Editor’s note: Scroll down for updates on this developing story.
Earlier today, reports that a big scoop on Robert Mueller would be dropping today had tongues wagging and eyebrows raised.
Jacob Wohl got the ball rolling yesterday:
Several media sources tell me that a scandalous story about Mueller is breaking tomorrow. Should be interesting. Stay tuned!
— Jacob Wohl (@JacobAWohl) October 30, 2018
The voices in your head don’t count as “sources,” Jacob. But we digress.
Wohl just told me his info is coming from a GOP lobbyist, which makes me increasingly worried. I fear that someone covering Mueller has fallen for a fake story.
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 30, 2018
I wasn't going to report on this, but I think my fears are coming true. Based on information that I am privy to, I believe false accusations will be spread about Mueller in order to discredit him and possibly the journalists who are preparing this story. https://t.co/HQXTvPYirD
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 30, 2018
Can confirm https://t.co/YwyDDtEt2h
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) October 30, 2018
SECOND source confirming knowledge of an attempt to pay people to make false accusations of assault against Mueller. https://t.co/YWFiQbVAqC
— Jessica Ellis (@baddestmamajama) October 30, 2018
Well, the scoop’s out there now:
“An alleged scheme to pay off women to fabricate sexual assault allegations against Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been referred to the FBI for further investigation” https://t.co/OPd1QCHeYp
— Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) October 30, 2018
More from the Atlantic:
An alleged scheme to pay off women to fabricate sexual assault allegations against Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been referred to the FBI for further investigation, according to a spokesman for the special counsel’s office, Peter Carr. “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,” Carr said in a statement on Tuesday.
The special counsel’s attention to this scheme—which was brought to the office by a woman claiming she herself had been offered money to make up sexual harassment claims against Mueller—and its decision to release a rare statement about it to reporters indicates the seriousness with which the office is taking the purported scheme to discredit Mueller in the middle of an ongoing investigation.
The special counsel’s office confirmed that the scheme was brought to its attention by several journalists who were told about it by a woman alleging that she herself had been offered roughly $20,000 by a GOP activist named Jack Burkman “to make accusations of sexual misconduct and workplace harassment against Robert Mueller.” The woman told journalists that she had worked for Mueller as a paralegal at the Pillsbury, Madison, and Sutro law firm in 1974. The firm has not returned a request for comment about whether the woman actually worked there.
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13 days ago I received this tip alleging an attempt to pay off women to make up accusations of sexual misconduct against Special Counsel Bob Mueller. Other reporters received the same email. Now the Special Counsel's office is telling us they've referred the matter to the FBI pic.twitter.com/oqh4Fnel5u
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) October 30, 2018
Can confirm that this is the original email. https://t.co/D2E82FVrlq
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 30, 2018
Here’s what Jack Burkman tweeted earlier today:
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
I posted a new video to Facebook https://t.co/aHUtae7sgt
— Jack Burkman (@Jack_Burkman) October 30, 2018
This sounds kinda familiar, to be honest.
"Simply outrageous!" – Avenatti https://t.co/QJcXEYQnPB
— Cuffy (@CuffyMeh) October 30, 2018
Heh. But seriously. Burkman doesn’t exactly ooze credibility:
That guy, @jack_burkman, also spread the thoroughly debunked #SethRich fantasy and encouraged ongoing harassment of Rich's entire family. https://t.co/BznVGe7jH2
— Brooke Binkowski (@brooklynmarie) October 30, 2018
Helluva guy. Basically, this could wind up having the exact opposite effect of what Jacob Wohl was hoping for.
Probably not the story he was expecting, lol pic.twitter.com/lOCwfzKWSh
— Alex Griswold, but Halloween-themed I guess (@HashtagGriswold) October 30, 2018
Once again, Wohl appears to have made an ass of himself. This time, though, he could be in actual trouble.
Some extremely unscrupulous disinformation peddlers on Twitter, like Jacob Wohl, appear to have had prior knowledge of this. I'm glad it's being handled proactively.https://t.co/xmBqgPIjdn
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) October 30, 2018
He was advertising something unspecified yesterday, seems it has totally backfired.
— Alistair Coleman (@alistaircoleman) October 30, 2018
But seriously, it's entirely possible the genius was spouting off on Twitter about his foreknowledge regarding a conspiracy to frame the special counsel.
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) October 30, 2018
Forget it … he’s Wohl-ing.
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with an additional tweet and text.
***
Updated:
Oh man …
Then there's a private intelligence company called SureFire Intelligence.
– A few days ago it posted about a media request from the New Yorker's Jane Mayer, who often reports on sexual assault.
-This afternoon it posted about a "flurry of press inquiries." hmm, wonder why?
3/ pic.twitter.com/LqCxWptVfh— Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) October 30, 2018
Sure looks like this weird "private intel agency" is the one that made the dodgy Mueller accusation. They claim to have been founded by ex-Mossad lol pic.twitter.com/jzjvLwhw4t
— Aric Toler (@AricToler) October 30, 2018
Guess who's behind Surefire Intelligence? Jacob Wohl.
Notice his name in the domain record. pic.twitter.com/OzuirS9buC
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) October 30, 2018
Hahahahahhaha Jacob Wohl (the "LA hipster cafe" guy) is tied to the DNS records for the place that did the "investigation" for this thing. He used [email protected] when setting up the site.https://t.co/PD5BkB4uwI pic.twitter.com/e7VQ41Th2P
— Aric Toler (@AricToler) October 30, 2018
This information was not changed or added ever since Wohl started tweeting about a Mueller accusation. Google cache from October 27 shows that his email was in the DNS records then (archived: https://t.co/kizJ9hVzAC) pic.twitter.com/oGhuefpFfT
— Aric Toler (@AricToler) October 30, 2018
That little bag of turds is in a world of trouble.
The FBI is going to sweep this up with a hand broom and a dust pan.
Dumbest conspiracy ever.https://t.co/fQu1pdY89k
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) October 30, 2018
This could get ugly … for Wohl, that is.
Uh oh. The Witch Hunt is in jeopardy! https://t.co/jhuMxt2S0N
— David Wohl (@DavidWohl) October 30, 2018
Your dumbass son didn't even manage to mask his name on the website he cooked up for this, Dave.
I had to put on an astronaut diaper because I was laughing so hard at you and your moron progeny, I was at risk of wetting myself.
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) October 30, 2018
Pro-tip, Dave.
When you try to cook up a fake website for a fake company as part of a conspiracy involving wire fraud and obstruction of justice, they generally advise against putting your name in the registration record. pic.twitter.com/e8pChX66ek
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) October 30, 2018
Okay, so not only did Jacob Wohl obviously have prior knowledge of the fabricated Mueller claims, he registered the website of the company pushing the claims.
Some would call this… oh idk, conspiracy to impede a federal investigation? https://t.co/fO5TEzX4TH
— Alex Griswold, but Halloween-themed I guess (@HashtagGriswold) October 30, 2018
Oooooof.
Jacob Wohl aka ? is really moving up in life. Investigated by the FEC for fraud in his teens and now a potential target in an FBI investigation in his 20s https://t.co/OKueHYCZ1m
— Evan Siegfried (@evansiegfried) October 30, 2018
Aaaaaaahahahahahahaha
?And now we go live to Jacob Wohl: pic.twitter.com/lQbhwBbtXV
— Lucky Dog Hot Sauce (@luckydoghot) October 30, 2018
Editor’s note: We’ve added still more tweets to this post. Because this Jacob Wohl stuff is straight-up insane.
***
Update:
Holy sh*t! There’s still more:
New from me + @brandyzadrozny + @tom_winter:
A company called “Surefire Intelligence” has ties to this Mueller smear.
Jacob Wohl denied having ties to Surefire.
Surefire’s official phone number redirects to a voicemail box registered to Jacob's mom.https://t.co/aVPzVDjGR4
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) October 30, 2018
Jacob gave us comment at first, but went quiet when we told him Surefire Intelligence's phone number redirected to a voicemail account registered to his mom.https://t.co/aVPzVDjGR4
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) October 30, 2018
You guys. We can’t.
— Hibitual Meddler (@Black_Greg) October 30, 2018
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
— goob ? (@goobisgoofy) October 30, 2018
I'm dying pic.twitter.com/z34TFzii84
— Contented Independent (@ContentedIndie) October 30, 2018
For the record, Jacob Wohl’s denying any wrongdoing:
The MSM has launched a coordinated smear campaign against me, claiming that I offered money to a woman to make accusations against Mueller? Their claims are BASELESS!
Who is this "woman"?
— Jacob Wohl (@JacobAWohl) October 30, 2018
Shot + chaser pic.twitter.com/0MXeR31DLJ
— Thor Benson (@thor_benson) October 30, 2018
Bless his heart.
The best thing about Jacob Wohl getting ensnared in a federal criminal conspiracy against Robert Mueller is that he's blathering about it on Twitter like a f***ing idiot. GET YOURSELF A LAWYER NOW, SON.
— Jeff B. (@EsotericCD) October 30, 2018
I've never heard of any child more determined to get sent to prison than Jacob Wohl
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) October 30, 2018
***
Update:
10. What a story this is turning out to be. https://t.co/1upSevRy4i
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) October 30, 2018
That’s putting it mildly.
NEW: Another woman, @jentaub, was contacted on October 22 by a man claiming to work for Surefire Intelligence, who offered to pay her to discuss her "past encounters" with Mueller. (She's never met Mueller.) Story has been updated: https://t.co/D84d2d82Nl
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) October 30, 2018
This is important — a woman says on the record that she was contacted by "Surefire Intelligence," which appears to be linked to right-wing tweeter Jacob Wohl https://t.co/HfXAj0Ch5D
— Chris Megerian (@ChrisMegerian) October 30, 2018
***
We’ve died at least a dozen times since this story broke.
This is getting better by the minute pic.twitter.com/zjhcBDSEeR
— The Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) October 30, 2018
Editor’s note: Some tweets and text have been removed from this post for use in a follow-up post. You can read that one here.
***
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