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Mueller Asks FBI to Probe If Women Were Offered Money to Make False Claims About Him

Mueller Asks FBI to Probe If Women Were Offered Money to Make False Claims About Him

(Bloomberg) -- Special Counsel Robert Mueller has asked the FBI to investigate allegations that “women were offered money to make false claims” about him, according to his spokesman.

“We immediately referred the matter to the FBI,” Peter Carr said in a statement Tuesday.

A series of emails sent to a Bloomberg News reporter this month included allegations that a woman was approached and offered money to falsely accuse Mueller of sexual misconduct.

The sender’s identity couldn’t be verified, and the person didn’t respond to requests for a telephone interview. Other media outlets reported receiving similar emails.

Mueller has been investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, whether anyone close to Donald Trump colluded in it and whether Trump sought to obstruct justice.

Trump has called Mueller’s probe a “witch hunt.” He and some Republican lawmakers have said the probe was tainted before Mueller took charge by anti-Trump bias in the FBI and the Justice Department. Mueller, a Republican, is a former FBI director.

To contact the reporters on this story: Chris Strohm in Washington at cstrohm1@bloomberg.net;Steven T. Dennis in Washington at sdennis17@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.