Special counsel Robert Mueller has informed the FBI that women were allegedly “offered money” if they would make “false claims” about him, a spokesperson told CNBC 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,” spokesman Peter Carr told the network in a statement.
According to the special counsel’s office, they were informed of the “scheme” by journalists who were approached by a woman who said that conservative commentator and lobbyist Jack Burkman offered her $20,000 “to make accusations of sexual misconduct and workplace harassment against Robert Mueller.”
Burkman, who previously spread a conspiracy theory about murdered Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, claimed on Twitter Tuesday that “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.”
Last July, the lobbyist invited several publications to watch him interview a whistleblower that he claimed could prove Rich’s murder was orchestrated by the government, but the witness never showed up in person. He also claimed in 2017 to represent a woman who he said would accuse a member of Congress of sexual assault.
He later issued a “big apology” after his client did not appear at a press conference, according to The Daily Beast.