The mayor of the California town of Windsor retained a former Trump adviser and lobbyist after a series of sexual assault allegations threatened to derail his career, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. An investigation by the paper delves into the aggressive attempts by political consultant Robert Stryk to silence and discredit accusations against his client, Mayor Dominic Foppoli.
Stryk, who made millions during the Trump era representing countries like Somalia and Bahrain, has made a number of wild and erratic statements to the media in defense of his client. These include claiming to have hired James O’Keefe of Project Veritas to “interview” Foppoli’s accusers and trying to negotiate with local outlets to have a “sex tape” released that allegedly shows what Windsor Town Council member and local district attorney Esther Lemus says is her sexual assault by Foppoli at a winery he co-owns. Stryk called the release of the alleged tape a “nuclear option.” Foppoli is “terrorizing me,” said Lemus, who has filed a cease-and-desist notice to stop the release of the video to the public. Stryk, for his part, has said “if that tape comes out it will destroy her life.” The accusations against Foppoli are now the subject of a criminal investigation.
