The Atlantic reports that Special Counsel Mueller has referred a case to the FBI for investigation after a woman went to several journalists claiming she’d been offered $20,000 to make false sexual harassment claims against Mueller.

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.

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 wrote to the journalists in an email, a copy of which I obtained. “In more of an effort to get him to go away than anything else, I asked him what in the hell he wanted me to do. He said that we could not talk about it on the phone, and he asked me to download an app on my phone called Signal, which he said was more secure. Reluctantly, I downloaded the app and he called me on that app a few minutes later. 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.’”

And that’s really the whole story. Atlantic reporter Natasha Bertrand adds that the woman in question would not speak to anyone on the phone so they haven’t really confirmed her story. Another reporter, Scott Stedman, who was approached by the same woman described his experience on Twitter. Stedman seems very suspicious that this story may not be on the level.

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

Stedman found the woman’s story “to be unreliable” and confirms she wouldn’t talk on the phone or give out any other contact info. But it’s the exchange with the alleged intermediary  (reproduced in that second tweet) that raises some red flags.

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 agree with Stedman that the messages from the intermediary seem sketchy. Usually, if a reporter contacts you about a possibly illegal act, the last thing you do is confirm it’s true and the second to last thing you do is tell them to drop it. A genuinely guilty person would be more likely to respond, ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’

Stedman says “I concluded that this was an effort to discredit the media,” which makes it sound like a possible stunt, i.e. the kind of thing 4chan might pull to embarrass reporters by getting them to bite on a false lead.

To be clear, I’m not concluding this is a stunt. All I can say is that the two witnesses seem a bit odd. The woman acting as a whistleblower seems too guarded while the intermediary seems too forthcoming. But now that this is going to be looked at by the FBI, I guess we’ll find out soon enough whether this is a genuine cabal trying to undercut Mueller or something else.

Update: I thought I was done writing this but now we’re getting more reason to think this might be some kind of prank or stunt:

I want to make this entirely clear: There is ZERO evidence that a woman actually exists in this story. The only people known to be involved are Wohl and Burkman.

— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 30, 2018

This started w/ a person claiming to be 'Lorraine' emailing that 'she' worked with Mueller at a law firm in 1974. The law firm she named, Pillsbury, says no Lorraine worked in its S.F. office with Mueller in the 1970's. That's a fact. The rest seems fishier than a tuna sandwich.

— Jane Mayer (@JaneMayerNYer) October 30, 2018

Also, the “intermediary” has now disconnected his phone:

The "woman" who started this entire thing doesn't appear to exist. The law firm says she never worked there. The phone number of the intermediary who allegedly offered the cash has been disconnected. https://t.co/qmlc4igDOX

— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 30, 2018

So it’s looking more and more like this was some kind of stunt. I’ll update this if anything else pops up this afternoon.

Update: More evidence from NBC News:

Around the same time reporters began to be contacted about the assault allegations, Jack Burkman, a Republican lobbyist and radio host, began promoting, via his Facebook page, that he is investigating sexual misconduct and alcohol-related allegations against Mueller. On Tuesday morning he tweeted that he would hold a press conference two days later to “reveal the first of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s sex assault victims.”

This also involves a guy named Jacob Wohl and a (fake) company called Surefire Intelligence:

In a statement, Surefire Intelligence tweeted that it “does not comment on current, past or future operations, nor the lack thereof.”

Wohl declined to comment on his involvement with Surefire Intelligence. However, his email is listed in the domain records for Surefire Intelligence’s website and calls to a number listed on the Surefire Intelligence website went to a voicemail message which provided another phone number, listed in public records as belonging to Wohl’s mother.

Wohl stopped responding to NBC News after being told Surefire’s official phone number redirects to his mother’s voicemail.

So, apparently, the plan wasn’t to create semi-credible accusations of sexual assault against Mueller. That is awful but it would at least make sense from a hyperpartisan, very cynical point of view, i.e. undercutting the person investigating Trump. The plan was to convince people in the media that Jack Burkman was trying to pay women to make false allegations. So if the media had believed it, they wouldn’t have believed anything bad about Mueller (because the accusations were presented as false), only about Burkman (for suborning the false testimony). Then I guess Burkman would have revealed that he hadn’t done anything wrong but the media fell for it. So it’s making yourself look like a crook to own the libs…I guess?