Despite repeated rounds of insistence from Republican leaders that Special Counsel Robert Mueller would wrap up his investigation soon — or else, basically — he’s still working. He’s brought four former Trump associates to justice, and there’s little public way of knowing what direction he’ll go next. In the meantime, though, a Republican activist apparently took it upon himself to try and presumably force Mueller out of his position via faked sexual misconduct allegations.
Republicans are often the ones to cry foul in the political arena when sexual misconduct allegations arise, so it’s ironic that yet again they’re the ones who have been caught faking them.
According to a report in The Atlantic, citing the testimony of an unnamed woman, conservative activist Jack Burkman has been trying to pay off women to make up fake sexual misconduct allegations involving Mueller.
Burkman allegedly offered the woman $20,000 and payment covering any of her credit card debt if she would sign a sworn affidavit telling the story of sexual abuse at Mueller’s hands. The woman — who initially remains anonymous — did not speak with reporters by phone, but told her story via email, explaining how Burkman pressured her into downloading a secure communications app (Signal) and then made his offer.
He’s denied knowing the woman in question, and asserted that he’s going to present a credible Mueller victim to the world this coming Thursday. He’s known, though — besides for his Trump support — for diving headfirst into conspiracy theories like the story that Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was murdered as part of some sort of cover-up. That theory reached as high in the right wing as Fox News host Sean Hannity, and the Rich family has fiercely rebuffed it along the way
Burkman has offered money to those willing to reveal supposed wrongdoing in the past, having offered $25,000 for individuals inside the FBI willing to speak of supposed misconduct at the agency during the 2016 election. It’s a continuously held position among Republicans that authorities were in the wrong for ever launching the Russia investigation that Mueller currently leads in the first place.
Mueller’s office has made a rare public statement condemning the allegations against the special counsel and revealing they’d referred the scheme to the FBI for investigation.
Spokesman Peter Carr asserted on Tuesday:
‘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.’
The story emerges in the midst of a continued national reckoning with the long under the surface epidemic of sexual harassment and assault. Among the most recent high profile cases, Trump U.S. Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh faced credible accusations of sexual assault, but Republicans didn’t believe his accusers and voted him into office anyway.
It’s one of many issues weighing on voters as the midterms quickly draw to a close next week, when Democrats are expected to become set as the majority party in the U.S. House come 2019 and perhaps get many more government office pick-ups across the nation.
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