In a rare statement issued Tuesday, spokesman for the Special Counsel’s Office led by Robert Mueller, Peter Carr wrote, “when we learned last week of allegations that women were offered money to make false claims about the special counsel, we immediately referred the matter to the FBI for investigation.”
According to journalist at such media outlets as the Hill Reporter, Buzzfeed, and the Daily Beast, they have received an email from a woman who explains that she lives in Florida, once worked as a paralegal at the law firm, “Pillsbury, Madison, and Sutro in 1974 (now called Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman),” with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. In the email she alleges that a man “with a British accent,” contacted her and offered to pay off her credit card debt along with issuing her a check in the amount of “$20,000,” if the woman was willing to do one thing, she writes, “He said (and I will never forget exactly what it was) ‘I want you to make accusations of sexual misconduct and workplace harassment against Robert Mueller, and I want you to sign a sworn affidavit to that effect’.”
Hill Reporter’s Ed Krassenstein explains that he along with other journalists attempted to verify the woman’s story, but, “we all reached a conclusion that this was likely a hoax of some sort. No one by the name provided lived in Fort Myers, Florida according to the numerous background checks which we ran.” They also reached out to the law firm where the woman claimed to have worked and were told, “we have no record of this individual working for our firm.” The woman declined to speak with reporters over the phone.
Krassenstein goes on to write that it was decided they’d investigate the matter to see if they could uncover who was behind what appears to be a hoax.
For this effort Krassenstein says they received threatening messages such as, “You’re in over your head…. Drop this.” The message allegedly included his home address along with another editors home address.
It was according to several reports around the same time that reporters were receiving this “questionable” email, that a conservative radio host and Republican lobbyist, Jack Burkman, who is also mentioned in the email, started “promoting, via his Facebook page, that he is investigating sexual misconduct and alcohol-related allegations against Special Counsel Robert Mueller.”
It is here where the story becomes a bit tangled, Burkman told Krassenstein, that he was familiar with a company called “Surefire Intelligence,” and that the man that runs that company is Jacob Wohl.
Whol according to NBC News is a disgraced hedge fund manager turned pro-Trump conspiracy theorist.” The NBC News article also explains that Krassenstein and other journalists believe that Whol, who denies any connection to Surefire Intelligence, is involved with Burkman’s alleged plot. Krassenstein tells NBC News, “I gave Burkman a call. I wanted to know who ‘Surefire Intelligence’ is. That’s when he told me about Jacob Wohl. To me, this was all a setup from somebody trying to discredit the media.”
NBC News goes on to say that while Whol denies a connection to Surefire Intelligence, “his email is listed in the domain records,” and “calls to a number listed on the Surefire Intelligence website went to a voicemail message which provided another phone number, listed in public records as belonging to Wohl’s mother.” NBC News notes that Wohl stopped responded to requests for comments after being told “Surefire’s official phone number redirects to his mother’s voicemail.”
The Atlantic is reporting that Burkman emailed them, calling the FBI referral “a joke, mueller wants to deflect attention from his sex assault troubles by attacking me.” In a separate email he explains he has a credible witness who will, “allege that Mr. Mueller committed against her a sexual assault.”
The Atlantic also states there is another woman, Jennifer Taub, that received a similar email from Surefire, asking her the same questions about encounters she’s had with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. According to the article Taub who does appear on CNN as an expert commentator on the Mueller probe, states, she has never had “any encounters with Mueller.”
Tuesday on Twitter as it was being reported that Special Counsel’s Office has referred this matter to the FBI for investigation, Burkman, Wohl, Surefire, and other’s tweeted.
Burkman writes that on Thursday he will be holding a news conference with a Robert Mueller accuser.
Some sad news. On Thursday, November 1, at the Rosslyn
Holiday Inn at noon, we will reveal the first of Special Counsel Robert
Mueller's sex assault victims. I applaud the courage and dignity and
grace and strength of my client. pic.twitter.com/wZVQeHD45r— Jack Burkman (@Jack_Burkman) October 30, 2018
Whol tweeted the news reports that connect him to the plot to pay women to accuse Robert Mueller of sexual misconduct are FAKE NEWS.
As always, the MSM spins up FAKE NEWS to protect the Mueller Witch Hunt!
— Jacob Wohl (@JacobAWohl) October 30, 2018
Surefire Intelligence issued a Public Statement via tweets.
confidential under attorney-client privilege. Finally, Surefire Intelligence always conducts itself well within the limits of legal and ethical standards and categorically denies and rejects any claims that suggest otherwise. (2/2)
— Surefire Intelligence (@SurefireIntel) October 30, 2018
