Is there a plot to smear Robert Mueller?

US Special Counsel Robert Mueller has asked the FBI to investigate what appears to be a bid to wreck his reputation through false sexual misconduct allegations.

“When we learned last week of allegations that women were offered money to make false claims about the special counsel, we immediately referred the matter to the FBI for investigation,” said a spokesperson for Mueller, who is investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 US elections.

The alleged plot appears “to be the latest, and one of the more bizarre, in a string of attempts by supporters of President [Donald] Trump to discredit Mueller’s investigation as a hoax and a witch hunt”, says The New York Times.

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If so, the attempt quickly proved a failure, “as news organisations unearthed gaps and inconsistencies in the allegations”, the newspaper adds.

Who’s involved?

At the heart of the plot appears to be Jack Burkman, a Republican lawyer and lobbyist. Burkman is “known for peddling right-wing conspiracy theories”, says the Times.

Responding to Mueller’s call on Tuesday for an FBI probe, Burkman tweeted: “The allegations of paying a woman are false.” The lawyer then promised to reveal fresh accusations against the special counsel at a news conference later this week.

Also tied up in the scandal is Jacob Wohl, a writer for conservative website Gateway Pundit. Wohl is “most famous for sending speedy sycophantic replies to Trump’s tweets and making implausible, factually dubious claims”, says Vox. Like Burkman, Wohl has denied being part of the alleged plot.

What happened?

On 17 October, “prominent reporters and Twitter personalities got a weird email, supposedly from a woman named ‘Lorraine’ who claimed that someone working for Jack Burkman had offered to pay her to make accusations of sexual misconduct against Mueller”, says Vox. The news site adds that as yet, “no one has yet been able to verify her identity or that she even exists”. Indeed, Burkman claims that there is no such person.

After Mueller’s office was told about the email, “it referred the matter to federal investigators, who are now likely to examine whether the hoax scheme described in the woman’s email is real – or if the email itself contains false information”, says The Guardian.

Meanwhile, earlier this week, a conservative website posted what it said was an “intelligence report” that included the account of another woman who reportedly had a sexual misconduct claim against Mueller.

But that “report” and the “intelligence agency” that generated it both “appear to be hoaxes”, says the National Public Radio (NPR) news site. An internet registry record associated with the “agency” listed the email of Wohl, and a phone number listed in connection with it belongs to Wohl’s mother, reports NBC News.

The FBI has said it will investigate all the claims thoroughly.

What was the point of the plot?

Wohl “may end up being the ultimate loser in this scenario”, depending on what the FBI finds, says Vox.

The statement from Mueller’s office was “rare”, given that it “almost never making public remarks about its activities outside of court hearings and legal filings”, The Guardian adds.

It is not clear whether the plan was “to embarrass Mueller or to try to embarrass reporters who reported on the purported allegations against the special counsel”, says NPR.

However, “if on some level trolls just want to steal the spotlight and change the subject [ahead of the US Midterms], then the plan succeeded”, Vox concludes.