The FBI has been asked by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office to look into whether a group of Republican operatives has been offering women money to fabricate stories of sexual misconduct by the former FBI director.
As The Atlantic’s Natasha Bertrand reports, a spokesman for Mueller confirmed on Tuesday that the office recently referred a case to the FBI that involves right-wing activist Jack Burkman allegedly offering to pay women $20,000 each to make up false stories about the special counsel harassing them sexually.
Mueller’s office was alerted to the potential scheme by several journalists who said that a woman had told them that Burkman offered to pay her in exchange for bogus Mueller dirt.
“[He] offered to pay off all of my credit card debt, plus bring me a check for $20,000 if I would do one thing,” the woman told reporters in an email obtained by Bertrand. “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.”
Burkman himself this week teased that he was going to drop a scandal on Mueller, when he promised on Thursday to “reveal the first of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s sex assault victims.”
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