Surefire Intelligence Robert Mueller Smear Plot
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Overview
Surefire Intelligence Robert Mueller Smear Plot refers to an alleged scheme to pay women to accuse FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller of sexual misconduct in an attempt to smear his reputation. The controversy was widely publicized online in late October 2018 after evidence emerged that conservative lobbyist Jack Burkman was involved in pushing the allegations and pro-Trump activist Jacob Wohl orchestrated the campaign through an agency named Surefire Intelligence.
Background
On October 30th, 2018, conservative Twitter personality Jacob Wohl, previously known for his I Just Left a Hipster Coffee Shop tweets and for being accused of defrauding investors,[3] tweeted suggesting major allegations were about to drop against Special Counsel Robert Mueller (shown below).
Developments
That day, several reporters revealed that on October 17th, they received an email with an "urgent tip" from a woman named "Lorraine" saying she had been offered money to accuse Robert Mueller of sexual misconduct.[1]
Reporters were unable to verify the claims or even existence of "Lorraine." In response to Wohl's tweet, reporter Scott Stedman[2] posted his direct messages with an anonymous person "Lorraine" referred him to. This person was allegedly behind the payment offer, and he claimed to be working for Jack Burkman, a conservative lobbyist.
Hill Reporter[4] reported that day that the Special Counsel had alerted the FBI to a scheme to accuse Mueller of sexual misconduct. Shortly after, Jack Burkman tweeted that he was going to have a press conference with the woman accusing Mueller of sexual misconduct on November 1st (shown below).
The conservative site Gateway Pundit, in a since-deleted post, posted details of the allegations, saying they took place on August 2nd, 2010.[5] On August 2nd, 2010, The Washington Post[6] had reported that Mueller was in court for jury duty.
Jacob Wohl's Involvement
Speaking to Hill Reporter, Burkman linked his information to Surefire Intelligence, saying the company was run by Jacob Wohl. Wohl denied his involvement with Surefire Intelligence, but Hill Reporter verified that Wohl's email was listed SOA: RNAME record. Wohl is also a contributor to Gateway Pundit.
According to Hill Reporter's research, Surefire Intelligence was incorporated on October 9th, 2018, and its listed phone numbers "come up empty" and its addresses "have no real presence." Twitter user Aric Toler[7] looked up Surefire Intelligence employees on LinkedIn and discovered that the photos used for the accounts were easily reverse-searched and that one of the "employees" of the company used a photo of actor Christoph Waltz (shown below).
NBC News[8] investigated the story and discovered that when calling Surefire Intelligence, they were redirected to another number, which turned out to be the number of Jacob Wohl's mother. Additionally, Jane Meyer of the New Yorker pointed out that the Linkedin profile for Surefire Intelligence Managing Partner Matthew Cohen appeared to be a photoshopped image of Wohl (shown below).
Jacob Wohl and the scandal earned a devoted thread on KiwiFarms where people discussed his failure to conjure credible allegations.[10]
November 1st Press Conference
On November 1st, Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman appeared before reporters to announce their allegations against Robert Mueller. They were scheduled to appear with the woman supposedly accusing Mueller, fashion designer Carolyne Cass, but the woman never appeared.[9] The men said the woman "panicked" and decided not to show and instead presented a signed affidavit that claimed Mueller raped her on August 2nd, 2010. No other evidence was given, and they stated that the Washington Post story from August 2nd, 2010 that placed Mueller at jury duty was leaked by his team. Notably, in the affidavit, Cass' name was spelled "Carolyn" without an "e." After insisting this was the correct way to spell her name, Burkman conceded to reporters that it was spelled with an "e" and quipped "Even the Declaration of Independence had misspellings."
The pair, who had previously said they had seven women accusing Mueller, later conceded this was not the case. They could not answer questions about Mueller's security detail during the supposed day of assault, how Wohl knew Cass, or about the allegations that the women involved had reported that they had been offered money to make false allegations against Mueller. After the conference, Gateway Pundit founder Jim Hoft stated the site had suspended its relationship with Wohl. At one point, Burkman stated that Wohl was "a child prodigy that has eclipsed Mozart."
Jacob Wohl vs. Chrissy Teigen
On October 30th, reacting to Jacob Wohl's name trending, model Chrissy Teigen tweeted,[11] "can someone break down with jacob wohl did in one tweet. like a cliffs note please – my timeline is a mess I don’t have the energy." The tweet received more than 800 retweets and 21,000 likes in three days.
Two days later, Wohl responded to the post by tweeting at Teigen, "I became more famous than you. That’s what happened." Additionally, Wohl included a Google Trends breakdown of the search interest. The post received more than 100 retweets and 1,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below, left). Teigen responded,[12] "This is literally just a graph proving people had to google your dumbass to figure out who you are." The tweet received more than 33,000 retweets and 319,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below, right).
On November 1st, The Daily Dot [13] reported on the conversation.
On February 26th, 2019, USA Today[14] published a profile on Wohl that included a statement from Carolyne Cass, the accuser in the Mueller allegations. In the article, she claimed that she met Wohl on Craigslist, and he proceeded to trick her into convincing her that he was an investigator named Matthew Cohen.
Cass went on to say that the document accusing Mueller was made up by Wohl.
That day, Daily Beast[15] writer Will Sommer tweeted the excerpt from the article with the caption "Remember Jacob Wohl's disastrous press conference smearing Robert Mueller? His Mueller accuser now says Jacob tricked her and made it all up." The post recived more than 1,400 retweets and 3,100 comments in 24 hours (shown below).
Search Interest
External References
[2] Twitter – @ScottMStedman
[3] Daily Beast – Jacob Wohl, Teen Hedge Funder Turned Pro-Trump Media Star, Was Accused of Cheating Clients
[4] Hill Reporter – Special Counsel Alerts FBI Of Scheme To Pay Women To Accuse Mueller Of Sexual Assault
[5] Buzzfeed News – Robert Mueller's Office Has Asked The FBI To Investigate Allegations That A Woman Was Offered Money To Accuse Him Of Sexual Harassment
[6] Washington Post – Hey, Isn't That? Robert Mueller summoned to jury duty
[7] Twitter – Aric Toler's Thread
[8] NBC News – Mueller refers sex misconduct scheme targeting him to FBI for investigation
[9] Daily Beast – Mueller Smear Pushed by Pro-Trump Activists Falls Apart At Press Conference
[10] KiwiFarms – Noted MAGA Enthusiast Young Person Jakob Wohl Does the Impossible Uniting Twitter
[11] Twitter – @chrissyteigen's Tweet
[12] Twitter – @chrissyteigen's Tweet
[13] The Daily Dot – Chrissy Teigen and Jacob Wohl are sparring on Twitter
[14] USA Today – This 21-year-old tweeted lies about Robert Mueller and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Now, he’s eyeing the 2020 election
[15] Twitter – @willsommer's Tweet