Trump seizes on Clinton-duck allegations

Donald Trump is seizing on a new undercover video from conservative provocateur James O’Keefe that suggests Hillary Clinton OK’d outside groups to follow him on the campaign trail with an activist in a Donald Duck costume.

{mosads}The charge is made in a new video from the Project Veritas Action Fund run by O’Keefe. It appears to show former Democracy Partners executive Robert Creamer talking about Clinton wanting a duck mascot to follow Trump around in order to draw attention to the fact that he has not released his tax records. 

“In the end, it was the candidate, Hillary Clinton, the future president of the United States, who wanted ducks on the ground. So by God we would get ducks on the ground,” Creamer says in the video.

Trump tweeted about the latest video on Monday evening, arguing it would be a violation of campaign finance law by showing coordination between a political candidate and an outside group — an allegation also made by O’Keefe.  

‘Democratic operative caught on camera: Hillary PERSONALLY ordered ‘Donald Duck’ troll campaign that broke the law’https://t.co/sTreHAfYUH

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 24, 2016

This is the third video O’Keefe’s group has released in recent weeks targeting the Clinton campaign and outside groups.

O’Keefe’s videos have been criticized in the past for being selectively edited, the better to make their targets look worse. 

It is far from clear that the Federal Election Commission would see a violation of campaign finance rules. The agency rarely brings enforcement actions against candidates, and its worries about coordination between campaigns and outside groups is focused on media advertising.

In a statement to Business Insider, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign noted a separate report that found Project Veritas itself was funded by Trump’s foundation.

“Wow,” said Zac Petkanas, a Hillary for America spokesman. “The latest so-called blockbuster video from this discredited right wing activist who was funded by Donald Trump’s sham foundation uncovers a legal ploy to highlight that the Republican nominee hasn’t released his tax returns. By the way, did we mention that Donald Trump still hasn’t released his tax returns?”

This story has been updated and corrected.