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| Jacob Wohl (L), Jack Burkman (R) |
Yesterday I reported on some shady shenanigans by Republican operatives who attempted to smear Democratic presidential contender Mayor Pete Buttigieg by alleging false accusations of sexual assault.
The allegations were made in the name of Hunter Kelly, a Michigan college student, but more details have come to light about the right-wing trolls who plotted the scheme.
Kelly tells
The Daily Beast that he had been communicating with known hoax-ster Jacob Wohl for several weeks. But last week, Wohl invited Kelly to the home of Jack Burkman in Baltimore to discuss gathering dirt on Mayor Pete as part of a “task force” set up by the Trump administration.
Wohl and partner Jack Burkman apparently paid for Kelly’s ticket to Baltimore and the duo picked him up shortly after midnight.
According to a statement
posted on his Facebook, Kelly says the two revealed a “draft” of an article that was to be posted on Medium accusing Buttigieg of sexually assaulting Kelly. Kelly says he wasn’t feeling comfortable about the idea, but Wohl told him to sleep on it as they had talked until about 4am.
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| (statement via Hunter Kelly's Facebook - click image to enlarge) |
But when Kelly awoke the next morning, Wohl allegedly informed the Michigan college student that the article had already been posted in Kelly’s name. Burkman apparently told Kelly that he was a “star” and people were “eating” him up.
After a lunch of Subway sandwiches, Kelly writes that he was feeling regretful about the lie, but was told with the article already posted “turning back on what had been published would look bad.”
Kelly asserts that Burkman promised to buy him “any house I wanted” to stay involved with the scam. It was during those discussions that Kelly says he was pressured into signing a ‘script’ about the fake sexual assault which was to have taken place in February at “the fancy Mayflower Hotel” in D.C.
Kelly’s statement goes on to say he spent the next hours dodging “hate mail and reporters left and right while getting dozens of texts from friends and family asking why the media was contacting them.”
He eventually ‘escaped’ from Burkman’s home by faking a nap, and calling his family to come pick him up. When he was informed his family had arrived, Kelly says he rushed downstairs and left saying he couldn’t take part in the scheme because “that is not the type of person I am.”
Kelly says Wohl posted more fake tweets on an account Wohl and Burkman had created where Kelly appeared distraught.
This isn’t Burkman and Wohl's first trip to the fake scandal rodeo.
Last year, the duo were accused of planning a busted scheme where they tried to pay a woman large sums of money
to falsely accuse Special Counsel Robert Mueller of sexually harassing her in the 1970’s in an effort to discredit Mueller. That little escapade didn't go any better than this.
Additionally,
The Daily Beast reports a second man has come forward saying Burkman & Wohl approached him about a similar scheme. He says he not only met with the two, but recorded the conversation. The Daily Beastconfirms they've heard the recording.
Kelly says he traveled to meet with the conservative provocateurs with the intention of “seeing what LEGITIMATE dirt we could get on Buttigieg.”
In his statement, he says he was never in D.C. in February; never met Buttigieg; and never been a victim of sexual assault.
“Jack Burkman may have promised me a lavish lifestyle, but at a price that would cost me the two most important things to me: honesty and integrity,” writes Kelly. “Had I gone forward with this despicable scheme they concocted, I would have lost both of those things and became another one of their useless pawns.”
Kelly also calls Wohl and Burkman “the real danger to our country.”
In response, Burkman alleges that it was Kelly who reached out to him to meet.
Burkman posted a copy of the signed ‘script’ along with a photo of Kelly holding his ID with the caption, “1. Very first thing Hunter Kelly did is sign a statement attesting to his accusation 2. He was in full control of all public disclosures, even taking a selfie with his ID to confirm his identity to
@MediumSupport MSM bullied him & his family into submission”
Burkman has also
tweeted calling Kelly his "former client" who was "pressured out of telling his truth."
The Twitterverse was not impressed:
