Correct me if I'm wrong here, but wouldn't this be a federal offense with possible prison time? So MAGA trolls are alleged to have tried to pay women to accuse the special counsel of sexual harassment and misconduct. Are some of Trump's supporters this desperate?
Mueller refers sex misconduct scheme targeting him to FBI for investigation
Special counsel Robert Mueller last week asked the FBI to investigate a possible scam in which a woman would make false claims that he was guilty of sexual misconduct and harassment, after several political reporters were contacted about doing a story on the alleged misconduct.
Multiple reporters were contacted over the past few weeks by a woman who said she had been offered money to say she had been harassed by Mueller, the special counsel who is probing possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. After investigating, according to the political website Hill Reporter, the reporters each independently determined the allegations of misconduct and harassment were likely a hoax and that it was unclear if the woman had been offered money to make the claim. The reporters then contacted the special counsel's office to report that they had been approached about the scheme.
"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," said Peter Carr, spokesperson for the special counsel.
While investigating the possibility of a hoax, the Hill Reporter's Ed Krassenstein, who was one of the reporters contacted, said he received threats, including a text message reading, "You're in over your head…. Drop this" which included his and another editor's home addresses.
Around the same time reporters began to be contacted about the misconduct allegations, Jack Burkman, a Republican lobbyist and radio host, began promoting, via his Facebook page, that he is investigating sexual misconduct and alcohol-related allegations against Mueller. On Tuesday morning he tweeted that he would hold a press conference two days later to "reveal the first of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's sex assault victims."
Over the past two years, Burkman has peddled a separate, evolving conspiracy theory that has blamed several different wild plots for the death of Democratic staffer Seth Rich, who was shot on a Washington street in 2016 during an apparent botched robbery.
Krassenstein told NBC News he reached out to the special counsel's office on Tuesday telling them what he knew about the scheme.
He also gave NBC News the phone numbers used by the woman alleging she was offered money to make the allegations, which were both disconnected.
The woman allegedly worked at the law firm Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro at the same time as Mueller in 1974. Reporters say she said she was supposed to claim the misconduct took place during that period. NBC News gave the woman's name to a spokesperson for the law firm, which is now called Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. In a statement, the spokesperson said, "We have no record of this individual working for our firm."
Krassenstein and other journalists also pointed to Jacob Wohl, a disgraced hedge fund manager turned pro-Trump conspiracy theorist and Surefire Intelligence, a company connected to him, as being involved with Burkman's alleged plot.
"I gave Burkman a call. I wanted to know who 'Surefire Intelligence' is. That's when he told me about Jacob Wohl," said Krassenstein. "To me, this was all a setup from somebody trying to discredit the media."
Early this morning, Wohl tweeted, "Several media sources tell me that a scandalous story about Mueller is breaking tomorrow. Should be interesting. Stay tuned!"
Reached by direct message on Twitter, Wohl denied having a hand in any plot to pay women making false allegations against Mueller. "I don't have any involvement in any investigations of any kind. I'm not quite that cool," he said.
The allegations still took off as far-right news sites tied to Wohl and known for spreading fake news and disinformation published viral posts. Gateway Pundit, where Wohl is employed as a writer, touted their "exclusive documents" about a "very credible witness."
In a statement, Surefire Intelligence tweeted that it "does not comment on current, past or future operations, nor the lack thereof."
Wohl declined to comment on his involvement with Surefire Intelligence. However, his email is listed in the domain records for Surefire Intelligence's website 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.
Wohl stopped responding to NBC News after being told Surefire's official phone number redirects to his mother's voicemail.
A few hours later, the Gateway Pundit published what it called "exclusive documents" it had obtained of an alleged sexual misconduct accusation against Mueller. The documents were partially redacted, but the top of each page included the phrase "International Private Intelligence" below a shorter, redacted line. International Private Intelligence is the slogan of Surefire Intelligence on the company's website.
The open-source intelligence group Bellingcat pulled apart the construction of the company's online presence. It found that someone with Jacob Wohl's email address was involved in the domain registration of the Surefire Intelligence website and that many of the LinkedIn profiles of people who reportedly worked there used stolen, edited photos of models as their profile images. One featured a photo of Israeli supermodel Bar Rafaeli. In another case, a fictitious profile of a Surefire financial investigator in Zurich had a black and white image of actor Christoph Waltz as its profile photo.
Gateway Pundit has now posted a message on its site that says, "Earlier today we were given information on accusations against former FBI Director Robert Mueller. We took the documents down and are currently investigating these accusations. There are also serious allegations against Jacob Wohl. We are also looking into this."
"There is still a press conference scheduled for Thursday at noon in Washington, D.C."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justic ... on-n926301
Woman targeted by inept plot to bring down US special counsel reveals how it rapidly fell apart
The apparent plot to bring down Robert Mueller by bribing women to make false sexual misconduct claims against him appears to have fallen apart, after emails revealed startling details about the conspiracy.
On Tuesday, Jennifer Taub, an associate professor at Vermont Law School, made public an email she received earlier this month in which the sender asked to speak to her regarding “past encounters” with Mr Mueller, who is investigating possible election collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
“I would like to discuss those encounters with you,” the email read. “I believe a basic telephone call, for which I would compensate you at whatever rate you see fit (inside reason), would be a good place to start. My organization is conducting an examination of Robert Mueller’s past.”
The letter, which Ms Taub forwarded on to the special counsel, came from someone claiming to be an employee at a purported private intelligence firm called Surefire Intelligence.
Ms Taub told MSNBC she had "no idea" why the "creepy" email was sent to her, but that she did not know and had never met Mr Mueller.
Her disclosure of the message came after Mr Mueller’s office announced – in a rare public statement – that it had asked the FBI to probe allegations another woman was offered $20,000 to make false accusations against the investigator.
Mr Mueller’s team were made aware of the allegations by several journalists, who received emails by someone who said she was called Lorraine Parsons. She claimed she used to work with Mr Mueller at law firm Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro in the 1970s.
In the email, which has been made public, the woman said she was offered $20,000 to make false sexual assault allegations by a man who said he worked for Surefire Intelligence. The man also offered to pay off her credit card debts, the email claimed.
“I asked him what in the hell he wanted me to do,” the email read. “He said that we could not talk about it on the phone, and he asked me to download an app on my phone called Signal, which he said was more secure.
“Reluctantly, I downloaded the app and he called me on that app a few minutes later. 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'.
“He said that he could arrange an additional $10,000 bonus from his client, who he said was a man named Jack Burkman, if I could sign the documents immediately.”
Jack Burkman matches the name of a right-wing conspiracy theorist and prominent Trump supporter, who claims he is about the make public the testimony of a woman alleging Mr Mueller sexually assaulted her.
“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,” Mr Burkman wrote on Twitter. “I applaud the courage and dignity and grace and strength of my client.”
In her email, Ms Parsons added that Mr Mueller was “always very polite” and “was never inappropriate" during their alleged time together at the law firm, and that she would not be part of a “Washington DC drama for any price”.
However, Ms Parsons’ identity could not be verified, and she refused to speak to reporters by phone. The law firm, Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro, also said it had no records of her having worked there.
When the Hill Reporter rang a phone number the woman had provided, it reported it received a text message back that read, “You’re in over your head…. Drop this”, alongside the home addresses of journalists working there.
The news outlet also said it later received a phone call from another number claiming to be a Surefire employee called Mike Wilcox. He allegedly told journalists there to “stop communicating with” Ms Parsons.
The identity of Ms Taub, however, is not in doubt and like Ms Parsons’ allegations, the email she received also purportedly came from a Surefire employee.
Surefire Intelligence, which purports to specialize in counter-intelligence, asset tracing and “in depth due diligence”, claims to have offices in the US, UK, Switzerland and London.
However, when The Independent attempted to contact the company's offices in London, Tel Aviv and Zurich, all failed to ring through.
NBC News reported domain records for the company – which was incorporated less than three weeks ago – are associated with the email address of Jacob Wohl, a far-right Twitter conspiracy theorist best known for his rapid responses to Mr Trump’s tweets and his penchant for visiting hipster coffee shops.
Mr Wohl, who has also touted a “scandalous story” about Mr Mueller in recent days, has repeatedly denied involvement with Surefire Intelligence, despite the fact his picture appears on the LinkedIn page of the firm’s alleged managing partner, Matthew Cohen.
One of the company’s phone numbers also redirected to the voicemail of Mr Wohl’s mother, while LinkedIn profiles of a number of alleged Surefire employees use images of a host of models and celebrity actors.
Surefire Intelligence's LA "Private Investigator" is British model/photographer Nick Hopper.
Surefire Intelligence's "Head of Government Relations" also works as a model for stock photos.
On Tuesday, right-wing news outlet The Gateway Pundit, for whom Mr Wohl writes for, published allegations of sexual assault “on or around” 2 August 2010 by Mr Mueller, citing documents from a firm with the tagline “International Private Intelligence” – the same tagline used by Surefire Intelligence.
Gateway Pundit later deleted the story, issuing an update that they were “investigating” accusations regarding the veracity of the documents, and “very serious allegations” against Jacob Wohl.
It is not clear exactly what those behind Surefire Intelligence are trying to achieve, but the bogus firm appears to be responsible for both the allegations against Mr Mueller, and at least one email attempting to muddy the waters.
Despite the plot's apparent disintegration, both Mr Wohl and Mr Burkman insist a press conference on 1 November in which sexual misconduct allegations will be made against Mr Mueller is going ahead.
Mr Wohl and Mr Burkman have been contacted for comment.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/robert-muell ... 43876.html
