Lobbyist Jack Burkman has launched a private investigation into the murder of Seth Rich, who was at one time a Democratic National Committee staffer and some people believe may have attempted to leak intel out of the DNC.
Burkman claims he was almost killed by a man who joined his investigation, saying he attempted to murder him. That man, Kevin Doherty, alleged shot Burkman multiple times and even ran him over in an SUV.
Tension between the two came to a head when it’s reported that Doherty began taking over the profiling project, believing it to be his, and even speaking with reporters without the contest of Burkman, the man who hired him.
He fired Doherty and sent him a cease-and-desist nearly a year ago, according to reports.
“He became somewhat angry because he thought the Profiling Project belonged to him,” Burkman said. In July, he cut Doherty loose and sent him a cease and desist letter.
“I just figured the matter was closed,” Burkman said. “But what happened is, I guess, he was simmering and simmering and simmering.”
A source connected to the FBI contacted Burkman, claiming to have documents related to another case Burkman was also pursuing at the time. It was, however, a setup and is how Doherty drew him out.
“I thought I had the story of the decade,” Burkman recalled. His wife, Susan, was more skeptical. She warned him that she didn’t think he was dealing with the FBI. But, he said, the emails “looked super real,” containing details about the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Burkman spent three days in the hospital, and Doherty has been charged with the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and two counts of malicious wounding.
“It looked like he was coming to kill me,” Burkman said. But he said a woman watching from a window of the hotel screamed. A guard came running and the SUV sped off, Burkman said.
He is currently jailed in the Arlington County Detention Facility.
“This in my mind makes the whole Seth story stranger and stranger,” Burkman said.