Right-wing activists Jacob Wohl and Ali Akbar appear to have filed false information into a police report in Minneapolis, Minnesota last month while filming a smear video against Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Wohl, Akbar and anti-Muslim activist Laura Loomer traveled to Minneapolis to film a short “documentary” based on unfounded allegations in order to paint Omar as a threat to the country, and to depict Minnesota as unsafe because of a vibrant Muslim community in Minneapolis.
As Minneapolis journalist Tony Webster pointed out on Twitter, the video uploaded last night depicts Wohl and Akbar entering a Minneapolis police office and reporting that they had received a threatening message on Twitter. The video shows a threat that was sent by an account using the name “Drake Holmes” that NBC News’ Ben Collins reported to be controlled by Wohl.
Here’s a video clip showing Jacob Wohl reporting threats he received to the Minneapolis Police Department, and a screenshot of one particular “threat”—but the avatar image matches a fake Twitter account NBC News and The Daily Beast reported Wohl created. pic.twitter.com/bV7EZarJk8
— Tony Webster (@webster) March 13, 2019
Webster reported that records at the Minneapolis Police Department indicated that Wohl reported terroristic threats and a “homeland security offense” and that Wohl was filmed via an officer’s body camera while reporting those threats. The address that Akbar and Wohl gave police for themselves is a P.O. box used by attorney Baron Coleman, who is representing Proud Boys founder and Rebel Media host Gavin McInnes in a lawsuit against the Southern Poverty Law Center.
— Tony Webster (@webster) March 13, 2019
Akbar appeared to preemptively distance himself from Wohl in a late-night Periscope video uploaded last night but denied that the report they filed was a hoax because police were still investigating writer Dianna E. Anderson, who they reported to the precinct for pointing out on Twitter that the trio was filming at an Airbnb near her home. Anderson told Right Wing Watch that MPD is not actively investigating her and has not contacted her.
He also asserted that if Twitter told a reporter that the “Drake Holmes” account belonged to Wohl, that it would somehow make the company liable in whatever crime Wohl and Akbar might have committed by submitting false info to the police. He wrote on Twitter that he was personally “chasing down the allegation.”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen but, man, it doesn’t involve me and I’m pretty excited about that,” Akbar said on Periscope. “If the police were using resources to investigate this claim, then Jacob may have actually violated the law. Maybe.”
Wohl has been the subject of federal and state investigations for fraudulent behavior, which resulted in him receiving a lifetime ban from the National Futures Association. Last year, Special Counsel Robert Mueller asked the FBI to investigate a scam orchestrated by Wohl to make false allegations that Mueller had sexually assaulted a woman. Wohl was also been banned from Twitter, following a USA Today story in which he said that he planned to create fake accounts in hopes of manipulating public opinion to “and use those [accounts] to steer the left-wing votes in the primaries to what we feel are weaker candidates compared with Trump.”
Right Wing Watch has submitted a public records request with the Minneapolis Police Department in hopes of obtaining more information about the report filed and the possibility of obtaining reported body camera footage. We will update this post if we receive more information.
(This article was updated at 2:50 p.m.)
