Ex-FBI analyst pleads guilty to illegally accessing conspiracy theorist’s emails

A former FBI analyst on Tuesday pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of accessing lobbyist and conspiracy theorist Jack Burkman’s email account without authorization, according to The Washington Post.

The ex-analyst, Mark Tolson, reportedly asked his wife, who previously worked for Burkman and had access to his private email account, whether she could still access it last fall, the Post reported, citing prosecutors.

Upon discovering that she could, the two then reviewed and printed “emails of interest” and also contacted a reporter and offered Burkman’s password, which the reporter declined to accept, according to the Post.

{mosads}Tolson reportedly emailed an FBI official requesting to meet about an “urgent” matter. When they met, the former analyst handed over an envelop with the emails, saying he thought they might be “illegal,” the newspaper reported. 

The Post reported that Tolson asked about Burkman’s email account after learning that the lobbyist was planning a news conference last year to claim that then-special counsel Robert Mueller had committed sexual assault.

Burkman has previously spread conspiracy theories about the 2016 killing of former Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich.

Tolson pleaded guilty in Alexandria, Va., federal court and was released on bond. He is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 20, according to the Post.

He also surrendered two phones and two computers and agreed not to contact Burkman, who is his neighbor, the newspaper reported.

Tolson’s attorney declined to comment to the paper about the case. The Hill has reached out to Burkman, Tolson’s lawyer and the FBI for comment.