Back in 2022, before Project Veritas removed James O’Keefe and he started his O’Keefe Media Group project, Project Veritas released a shocking undercover video showing a then-campaign field director for Rep. John Curtis, a supposed Republican, saying that the congressman was not in support of Utah’s “trigger law” on abortion but couldn’t come out and say so because voters would think he’s a RINO. Rep. Curtis is currently running for Utah’s open Senate seat, leading to the old Project Veritas video resurfacing.

As background, S.B. 174 is the so-called “trigger law” that went into effect on June 24 of 2022 after the Supreme Court reversed  Roe v. Wade in its Dobbs decision. The bill outlaws abortion in all but three cases: 1) when the mother’s life is at risk from the pregnancy, 2) if the pregnancy came as a result of rape or incest, or 3) if two “maternal fetal medicine” physicians agree that the fetus has a severe birth defect that would ultimately be lethal.

Shortly before the trigger law became operative law with the Dobbs decision, an undercover reporter for Project Veritas posed as a campaign volunteer and spoke to a field director for Rep. Curtis’ campaign, Daniel Stephens. As is the usual situation with Project Veritas videos, the undercover operative got the field director talking and admitting some somewhat embarrassing details.

In the video, Stephens claimed that Rep. Curtis doesn’t like S.B. 174 but won’t publicly admit his stance on the bill. Stephens said, “He does not like the trigger laws. He has not come out and stated it, that’s the problem.”

The undercover reporter then asked why Rep. Curtis would not admit in public that he is opposed to the trigger law. Responding, Stephens said that, were he to do so, voters would view him as a RINO on the abortion issue and shun him. Stephens said, “He won’t win. People think we’re a RINO (Republican in name only), and people think we’re an establishment conservative.”

As could be expected, the Project Veritas video created the impression that Curtis had a duplicitous view of the trigger law: in private, he is against the bill, but publicly, he won’t admit what he really thinks because doing so would make him look like a RINO.

Watch that video here:

After the video, Stephens called, during a conversation with James O’Keefe, Curtis’s campaign manager, Adrielle Herrings, to resign. She refused his resignation, saying that Stephens was not one of the spokespeople for the Curtis campaign. Later, Herrings told the Daily Herald, “PVA is a slimy organization. They don’t seem to care about John’s positions. They are focused on finding out if I’ve accepted Daniel’s resignation or fired him. They are on a power trip. What kind of a grown man derives a sense of power from setting up a young staffer who is working on his first campaign, strategically slicing video to sully the young man’s reputation, and then getting the young staffer fired? This isn’t respectable reporting. They are drama queens.”

Further, the Curtis campaign, after the video, re-released a statement that Curtis sent out went the draft of the Dobbs decision leaked. In that statement, Curtis said, “Assuming an eventual ruling is in line with this draft, I find reason for celebration. As someone that has lived the entire five decades of Roe v. Wade, I can’t begin to imagine the totality of suffering and unspoken cries of the unborn during this period.”

Curtis further added, in the statement, “I would welcome a ruling overturning Roe v. Wade and trust lawmakers at every level of government to pass legislation that aligns with their values, which in my view should include the preservation of life.”

Addressing the Project Veritas video itself, Rep. Curtis said, “Daniel has been very apologetic. But let’s face it, he’s a 23-year old who was set up. How many of us would like one of our conversations, unbeknownst to us, to be sliced up and put on the air. I think all of us would have a little sympathy for Daniel.”

Featured image credit: By CoreyNorman – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35412912