The special counsel investigation headed by Robert Mueller
referred new allegations to the FBI for investigation
yesterday. These new allegations don’t involve Russian meddling in American
elections, however. Instead, they relate to an attempt by conservative
activists to frame Mr. Mueller for sexual assault.
The story began when the Gateway Pundit
reported that “Robert Mueller was accused by a very credible witness of rape.”
The story, which has since been removed, alleged that Mueller raped a woman in
the St. Regis Hotel in New York in 2010.
The story quickly collapsed when two women claimed that they
had been offered money in exchange for
accusing Mueller of sexual misconduct. Lorraine Parsons, in an email obtained
by The
Atlantic, described how a man with a British accent from a company called
Surefire Intelligence had contacted her because she worked as a paralegal for Mueller in 1974. Parsons said
that the man told her he had been hired by “some sort of politics guy in
Washington named Jack Burkman.” Burkman is a talk show host and lobbyist best
known for pushing conspiracy
theories about the murder of Seth Rich.
Burkman tweeted at
noon on Tuesday, “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.”
Parson’s email describing the plot to defame Mueller was
sent to numerous journalists. In it, she described
how the man who contacted her “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.’”
In exchange for her testimony, she wrote, the man “offered
to pay off all of my credit card debt, plus bring me a check for $20,000 if I
would do” it. She added, “He knew
exactly how much credit card debt I had, right down to the dollar, which sort
of freaked me out.”
The trail to Surefire Intelligence showed that the company
was incorporated in Delaware only a few weeks ago per The Atlantic. The records
for the company’s website domain registry led to another activist, Jacob Wohl.
Wohl’s email was listed as a contact and a telephone number on the Surefire
website belonged to Wohl’s mother.
Wohl is an avid Trump supporter and former hedge fund
manager. He was accused
of cheating clients of his fund as well as using pictures of women without
permission on his website. More recently, Wohl has operated a conspiracy website,
The Washington
Reporter.
At midday on Oct. 30, Wohl teased the upcoming release of
the Mueller story, tweeting, “Several
media sources tell me that a scandalous story about Mueller is breaking
tomorrow. Should be interesting. Stay tuned!”
Interestingly, Jane Mayer of the New Yorker pointed out on Twitter
that Wohl and Matthew Cohen, the founder of Surefire Intelligence, bear a
striking resemblance to one another. In fact, the two appear to be the same
person.
If that weren’t enough, a second woman has also come forward
to claim that Surefire approached her about her “encounters with Robert
Mueller.” Jennifer Taub, a Vermont Law School professor, says that the company offered
to pay her for information about Mueller. Taub, who says that she has never met
or had contact with Mueller but has acted as a legal expert about the Mueller
investigation for news organizations, promptly forwarded the email from
Surefire to the special counsel office. Taub discussed the solicitation in a
phone call with MSNBC.
To its credit, the Gateway
Pundit has removed the allegations about Mueller from its website. A
message at the link where the story was posted says, “We took the documents
down and we are currently investigating these accusations. There are also very
serious allegations against Jacob Wohl. We are also looking into this.” The
site also notes, “There is still a press conference scheduled for Thursday at
noon in Washington DC.”
Both Burkman and Wohl deny the allegations against them. Burkman
tweeted,“The allegations of paying a woman are false.
The left is trying to defend Mueller against sex assault allegations so
they attack me in desperation.” Burkman also tweeted,
“The woman to whom we allegedly offered payment--Lorraine Parsons--does not
exist.”
In a series of tweets, Wohl said the media was “accusing me of offering to pay accusers with ZERO PROOF and ZERO EVIDENCE!” He also claimed
that “this ‘woman’ who claims she was offered payment is actually just an
invention of the MSM aimed at discrediting the actual accuser (who is VERY
credible).”
Wohl and Burkman both claim that their press conference will go ahead as scheduled on Thursday.
It should be interesting to see if they follow through with their plans and
who, if anyone, shows up to accuse Mueller with them.
Originally published on The
Resurgent
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