Jacob Wohl Staged Fake FBI Raid on Business Partner, Actor Hired for Production Says

[catbyte]

A Virginia man who responded to a Craigslist ad seeking actors to play FBI agents quickly discovered he’d been roped into yet another Wohl/Burkman hoax

Lachlan Markay
Will Sommer
Adam Rawnsley

Updated Sep. 14, 2020 2:29PM ET

A supposed FBI raid of a home of an infamous Republican dirty trickster appears to have been a ruse—one that began falling apart even as its perpetrators managed to dupe a major national newspaper.

On Monday, a Virginia man who responded to a Craigslist ad seeking actors to play FBI agents for a television pilot came forward to say that he’d been roped into the latest hoax orchestrated by bumbling right-wing smear merchants Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl.
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Tommy Abraham told The Daily Beast in an interview on Monday that the Craigslist ad offered $400 cash payments to white male actors who agreed to don FBI badges and windbreakers and film a series of scenes at Burkman’s home in Arlington, Virginia. In the pre-dawn hours of Monday morning, Abraham said that he and a handful of others who responded to the ad converged on Burkman’s home and were filmed acting out an FBI raid there. Abraham supplied documentary evidence to back up his assertions, including emails from an address bearing the name of a company Wohl once ran.

By Monday afternoon, news of the fake raid had already been reported as genuine by The Washington Post, and Burkman was insinuating that high-level government officials were retaliating against him for his efforts to root out corruption in Washington. A person going by the name Bev Donahue sent a series of photos and video clips of the “raid” to reporters, and shared them on an eponymous twitter account created in August. But there’s evidence that “Donahue” is just a pseudonym for Wohl. That Twitter account is associated with an email address beginning with “ja” and a cell phone number that, like Wohl’s, ends with the digits 91.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jacob-wohl-staged-fake-fbi-raid-on-business-partner-actor-hired-for-production-says

[tblue37]

1. Wohl and Burkman should have been jailed long ago. nt

[SheltieLover]

12. This!👆

[Iliyah]

2. I rolled my eyes when I saw the initial report . . .

And gosh it was all staged. I would think the F.B.I may have something to say about that.

[tblue37]

16. Isn't impersonating an FYI agent a federal crime? nt

[Lochloosa]

3. WTF is wrong with these people.

[fleur-de-lisa]

4. Mini Trumps. They thrive on chaos and attention.

If they don't get attention, they will manuracture some crisis to ensure its delivery.

[Maru Kitteh]

5. Somebody explain to me why/how that little fucker isn't in jail?

[Lithos]

7. Impersonating FBI is a crime

One which is generally enforced. Should be interesting.

[GopherGal]

14. I wonder...

if the supposed "target" of the fake FBI raid was in on the hoax, has a crime been committed?
If their impersonation of federal agents served to elicit the compliance of a non-cognizant victim, that would be a crime, but if the person to whose home access was obtained knew they weren't real Feds, maybe it was just legally permissible theater?

[not_the_one]

15. Are you using pretzel yoga to find a justification for this outrage?

It is all in the name of art... Right.



Your lack of concern is duly noted.

[GopherGal]

18. Not at all

Not at all saying that would justify it. And certainly not saying it was "art".
Whatever the motive (and the only ones I can think of are attention seeking and legal defense fundraising), I think it's a given that these are despicable people and actions.

I am trying to reverse engineer the logic that might lead Wohl and cronies to think they might get away with something like this. Trying to figure out when it crosses the line from obnoxious "punk"ing into fraud/felony.

But you're right that I'm giving them too much credit.

[Midnight Writer]

6. Wohl will be a celebrated figure in the GOP forty years from now, just like Roger Stone.

They love their ratfuckers.

[Baked Potato]

8. Dangerous game of impersonation they played.

[pandr32]

9. Would this not be illegal?

I certainly hope it is and there will be charges.

[tblue37]

17. Wohl & Burkman have enacted many illegal schemes, but never get arrested for them. nt

[pandr32]

19. Well, hopefully that is about to change.

[Siwsan]

10. One can only guess at what "refreshments" they enjoy during their strategy sessions.

Liquid and otherwise.

[Lochloosa]

11. WTF is wrong with these people.

[gratuitous]

13. Keep it up, Little Jacob Foo Foo

The media are going to give you one more chance before they give you one more chance just before they give you one more chance to come up with some actual news instead of yet another lighter-than-air hoax that nevertheless collapses under its own weight before you're even done talking.

Why does any news outlet give this charlatan the time of day?

[demtenjeep]

20. WTF

what is their big idea behind this?



were their pants unzipped again?