ARLINGTON, Va. — Conservative provocateurs Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman held a chaotic press conference in a suburban driveway to float rumors about Joe Biden’s health even as sexual assault allegations against South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg fell apart.
Wohl and Burkman are accused of pressuring male college student Hunter Kelly into making sexual assault claims against Buttigieg, who is gay. The pair at times competed with the sounds of airplanes and a high-volume garbage truck that arrived to collect Burkman’s trash.
They defended their allegations against Buttigieg and said they were now exploring rumors related to Biden and other Democratic presidential hopefuls.
In the middle of the press conference, Kelly released a statement calling Wohl and Burkman “chronic liars” and saying “I wish I could be there to watch the embarrassment that is going to take place.”
After a winding 15-minute talk about Kelly and Buttigieg by the pair, that made extensive use of visual aids displayed on a TV that was set up at the bottom of the staircase that led up to the podium at his front door, Burkman declared, “So we’ll move on now.
“That’s enough about Hunter Kelly and Mayor Pete. Now begins the 2020 election cycle.” Seizing on this opportunity to push other unsubstantiated allegations, Wohl proclaimed, “There’s rumors that we’re looking into and that we’re beginning to look into about Joe Biden’s health and that he’s very unhealthy. That he may have Parkinson’s. So we’re looking into this stuff.”
They signaled that this was likely to be just the beginning of their attacks on 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. The two of them mentioned numerous unverified rumors, indicating that beyond targeting Buttigieg and Biden they were also gearing up to go after Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and others as well.
Without providing context or evidence, Wohl claimed that “thus far the only candidate we’ve been able to vet is Bernie … and with Bernie there are rumors, but the rumors are not true.” He added: “We’ve looked into him and the rumors are not true and he’s a viable candidate. Bernie Sanders is the only one to receive the Wohl-Burkman seal of approval as of now,” Wohl said.
Burkman said, “You’ve heard of the ‘Good Housekeeping’ seal of approval? We will give the Wohl-Burkman political seal of approval for 2020 if we vet you and all these rumors are proven untrue.”
Wohl claimed that “the court of the internet is a very tough court” and said they “encourage the candidates to come here to air this out” because “if they come here and they clean this up and they show us the records … then we can put it aside.”
When asked by the Washington Examiner whether they were receiving any outside funding, Burkman responded, “No. Not a dime.” Wohl chimed in that “this stuff doesn’t cost a whole lot of money.”
“This stuff” includes a wide range of high-profile allegations made by Wohl and Burkman that have collapsed under scrutiny. Their latest effort, which according to the Daily Beast involved Wohl and Burkman trying to convince a number of people to level false allegations against Buttigieg, collapsed when Kelly said the allegations against Buttigieg had been falsely made in his name and were not true. “I WAS NOT SEXUALLY ASSAULTED,” Kelly posted on Facebook.
Wohl and Burkman said they had given the website “until high noon on Friday” to show them the audio it said it had obtained proving the plot or they would be sued for “$100 million dollars.”
The pair went after special counsel Robert Mueller back in 2018, claiming that sexual assault allegations were being leveled against him. The alleged accuser, Carolyne Cass, didn’t show up at the press conference that Wohl and Burkman held at a hotel on Nov. 1, 2018. She later said Wohl made it up and lied to her. Burkman said today that the allegations against Mueller “are wrapped up and in the past … we’ve moved on to election 2020.”
A firm called Surefire Intelligence, operated by Wohl, was connected to the Mueller smears, and a new firm, Potomac Intelligence, is connected to the latest effort going after Buttigieg.
The Examiner asked whether Wohl and Burkman would admit that Surefire Intelligence and Potomac Intelligence were run by them. Wohl said Surefire Intelligence was his firm but denied having anything to do with Potomac Intelligence or any of the other firms that had been connected to him.
They denied having anything to do with the “Protest Against Homophobic Bigots” that had supposedly been scheduled to take place outside Burkman’s home during the press conference. A since-deleted Eventbrite post had been set up using one of Wohl’s email accounts, but no protesters showed up.
When asked if they’d been contacted by law enforcement following any of their previous smears, Wohl said, “I can confidently tell you that we have never been spoken to by police in any way, shape, or form.”
Summing up what appeared to be the real purpose of their press conference, Burkman peered down at the scattering of journalists and the two half-eaten boxes of Dunkin Donuts he’d placed on top of a makeshift cardboard table and said, “We want you to think of this home — 1599 North Colonial Terrace — as the center for election 2020.”
