Someone is shopping a password-protected PDF of a forged lawsuit against Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to the DC press; the forgery attempts to trick journalists into thinking that Schumer is being sued by a female former staffer for sexual harassment.
The former staffer in question had no knowledge of this suit, and says she was not harassed, and is not suing her ex-boss.
Both the staffer and Schumer have taken the document to the Capitol police and asked them to investigate this as a crime.
The forged papers have many telling errors, including omission of any lawyer acting on behalf of the staffer and a confusion regarding the dates of the alleged assault.
Axios, a news outlet that received the forgery, considers it a harbinger of more to come. Mike Allen writes, "Look for more hits like this, aimed at victimizing both reporters and public figures."
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The former staffer told me in a phone interview that she did not author the document, that none of the charges ring true, and that her signature was forged.
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She said she had never heard of the document before Axios took it to Schumer's office for comment on Tuesday.
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Matt House, Schumer's communications director, told me: "The document is a forged document and every allegation is false. We have turned it over to the Capitol Police and asked them to investigate and pursue criminal charges because it is clear the law has been broken."
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House continued: "We believe the individual responsible for forging the document should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law to prevent other malicious actors from doing the same."
Schumer calls cops after forged sex scandal charge [Mike Allen/Axios]
(via Naked Capitalism)
