EXCLUSIVE: Seth Rich Investigator: A Fake FBI Informant Lured Me Into Parking Garage And Shot Me
Patrick Howley
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Lobbyist Jack Burkman, who has spent the past year and a half investigating the 2016 murder of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, tells Big League Politics in an exclusive interview that he was shot twice and hit by a black SUV after being led into a Virginia parking garage by a supposed FBI informant.
A fellow Seth Rich investigator has been arrested and charged for the shooting. Burkman says he did not definitively recognize the suspect during the shooting.
“The doctor said I’m the luckiest guy in the world. They think it was a .22. One inch in either direction it would have hit an artery, and the bullets could have gone up into my stomach. I’m lucky beyond comprehension. There were ten ways to die,” Burkman told Big League Politics. Burkman suffered a broken arm, broken wrist, and bruised ribs after being hit by an SUV following his shooting.
Numerous insiders believe that Seth Rich was the source of Wikileaks’ release of DNC emails in the summer of 2016. The release came out just days after Rich’s shooting death in Washington, D.C. The murder remains unsolved, and all street camera footage of the shooting has been seized by authorities. Disgruntled former DNC chairwoman Donna Brazile dedicated her anti-Hillary Clinton tell-all book to Seth Rich.
Burkman set out to find Rich’s killers, offering a $130,000 reward and creating a charitable organization called the Profiling Project to fund investigations. Burkman hired a former Marine named Kevin Doherty to be a top investigator for him. The two had a dispute about Profiling Project ownership issues. Burkman said that Doherty wanted co-ownership of the group, so Burkman dismissed him last July and sent him a cease and desist letter.
Burkman said that he never actually met Doherty, but only communicated with him through a secure Proton email account.
Last month, Burkman received a new round of emails on his Proton email account from a supposed FBI informant using a fake name.
“He approached me about a month ago as an FBI informant who had information that we wanted,” Burkman said. “We never met, we were just doing drops through a Proton email. He gave me fake resumes that looked real and fake credentials. What he was doing was luring me to this parking garage and he opened fire. He fired a .22, once in the leg, once in the butt.”
Burkman said the informant left him Seth Rich-related documents under a plastic cone in the parking garage, and waited until several “drops” before he shot Burkman.
“He left them [documents] in the KeyBridge Marriott Parking Garage under a little plastic cone. As I picked up the cone to retrieve the documents, I was shot,” Burkman said.
Burkman, who was with his dog, ran from the garage. Outside, a “dark blue or black SUV” was waiting for him.
“I felt it from behind, it felt like somebody had thrown a basketball at me. I grabbed the dog, ran out of the garage. As I was running out, suddenly this SUV appeared which apparently was him trying to run me over,” Burkman said.
The SUV hit him.
“The Arlington police quickly matched the car and get a warrant within 36 hours for his arrest. So kudos to them,” Burkman said.
Kevin Doherty has been arrested on firearm and malicious wounding charges.
“I didn’t see the shooter. I just saw a man driving the car,” Burkman said. “I didn’t recognize the man driving the car.”
“Did he have an accomplice? I don’t know. I never would have dreamt it was Kevin. The Commonwealth Attorney felt they had more than enough for probable cause and the judge agrees,” Burkman said.
The Arlington Police Department did not immediately provide information about the case over the phone, but Big League Politics will continue trying to interview them about the case.
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