Erik Prince tried to have an intel operative train James O'Keefe -- but they quit because the 'prankster' was incapable of learning

On Friday, The Intercept published a detailed account of how Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, has thrived under the Trump administration, regaining influence on the world stage.

Prince, whose family has long supported conservative causes, grew close to the Trump campaign early on.

"During the campaign, Prince solidified his relationship with Steve Bannon, appearing on his Breitbart radio show on SiriusXM less than a month before Bannon formally joined the Trump campaign," writes reporter Matthew Cole.

"Four days before the 2016 election, Prince went on Bannon’s show and smeared Hillary Clinton, claiming without evidence that a New York City police investigation into former Rep. Anthony Weiner had uncovered extensive criminal activity by the Democratic presidential candidate," Cole continues. "Prince claimed that the Obama administration had suppressed the investigation implicating Clinton using 'Stalinist tactics.'"

In his efforts to promote the Trump campaign, Prince enlisted the help of James O'Keefe and Project Veritas. Trump had previously donated to Project Veritas, a right-wing group that has used undercover tactics to smear liberal groups.

"It is unclear if Trump’s support of Project Veritas spurred Prince’s interest in the group, but in late 2015 or early 2016, Prince arranged for O’Keefe and Project Veritas to receive training in intelligence and elicitation techniques from a retired military intelligence operative named Euripides Rubio Jr," Cole found.

The operative was not impressed.

"According to a former Trump White House official who discussed the Veritas training with Rubio, the former special operative quit after several weeks of training, complaining that the Veritas group wasn’t capable of learning."

Read the entire report of Prince's unlikely comeback here.