WASHINGTON, DC. (THECOUNT) — Former FBI analyst Mark Tolson has pleaded guilty in Alexandria, Va., federal court to one misdemeanor count of illegally accessing the email account of Seth Rich conspiracy theorist and conservative lobbyist Jack Burkman.
Tolson, 60, asked his wife, Sarah Gilbert Fox, a former employee of Burkman, if she still had access to his private email account. She complied and the couple spent 15 or 20 minutes reviewing, photographing and printing “emails of interest.” When they tried to log in again, they were denied access, reports WP.
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Fox worked for Burkman from October 2017 to early summer 2018 and had access to his email, according to a statement of facts.
Fox and Tolson both then contacted a reporter to share the information and offered to provide Burkman’s password. The reporter declined to accept the password.
On Nov. 1, 2018, Tolson emailed an FBI official to request a meeting on an “urgent” matter, according to the statement of facts. They met later that day, and Tolson handed over an envelope containing the emails, which he believed might be “illegal.”
Burkman’s partner in the Mueller stunt, a young conservative operative named Jacob Wohl, was recently charged with a felony in California in connection with a house-flipping scheme. Burkman was also the victim of another crime related to his conspiratorial work; last year a man he hired to investigate Rich’s death shot and nearly killed him after a falling out.
Tolson, who has left the FBI, agreed to forfeit two phones and two computers and avoid contact with Burkman, his neighbor in Arlington. He was released on bond until sentencing on Dec. 20.
Tolson’s attorney declined to comment on the case, reports WP.
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