Right-wing operative trolls Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman (under the alias Matt Teller) have been trying to recruit young men to make false accusations of sexual assault against South Bend mayor and presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg.
The revelations come after a post by a young man named Hunter Kelly titled “Pete Buttigieg Sexually Assaulted Me” appeared on Medium and was later removed. The poorly-written post teased “more to come”…
Wohl (who with Burkman made a well-known failed attempt to smear Robert Mueller with sexual assault allegations, and attempted a birther smear on Kamala Harris) tweeted out the post. That tweet has since been removed.
The Daily Beast reports: ‘The source who spoke to The Daily Beast said Burkman and Wohl made clear that their goal was to kneecap Buttigieg's momentum in the 2020 presidential race. The man asked to remain anonymous out of a concern that the resulting publicity might imperil his employment, and because he said Wohl and Burkman have a reputation for vindictiveness. But the source provided The Daily Beast with a surreptitious audio recording of the meeting, which corroborates his account. In it, Wohl appears to refer to Buttigieg as a “terminal threat” to President Donald Trump's reelection next year.'
Kelly later admitted to The Daily Beast that he was part of a scheme when confronted about the attempt to drum up false accusations.
“Yes it is true,” he admitted.
He later posted this to Facebook: “I WAS NOT SEXUALLY ASSAULTED. It's important for everyone to know that I was not sexually assaulted and would never falsely accuse anyone. To keep it brief for now- I was approached by a political figure to come to DC to discuss political situations from the standpoint of a gay Republican. When I arrived they discussed Peter Buttigieg and started talking about how they would be working a campaign against him. I went to bed and woke up to a fake Twitter @RealHunterKelly and an article that I in no way endorsed or wrote.
I have since left and am working on a formal statement to give to everyone including the Buttigieg family. Thank you for standing behind me and knowing that I would never accept or allow any of this”
The Daily Beast also found that Wohl and Burkman have been working behind a false front company called Potomac Intelligence, similar to the fake company Wohl set up when he tried to smear Mueller with false sexual assault allegations.
Buttigieg responded to the plot, to the Daily Beast: “It's not going to throw us. Politics can be ugly sometimes but you have to face that when you're in presidential politics.”
