Donald Trump donated to activist group accused of trying to place fake child abuse news in Washington Post

The Trump Foundation donated $10,000 to Project Veritas in 2015

Conservative undercover journalist James O'Keefe holds a news conference at the National Press Club (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Donald Trump previously donated to the activist group that reportedly tried to trick the Washington Post into publishing fake news.

The Post uncovered evidence suggesting that Project Veritas, a non-profit started by conservative activist James O’Keefe, launched a failed sting operation on the paper. The alleged operation began shortly after the Post published bombshell sexual misconduct allegations against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.

Post reporters say a woman came to them in the wake of the allegations, claiming to have been impregnated by the Senate candidate when she was a teen. The paper declined to publish her story after finding several inconsistencies – including a GoFundMe page in which she appears to have bragged about her new job “in the conservative media movement". The reporters later saw her walking into the Project Veritas offices in New York.

Neither the woman nor Project Veritas responded to requests for comment by the Post.

The development casts new light on reports that Mr Trump previously donated to Project Veritas through his charitable organisation. According to a list of Trump Foundation charitable donations obtained by the Post, the charity gave $10,000 to the Project Veritas on 13 May, 2015 – just one month before he declared his candidacy.

A Trump Foundation tax filing from 2015, however, lists two separate donations to Project Veritas, of $10,000 each. The filing, first obtained by ThinkProgress, suggests the foundation may have donated a total of $20,000 in one year.

Mr Trump also cited the organisation’s work during his campaign. In the third presidential debate, Mr Trump cited a Project Veritas video purporting to show that Hillary Clinton volunteers were paid to incite violence at his rallies.

"They hired people. They paid them $1,500, and they're on tape saying be violent, cause fights, do bad things," Mr Trump said.

The video in question does not mention anything about paying volunteers $1,500. No one is recorded encouraging people to “be violent,” though some do encourage volunteers to provoke Trump supporters. The videos were posted on Breitbart, the conservative news site operated by former Trump campaign manager Steve Bannon.

Mr O’Keefe has previously been accused of deceptively editing his videos to manipulate viewers. His most famous video, taken in the offices of now-defunct community organising group ACORN, purports to show employees telling him how to cover up human trafficking. It was later revealed that employees called the authorities to report possible human trafficking shortly after he left.

Mr Trump recently endorsed Mr Moore’s Senate campaign, despite the numerous sexual misconduct allegations published by the Post and other outlets. He has declined to campaign on behalf of the candidate.

The White House did not respond to The Independent’s request for comment.