‘Post’ gets false claim about Moore
A woman who falsely claimed to The Washington Post that Roy Moore, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Alabama, impregnated her as a teenager appears to work with an organization that uses deceptive tactics to secretly record conversations in an effort to embarrass its targets.
In a series of interviews over two weeks, the woman shared a dramatic story about an alleged sexual relationship with Moore in 1992 that led to an abortion when she was 15.
The Post did not publish an article based on her unsubstantiated account. When Post reporters confronted her with inconsistencies in her story and an internet posting that raised doubts about her motivations, she insisted that she was not working with any organization that targets journalists.
But on Monday morning, Post reporters saw her walking into the New York offices of Project Veritas, an organization that targets the mainstream news media and left-leaning groups. The organization sets up undercover “stings” that involve using false cover stories and covert video recordings meant to expose what the group says is media bias.
The group’s efforts illustrate the lengths to which activists have gone to try to discredit media outlets for reporting on allegations from multiple women that Moore pursued them when they were teenagers and he was in his early 30s. Moore has denied that he did anything improper.
The woman who approached Post reporters, Jaime T. Phillips, did not respond to calls to her cellphone Monday morning.
After Phillips was seen entering the Project Veritas office, the Post made the unusual decision to report her previous off-therecord comments.
“We always honor ‘off-therecord’ agreements when they’re entered into in good faith,” said Martin Baron, the Post’s executive editor. “But this so-called off-the-record conversation was the essence of a scheme to deceive and embarrass us.”
Phillips’ arrival at the Project Veritas office capped a weekslong effort that began only hours after the Post published an article on Nov. 9 that included allegations that Moore once initiated a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old named Leigh Corfman.
In the days that followed the purported tipster’s initial emails, Reinhard communicated with the woman through an encrypted text messaging service and spoke by phone with the person to set up a meeting. When the woman suggested a meeting in New York, Post reporter Beth Reinhard told her she would have to know more about her story and her background. The woman offered that her real name was Jaime Phillips.
Phillips said she would be in the Washington, D.C., area during Thanksgiving week and suggested meeting Tuesday.
When Reinhard suggested bringing another reporter, Phillips wrote, “I’m not really comfortable with anyone else being there this time.”
Reinhard arrived to find Phillips already seated in a booth in the restaurant. The 41-year-old said she met Moore in 1992, the year he became a county judge. She said she was 15. She said they started a “secret” sexual relationship.
She said that she got pregnant, that Moore talked her into an abortion, and that he drove her to Mississippi to get it.
Phillips also repeatedly asked the reporter to guarantee her that Moore would lose the election if she came forward.
Post reporter Stephanie McCrummen agreed to meet Phillips on Wednesday afternoon. Post videographers accompanied McCrummen, who brought a printout of the fundraising page to the interview.
Again, Phillips had arrived early and was waiting for McCrummen, her purse resting on the table. Phillips said she didn’t want to get into the details of what she had said happened between her and Moore.
She said she wanted McCrummen to assure her that the article would result in Moore’s defeat, according to a recording. McCrummen instead asked her about her story regarding Moore.
At the Alexandria restaurant on Wednesday, Phillips said, “I’m not going to answer any more questions. I think I’m just going to go.”
She picked up her coat and bag and left the restaurant.