WASHINGTON -- Sen. Charles Schumer's staff filed a police report Tuesday, telling Capitol Police about what they said was a fraudulent document that described false allegations against the New York Democrat.
The document, which looks like a court filing, suggests that Schumer, the Senate minority leader from New York, sexually harassed a staff member. The staff member, who was named in the document as the plaintiff and who no longer works for Schumer, told The New York Times on Wednesday that the harassment claims were "completely false." The former staff member spoke on condition of anonymity.
Schumer's spokesman, Matt House, said the document was forged and that the allegations in it are false. Schumer is the top Democrat in the Senate.
"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," House said in a statement. "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's decision to file a police report is a new tactic to fight personal smears and the spread of fake news. It comes at a moment when activists have tried to feed news organizations false information in hopes of getting it published.
Last month, a woman with ties to a right-wing activist group tried to convince The Washington Post that she had been impregnated by Roy Moore, then the Republican candidate for Senate from Alabama. The Post had written a series of stories about sexual assault and child molestation accusations against Moore. The newspaper found numerous inconsistencies in her story and concluded that she was part of an effort to undercut the earlier reports by persuading reporters to publish untrue accusations.
It was not immediately clear Wednesday who was behind the fake document about Schumer. But on Tuesday, conservative bloggers Mike Cernovich, a far-right activist, and Charles Johnson, a right-wing Internet provocateur, posted messages on social media about a sexual harassment complaint against an unnamed senator.
However, Cernovich said neither he nor Johnson was behind the document of false claims against Schumer. In Twitter posts on Tuesday, Cernovich said he "did his homework" and concluded the document was a hoax.
Cernovich pushed last year's so-called Pizzagate conspiracy, a disproven rumor suggesting Hillary Clinton and her aides were part of a pedophile ring run from the basement of a Washington pizzeria. But he is also credited with helping to expose a complaint against a congressman. BuzzFeed News, which first published documents about a settled sexual harassment complaint between Rep. John Conyers Jr. and a former staff member, said it received the documents from Cernovich. Conyers, D-Mich., resigned Dec. 5.
The fake Schumer document was being circulated as early as Monday, when Johnson posted this message on Facebook: "Michael Cernovich & I are going to end the career of a U.S. Senator."
A spokesman for the Capitol Police said the agency does not comment on ongoing investigations.
A Section on 12/14/2017