitable giving”, we find that Trump gave $10,000 to “Project Veritas” on May 13, 2015, and $5,000 to “The American Spectator Foundation” on May 27, 2015 : https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/politics/a-94-page-list-of-donald-trumps-charitable-contributions-from-the-last-five-years/2013/?tid=a_inl https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-portrait-of-trump-the-donor-free-rounds-of-golf-but-no-personal-cash/2016/04/10/373b9b92-fb40-11e5-9140-e61d062438bb_story.html. (Almost five years earlier, on October 12, 2010, Trump gave $10,000 to the William J. Clinton Foundation, when they were still friends. ) 



From VOA:
“Washington Post Says It Was Target of Failed Sting to Print Phony Roy Moore Story
November 27, 2017 10:20 PM, by Ken Schwartz

WASHINGTON — 
The Washington Post says it was targeted by a conservative sting operation that tried to get it to print a dramatic but phony story about Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore and a pregnant teenager.

The Post broke the story about alleged sexual misconduct by Moore and his reported pursuit of teenage girls when he was in his 30s and an Alabama district attorney.

Several woman gave similar accounts to the newspaper. Moore has denied the allegations and threatened to sue the newspaper.

The Post said late Monday a woman identifying herself as Jaime Phillips told a reporter that Moore impregnated her when she was 15 and forced her to have an abortion.

She told the reporter she wanted the Post to guarantee Moore would lose the election to the U.S. Senate if she told her story.

But the newspaper found numerous holes and inconsistencies in her account and her background and declined to publish her sordid tale.

Further investigation by The Post revealed that Phillips may have been working for Project Veritas — a New York organization that targets and tries to discredit mainstream media outlets and left-wing groups.

Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe declined to answer any questions from The Washington Post Monday, including questions whether Phillips worked for her.

Telephone calls to Phillips went unanswered, but she had denied working for any such group during a second meeting with Post reporters.

“We always honor ‘off-the-record’ agreements when they’re entered into in good faith,” Washington Post executive editor Martin Baron said.

“But this so-called ‘off-the-record’ conversation was the essence of a scheme to deceive and embarrass us. The intent by Project Veritas clearly was to publicize the conversation if we fell for the trap. Because of our customary journalistic rigor, we weren’t fooled and we can’t honor an ‘off-the-record’ agreement that was solicited in maliciously bad faith.”

There have been earlier attempts at debunking the charges leveled against Roy Moore as reported by The Post, including allegations the newspaper paid the women for telling it Moore sexually molested them as teens.

The Post says it never pays anyone for information.

Moore is running for the Alabama Senate seat formerly held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Polls in Alabama show him trailing his Democratic opponent Doug Jones.” (Emphasis our own.)
https://www.voanews.com/a/the-post-target-of-scheme-to-print-fake-roy-moore-allegations/4139576.html