Robert Mueller by DonkeyHotey, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0/Original

Talk about irony.  Jack Burkman, a conservative “activist” I’ve never heard of, has announced a press conference for Thursday to detail allegations of improper sexual advances by the special counsel investigating whatever the hell he wants to investigate, Robert Mueller.

https://twitter.com/Jack_Burkman/status/1057304918745333760

According to a report by CNBC, Mueller is claiming that he is being targeted for claims of sexual harassment.

Special counsel Robert Mueller has referred to the FBI allegations that women were “offered money” to make “false claims” about him, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Spokesman Peter Carr released this statement to CNBC:

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.

One person who claims to have seen the proof says the woman will charge Mueller with rapey-ness. Burkman says it is all part of a pattern by Mueller:

It must be nice to be able to refer allegations of sexual misconduct to the FBI and have them investigate your accuser. Too bad the rest of us can’t do that. In fact, even a nominee to the Supreme Court doesn’t get that benefit of a doubt.

This is how someone who alleges to have had the story shopped to them says it unfolded. I think this story fits on the credibility scales somewhere between fishy and laughable because it makes no sense to shop this story to a freelance “investigative journalist” who may or may not be able to find a buyer plus he’s not associated with the political right and there is no reason he’d be willing to do the story–in fact, his Twitter timeline reads like that of any Resistance fluffer on the fringes of legitimate employment.

2 weeks ago, I, along with other journalists were set an email from a woman who alleged that she was a former colleague of Mueller. She said that Jack Burkman, via an intermediary, offered her tens of thousands to make up sexual assault claims against Mueller.

— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 30, 2018

The intermediary, in messages to me (see attached) confirmed the story. I don't know the true identity of this person OR the person who sent the original email. pic.twitter.com/enmGokk0vM

— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 30, 2018

I don't know what to make of what has transpired. I didn't find the woman reliable. I found that the intermediary was oddly eager to share details. I came public with this story because Jacob Wohl teased that this was coming. He appears involved in the campaign as well.

— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 30, 2018

I faced a huge internal struggle here. I didn't want to give these people any credence, but when I learned that Burkman and Wohl were going through with this, I felt the need to speak up.

— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 30, 2018

Resistance mouthpiece Natasha Bertrand is all over the claim the woman is getting paid:

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.

Paying someone to come forward is hardly a crime, and as women don’t lie about sexual assault, there really isn’t any story here but misogyny and slut-shaming reporters trying to cover for Mueller.

I don’t have any particular insights into the truthiness of these claims–at least no more than Alyssa Milano had into the Kavanaugh accusations. It does take a lot of balls to launch false accusations against someone who can probably get you indicted unless you have some proof. That leads me to believe that there may be a kernel of truth here somewhere.

What I do know is this. This claim will have every bit of the evidence produced by Christine Ford, perhaps even more. Based on the “Believe Women” standard, the special counsel’s office characterization of this as a false claim is problematic. The seriousness of this allegation, not the veracity of the accuser, is what must be investigated and any presumption of innocence is nullified by the nature of the charges. It follows from that that an investigation is required and that Mueller should be suspended until the investigation is complete.

https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1057324457767899136

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