Right-wing operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, who have failed in attempts to smear Pete Buttigieg, Robert Mueller, and Kamala Harris, held a press conference on Wednesday morning at Burkman's Northern Virginia apartment behind a podium that had been dragged on to the porch. Parts of the press conference couldn't be heard as garbage men collected the trash on the curb (watch video).
The press conference was ostensibly about their failed scheme to smear Mayor Pete Buttigieg with sexual assault allegations.
BACKGROUND: Fake Sexual Assault Accuser Spills Details on Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman's Scheme to Smear Pete Buttigieg
According to Daily Beast reporter Will Sommer, who attended and tweeted the tragic event, jokers Burkman and Wohl claimed fake Buttigieg accuser Hunter Kelly would be at the press conference, “even though he's recanted and said Wohl and Burkman made it all up.” Said Sommer: “I asked Kelly whether he'd be here and he responded with a series of 😂emojis.”
Sommer tweeted that Wohl stood at the top of the stairs ‘going through grainy footage of their Buttigieg “accuser” with a Starbucks drink like it's the Zapruder tape: “Most forced coercion events…do not involve caramel frappucinos.”'
Burkman reportedly gave the Daily Beast until “high noon” on Friday to recant its story about their failed scheme or face a $100 million lawsuit, declared his home to be the “center of 2020” for the whole country, and demanded that 2020 candidates all come to his house and submit to a background check to receive the “Wohl-Burkman Seal of Approval,” Sommer tweeted.
Meanwhile, fake Buttigieg accuser Hunter Kelly, who revealed the fake Wohl-Burkman scheme after deciding not to take part in it, called them “liars” and “fraudsters” in a statement released on Twitter (above).
Yesterday, the Daily Beast revealed that Wohl had launched a fake protest ahead of this press conference, and once again got caught.
The Daily Beast reported: ‘Wohl and his ally, Republican lobbyist Jack Burkman, have been planning to hold a press conference Wednesday at Burkman's Northern Virginia house to push a baseless sexual assault smear against Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg. But on Monday, Burkman tweeted a link to an Eventbrite event page called the “Protest Against Homophobic Bigots” which he claimed was being used to organize a protest against his press conference with Wohl. “Hundreds of leftist protestors are set to descend on our Wednesday Press conference,” Burkman tweeted,” Burkman tweeted. “We WILL NOT surrender to the mob! We've called in extra security to guard our safety and that of our partners in the media.”'
Last week, Wohl and Burkman (under the alias Matt Teller) were caught trying to recruit young men to make false accusations of sexual assault against South Bend mayor and presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg.
The revelations came after a post by 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 reported: ‘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. Kelly spilled details of the scheme which fell apart after he had second thoughts about taking part.
Wohl and Burkman booked Kelly a flight to Burkman's home in Baltimore, where they gave him details of the plan, the Daily Beast reported. The plan included a press conference where Kelly would say Buttigieg sexually assaulted him in D.C. though Kelly had never set foot there. Wohl, who created the Twitter and Medium accounts in Kelly's name and posted to them without his input or permission, also promised to buy him “any house I wanted” for going through with the plan.
Kelly called family to come pick him up and described packing his things before going downstairs and telling the men “I could not do this because that is not the type of person I am.”
Said Kelly: “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. 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.”
