Jump to content

Murder of Seth Rich

Page semi-protected
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Seth Rich conspiracy theory)

Murder of Seth Rich
LocationBloomingdale neighborhood
(Ward 5, Washington, D.C.)
DateJuly 10, 2016 (2016-07-10)
4:20 a.m. EST (approximate)
Attack type
Homicide by shooting
PerpetratorsUnknown[1]
InquiriesMetropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia
CoronerOffice of the Chief Medical Examiner, Washington D.C.
OutcomeCold case

The murder of Seth Rich occurred on July 10, 2016, at 4:20 a.m. in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington, D.C.[2] Rich died about an hour and a half after being shot twice in the back. The perpetrators were never apprehended; police suspected he had been the victim of an attempted robbery.[1][3]

The 27-year-old Rich was an employee of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and his murder spawned several right-wing conspiracy theories,[1][4] including the false claim, contradicted by the law enforcement branches that investigated the murder, that Rich had been involved with the leaked DNC emails in 2016.[5][6] It was also contradicted by the July 2018 indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence agents for hacking the e-mail accounts and networks of Democratic Party officials[7] and by the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion the leaked DNC emails were part of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.[5][6][8] Fact-checking websites like PolitiFact,[6][9] Snopes,[10] and FactCheck.org stated that the theories were false and unfounded.[5] The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post wrote that the promotion of these conspiracy theories was an example of fake news.[11][12][13]

Rich's family denounced the conspiracy theorists and said that those individuals were exploiting their son's death for political gain, and their spokesperson called the conspiracy theorists "disgusting sociopaths".[14][15][16] They requested a retraction and apology from Fox News after the network promoted the conspiracy theory,[17] and sent a cease and desist letter to the investigator Fox News used.[6][16][17] The investigator stated that he had no evidence to back up the claims which Fox News attributed to him.[5][6][18] Fox News issued a retraction, but did not apologize or publicly explain what went wrong.[19] In response, the Rich family sued Fox News in March 2018 for having engaged in "extreme and outrageous conduct" by fabricating the story defaming their son and thereby intentionally inflicting emotional distress on them.[20][21] Fox News reached a seven-figure settlement with the Rich family in October 2020.[22][23]

Seth Rich

Early life and career

Rich grew up in a Jewish family in Omaha, Nebraska.[24][25][26] He volunteered for the Nebraska Democratic Party, interned for Senator Ben Nelson, was active in Jewish outreach,[27] and worked with the United States Census Bureau.[28][29] In 2011, he graduated from Creighton University with a degree in political science.[29][30] He moved to Washington, D.C., to work for pollster Greenberg Quinlan Rosner.[29] In 2014, he began working for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) as the voter expansion data director. One of his tasks at the DNC was the development of a computer application to help voters locate polling stations.[31][32][33]

Shooting and death

On Sunday, July 10, 2016, at 4:20 a.m., Rich was shot about a block from his apartment at the southwest corner of Flagler Place and W Street Northwest[34] in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington, D.C.[35][36]

Earlier that night, he had been at Lou's City Bar, a sports pub 1.8 miles (2.9 km) from his apartment, in Columbia Heights, where he was a regular customer. He left when the bar was closing, at about 1:30 or 1:45 a.m.[37] Police were alerted to gunfire at 4:20 a.m. by an automated gunfire locator.[38] Less than one minute after the gunfire, police officers found Rich conscious with gunshot wounds.[39] He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died[40][41][42] over 1+1⁄2 hours after being shot.[3] That he was not shot in the head is seen as evidence against the shooting having been an "assassination".[3] According to police, he died from two shots to the back[35][36] and may have been killed in an attempted robbery. Residents noted the neighborhood had been plagued by robberies.[35]

Rich's mother told NBC's Washington affiliate WRC-TV: "There had been a struggle. His hands were bruised, his knees are bruised, his face is bruised, and yet he had two shots to his back, and yet they never took anything ... They didn't finish robbing him, they just took his life."[43] The police told the family they had found a surveillance recording showing a glimpse of the legs of two people who could be the killers.[44]

Aftermath

On the day after the shooting, DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz issued a statement mourning his loss and praising Rich's work to support voter rights.[38][45] Two days after the shooting, Hillary Clinton spoke of his death during a speech advocating limiting the availability of guns.[25][31]

Bike rack and plaque outside the DNC headquarters

In September 2016, Rich's parents and girlfriend appeared on the syndicated television show Crime Watch Daily to speak about the murder case.[46][47] In October 2016, a plaque and bike rack outside the DNC headquarters were dedicated to Rich's memory.[45] In February 2017, the Beth El Synagogue in Omaha named after Rich an existing scholarship that helps Jewish children attend summer camps.[48]

The Rich family accepted the pro bono public relations services of Republican lobbyist Jack Burkman in September 2016.[12] The Rich family and Burkman held a joint press conference on the murder in November 2016.[12][49] In January 2017, Burkman launched an advertising campaign in Northwest D.C. searching for information regarding Seth's death. This included billboard advertisements and canvassing with flyers.[50][51] In late February, Burkman told media outlets he had a lead that the Russian government was involved in Rich's death,[52] and the Rich family then distanced itself from Burkman.[53] On March 19, 2017, Rich's brother, Aaron, started a GoFundMe campaign to try to raise $200,000 for private investigation, public outreach activities, and a reward fund.[54]

The Rich family was approached by Ed Butowsky (a friend of Trump advisor Steve Bannon and a frequent Fox News contributor), who recommended having Fox News contributor and former homicide detective Rod Wheeler investigate Seth's murder. Butowsky said Wheeler had been recommended to him. The family gave Wheeler permission to investigate, though they did not hire him.[16][55] When questioned by CNN, Butowsky denied involvement in the case, but later admitted he was involved and had offered to pay Wheeler's fees.[56][57] After Wheeler asserted links between Rich and Wikileaks in a Fox affiliate interview on May 15, 2017—an assertion he later backpedaled from[58]—the family spokesman said that the family regretted working with Wheeler.[4] Wheeler then sued Fox News on August 1, 2017, for mental anguish and emotional distress, alleging that he had been misquoted in a story that was then published on the urging of Trump.[59]

Rewards

The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC) posted its customary reward of $25,000 for information about the death.[31][39]

On August 9, 2016, WikiLeaks announced a $20,000 reward for information about Rich's murder leading to a conviction.[60][61][62][63] Rich's family said they were unable to verify this reward offer.[60] WikiLeaks stated that this offer should not be taken as implying Rich had been involved in leaking information to it.[31]

In November 2016, Republican lobbyist Jack Burkman said he was personally offering a $100,000 reward in addition to those announced by the police department and WikiLeaks, and he added another $5,000 to his offer in December and another $25,000 in January.[44][60][64] Burkman said he hoped the money would help "get to the truth of what happened here and will either debunk the conspiracy theories or validate them."[65]

Conspiracy theories

Origins

Beginnings on social media

Political conspiracy theories and racially charged comments started to appear on social media the day after Rich's death.[66][67] Within days, right-wing conspiracy theories began circulating,[68][69][70] including false claims that his murder was connected to the DNC email leak of 2016[4] or the FBI's investigation of the Clinton Foundation.[70][71]

A post on Twitter before Rich's memorial service spread the idea that his killing was a political assassination.[68] Subsequently, the conspiracy theory was spread on the subreddit /r/The Donald, and on July 29, 2016, the website Heat Street reported on these Reddit posts.[71][72] Reddit users attempted to tie the homicide to the Clinton body count conspiracy theory.[69] The conspiracy theory was later popularized by Donald Trump political adviser Roger Stone via his Twitter account.[68]

According to British journalist Duncan Campbell, the Russian intelligence agency, GRU, tried to implicate Rich as the source of the stolen DNC emails in order to draw attention away from themselves as the real perpetrators of the theft.[73] Datestamps on the DNC files were altered to show the data had been obtained on July 5, 2016, five days before Rich's death, and the time zone was changed to Eastern Time, within which Washington, D.C., falls. Guccifer 2.0, the alleged GRU front that provided the emails to Wikileaks, then reported that Rich had been their source. Based partly on their acceptance of the false dates, some experts then concluded that the emails had been copied in the DNC offices, and had not been hacked from outside.[74]

WikiLeaks statements

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, fueled the speculation in an interview with Nieuwsuur published on August 9, 2016, which touched on the topic of risks faced by WikiLeaks' sources.[75] Unbidden, Assange brought up the case of Seth Rich. When asked directly whether Rich was a source, Assange said "we don't comment on who our sources are".[76] Subsequent statements by WikiLeaks emphasized that the organization was not naming Rich as a source.[31]

According to the Mueller Report, WikiLeaks had received an email containing an encrypted file named "wk dnc link I .txt.gpg" from the Guccifer 2.0 GRU persona on July 14, which was four days after Seth Rich died.[77][78][79] In April 2018, Twitter direct messages revealed that even as Assange was suggesting publicly that WikiLeaks had obtained emails from Seth Rich, Assange was trying to obtain more emails from Guccifer 2.0, who was at the time already suspected of being linked to Russian intelligence.[80] BuzzFeed described the messages as "the starkest proof yet that Assange knew a likely Russian government hacker had the Democrat leaks he wanted. And they reveal the deliberate bad faith with which Assange fed the groundless claims that Rich was his source, even as he knew the documents' origin."[80] Mike Gottlieb, a lawyer for Rich's brother, noted that WikiLeaks received the file of stolen documents from the Russian hackers on July 14, four days after Rich was shot. Gottlieb described the chronology as "damning".[81]

Julian Assange not only knew that a murdered Democratic National Committee staffer wasn't his source for thousands of hacked party emails, he was in active contact with his real sources in Russia's GRU months after Seth Rich's death. At the same time he was publicly working to shift blame onto the slain staffer “to obscure the source of the materials he was releasing,” Special Counsel Robert Mueller asserts in his final report on Russia's role in the 2016 presidential election.[79]

Propagation by right-wing media and venues

The conspiracy theories were promoted by Mike Cernovich, Sean Hannity, Geraldo Rivera, Kim Dotcom, Paul Joseph Watson, Newt Gingrich, Jack Posobiec, Tim Pool,[82] and others.[83][84][85]

The same venues that fomented the false Pizzagate conspiracy theory helped to promulgate the Seth Rich murder conspiracy theories,[12][86][87] and each shared similar features.[88][89][90] Both were promoted by individuals subscribing to far-right politics,[91] and by campaign officials and individuals appointed to senior-level national security roles by Donald Trump.[92][93][94] After prior coordination on Facebook, each theory was spread on Twitter by automated bots using a branded hashtag, with the goal of becoming a trending topic.[86] Both the Pizzagate conspiracy theory and the Seth Rich murder conspiracy theory were spread in the subreddit forum /r/The_Donald.[95] In both conspiracy theories, the promoters attempted to shift the burden of proof — asking others to attempt to disprove their claims, without citing substantiated evidence.[96] Slate's Elliot Hannon called the claims about Seth Rich a "PizzaGate-like conspiracy theory surrounding Rich's death",[97] The Huffington Post described it as "the 'alt-right' idiocy of Pizzagate all over again",[90] NPR's David Folkenflik said Fox News coverage of it "evokes the pizza-gate terrible allegations utterly unfounded",[98] and Margaret Sullivan wrote for The Washington Post: "The Seth Rich lie has become the new Comet Ping Pong ... Crazy, baseless and dangerous."[99]

On July 9, 2019, a Yahoo! News article stated that an alleged Russian Foreign Intelligence Service bulletin dated July 13, 2016 was the original source of the conspiracy theory.[100] An analysis by the Washington Post disputed the conclusion while crediting the report for highlighting the roles played by InfoWars, Fox News, and Hannity in promoting the misinformation.[67]

Debunking

Law enforcement stated that the conspiracy theories were unfounded,[5][6] while fact-checking websites like PolitiFact.com,[6][9] Snopes.com,[10] and FactCheck.org[5] came to the conclusion that the theories were false and baseless.

The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia described the murder as related to a bungled attempted robbery,[5] and said "the assertions put forward by Mr. Wheeler are unfounded."[5] Assistant Police Chief Peter Newsham said the police had no information suggesting a connection between Rich's death and data obtained by WikiLeaks,[31] and MPD officers considered the murder to be the result of a botched robbery attempt.[9] A spokesman for the Washington, D.C., mayor's office, who said, "All claims made by Mr. Wheeler are false and take fake news to a whole new level. The family deserves better and everyday MPD continues to work diligently to solve this case."[10]

People who worked with Rich said he didn't have access to the emails on the DNC server and was not an expert computer hacker helping to leak information to foreigners. Andrew Therriault, a data scientist who had mentored Rich, said although he had recently been working as a programmer, he did not have a programming background; another co-worker said Rich was very upset when he heard hackers associated with Russian intelligence services had broken into the DNC computers and could be interfering with the election.[44]

Conspiracy theories falsely claimed that the FBI was investigating the case; in fact, the DC's MPD investigated the murder, and the FBI was not involved.[5][9][10]

Newt Gingrich promoted the conspiracy theory of a tie between Rich and Wikileaks, claiming that Rich "apparently was assassinated" subsequent to "having given WikiLeaks something like ... 53,000 [DNC] emails and 17,000 attachments".[5] No evidence supported Gingrich's false and baseless claim,[5][6][10] and there was no evidence of any link between Rich and Wikileaks.[9]

The fabrications were described as fake news and falsehoods by The New York Times.[11] The New York Times cited the conspiracy theories as an example of the persistence of false claims, concluding: "fake news dies hard".[11] The Los Angeles Times called the conspiracy theories "unsubstantiated rumors".[12]

The Washington Post cited the conspiracy theories as an example of the power of fake news to spread virally online.[13] The paper used the example as a case study of the persistence of fake news, and found that television news media can be a soft target for such false stories.[13] The Washington Post further found that the proliferation of fake news via Facebook had decreased, but remained powerful on Twitter due to spread via online bots.[13] They found that the conspiracy theories with the largest potential to spread on the Internet were those that held attraction for both the alt-right movements and the political left wing.[13] The Washington Post concluded that even if a particular false story had been sufficiently debunked, such fact-checking was unable to stop the spread of the falsehoods online.[13]

Retracted reporting

Uncorroborated Fox News story

On May 15, 2017, Fox 5 DC (WTTG) reported the uncorroborated and later largely retracted[101] claims by Rod Wheeler, a Fox News contributor and former homicide detective, that there was evidence Seth Rich had contacted WikiLeaks and that law enforcement were covering this up,[101][102] claims that were never independently verified by Fox.[103] The next day, Fox News published a lead story on its website and provided extensive coverage on its cable news channel about what it later said were Wheeler's uncorroborated claims about the murder of Seth Rich;[104][105][106] in the lead story Fox News removed from their website a few days later, they stated that Wheeler's claims had been "corroborated by a federal investigator who spoke to Fox News."[107][108][109] In reporting these claims, the Fox News report re-ignited conspiracy theories about the killing.[88][110][111] According to NPR, within a day of the original Fox report, "Google searches for Rich had overtaken searches for James Comey, even amid continuous news about the former FBI director's conversations with Trump."[96] The Washington Post's Callum Borchers noted Fox News chose to lead with this story at a time when most other media outlets were covering Donald Trump's disclosure of classified information to Russia.[105]

Other news organizations revealed Wheeler was a Donald Trump supporter, a paid Fox News contributor, and according to NBC News had "developed a reputation for making outlandish claims, such as one appearance on Fox News in 2007 in which he warned that underground networks of pink pistol-toting lesbian gangs were raping young women".[4][110][112] The Washington Post noted it is "rare for a news organization to have such a close relationship with the people it is covering", as Wheeler was "playing three roles at once: as a Fox source, as a paid contributor to the network and as a supposedly independent investigator of the murder".[88] When Wheeler appeared on Sean Hannity's Fox News shows, these multiple roles were not disclosed to viewers.[88] After Wheeler's Fox News interview on May 15, 2017, Brad Bauman, a communications professional and spokesman for the Rich family, said the family was asking Fox News and the Fox affiliate to retract their reports and apologize for damaging their son's legacy.[4]

The family spokesperson, the Washington, D.C., police department, the Washington, D.C., mayor's office, the FBI, and law enforcement sources familiar with the case all disputed Wheeler's claims.[110][113] The family said, "We are a family who is committed to facts, not fake evidence that surfaces every few months to fill the void and distract law enforcement and the general public from finding Seth's murderers."[110] Bauman criticized Fox News for its reporting, saying he believed that the outlet was motivated by a desire to deflect attention from the Trump-Russia story: "I think there's a very special place in hell for people that would use the memory of a murder victim in order to pursue a political agenda."[10]

Later that day, Wheeler told CNN he had no evidence that Rich had contacted Wikileaks.[101] Wheeler claimed that Fox had presented his quotes misleadingly and that he only learned about the possible existence of the evidence from a Fox News reporter.[96][101] Despite this, Sean Hannity's show and Fox & Friends continued to promote the conspiracy theory for the remainder of the week.[114][115] On May 18, 2016, Hannity's guest on the show was Jay Sekulow who said that Rich's killing "... undercuts this whole Russia argument;" neither one mentioned that Sekulow had just been hired as one of Trump's lead lawyers in the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.[100] Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Geraldo Rivera took part in spreading the conspiracy.[115][116][117] Hannity had on his program Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch, who said the organization filed Freedom of Information Act requests for documents from Washington, D.C., mayor Muriel E. Bowser, and from the Metropolitan Police.[118] Sean Hannity furthermore promoted the uncorroborated claims of Kim Dotcom, a New Zealand resident sought by the United States on fraud charges who claimed without evidence that Rich had been in contact with him before his death.[119] Fox News host Julie Roginsky was critical of the conspiracy theory peddlers, stating on Twitter and on her television show: "The exploitation of a dead man whose family has begged conspiracy theorists to stop is really egregious. Please stop."[120] Fox News was also criticized by conservative outlets, such as the Weekly Standard,[121] National Review,[122][123] and conservative columnists, such as Jennifer Rubin,[124] Michael Gerson,[125] and John Podhoretz.[126] In September 2017, NPR noted that Fox News had yet to apologize for its false story or explain what went wrong; "When a story of this scale crumbles, most news organizations feel obligated to explain what happened and why. Not so far at Fox."[19]

By November 2020, Malia Zimmerman, the reporter behind the retracted Fox News story, was no longer working at Fox.[127]

Cease and desist letter and Fox News retraction

On May 19, 2017, an attorney for the Rich family sent a cease and desist letter to Wheeler.[17]

Fox News issued a retraction of the story on May 23, 2017, and removed the original article and did not apologize or specify what went wrong or how it did so.[18][128][129] Despite this, Hannity, who pushed the theory, remained unapologetic, saying "I retracted nothing" and "I am not going to stop trying to find the truth."[119][129][130] In their May 23 statement, Fox News said, "The article was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting. Upon appropriate review, the article was found not to meet those standards and has since been removed."[130] Media ethics writer Kelly McBride criticized the retraction as "woefully inadequate", writing that it did not specify exactly what was inaccurate or provide correct information in place of the retracted story.[131]

The same day, Hannity stated on his show that he would cease discussing the issue.[132] Hannity said his decision to cease commenting on the matter was related to the family of the murder victim: "Out of respect for the family's wishes, for now, I am not discussing the matter at this time."[132] In the same statement wherein he promised to cease discussion of the topic, he vowed to pursue facts in the future: "I promise you I am not going to stop trying to find the truth."[132] Several advertisers including Crowne Plaza Hotels, Cars.com, Leesa Mattress, USAA, Peloton and Casper Sleep pulled their marketing from his program on Fox News.[133][134][135] Crowne Plaza Hotels later said that it was not their policy to advertise on political commentary shows and that they had not been aware of their sponsorship of the show.[136] USAA soon returned to advertising on Fox News after receiving customer input.[137]

InfoWars retraction

In 2019, Jerome Corsi and InfoWars apologized and retracted a story promoting conspiracy theories about the murder of Seth Rich. The retraction was published on the front page of InfoWars, where Corsi said that "his allegations were not based upon any independent factual knowledge." Corsi said that he retracted the story because it relied on information that the Washington Times had retracted, but still thought that investigators should look into whether Seth Rich played a role.[138][139]

Wheeler lawsuit

On August 1, 2017, Rod Wheeler, the private investigator hired by Butowsky who was the first to claim links between Seth Rich's murder and the DNC hack on Fox, but who later appeared to retract his claims, filed a lawsuit (Case 1:17-cv-05807 Southern District of New York) in which 21st Century Fox, the Fox News Channel, Fox News reporter Malia Zimmerman and Ed Butowsky were named as defendants, stating that quotes attributed to him in the original Fox News piece were fabricated. The lawsuit also alleged that the fabricated quotes were included in the Fox News story at the urging of the Trump White House.[140][141]

Text messages and audio apparently supporting this assertion were included in the filing of the lawsuit. About a month before the story was aired on Fox News, Wheeler and Butowsky met at the White House with the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, to review the planned story on Seth Rich's murder. After talking to Wheeler and Butowsky, Zimmerman sent Wheeler a draft of a story without any quotes from Wheeler on May 11. On May 14, Butowsky texted Wheeler saying "Not to add any more pressure but the president just read the article. He wants the article out immediately. It's now all up to you. But don't feel the pressure." Butowsky also left a voicemail for Wheeler which said "We have the full, uh, attention of the White House on this. And tomorrow, let's close this deal, whatever we've got to do."[141] Butowsky said Seymour Hersh confirmed a link between Rich and the FBI. Hersh confirmed the conversation with Butowsky but told NPR the link was "gossip" and that Butowsky exaggerated its significance.[140]

In an email to Fox News, Butowsky also wrote about the purpose behind the Seth Rich story: "One of the big conclusions we need to draw from this is that the Russians did not hack our computer systems and ste[a]l emails and there was no collusion (between) Trump and the Russians." He also instructed Wheeler that "[T]he narrative in the interviews you might use is that you and [Zimmerman's] work prove that the Russians didn't hack into the DNC and steal the emails and impact our elections ... If you can, try to highlight this puts the Russian hacking story to rest."[141]

When the story aired on Fox News, it included supposed quotes from Wheeler and was written as if the accusations against the DNC came from him. Wheeler alleges that the quotes were fabricated and should not have been attributed to him.[140]

In later recordings Butowsky told Wheeler that the claims being attributed to him were false but says that "One day you're going to win an award for having said those things you didn't say." He also says "I know that's not true, if I'm under oath, I would say I never heard him say that."[141]

The lawsuit was dismissed in August 2018, alongside Rich's family lawsuit against Fox, with the presiding judge ruling that there was no evidence that Fox has manipulated claims he had made on recordings, while other statements that Wheeler claimed were defamatory were considered opinion.[142] However, information learned from the discovery phase of the lawsuit on how Fox News was handling the story were subsequently used by Rich's family in its lawsuit against the network after they successfully appealed the dismissal.[143]

Family's reactions

In May 2017, Seth Rich's brother Aaron Rich issued a statement saying, "We simply want to find his killers and grieve. Instead, we are stuck having to constantly fight against non-facts, baseless allegations, and general stupidity to defend my brother's name and legacy."[4] The family spokesperson said "At this point, only people with transparent political agendas or sociopaths are still perpetuating Seth Rich conspiracies."[144]

His parents authored a piece in The Washington Post on May 23, 2017, titled: "We're Seth Rich's parents. Stop politicizing our son's murder," in which they wrote:

We are asking you to please consider our feelings and words. There are people who are using our beloved Seth's memory and legacy for their own political goals, and they are using your outrage to perpetuate our nightmare. We ask those purveying falsehoods to give us peace, and to give law enforcement the time and space to do the investigation they need to solve our son's murder.[14]

In March 2018, Aaron Rich sued Butowsky, Couch, America First Media, and The Washington Times for suggesting he had played a role in the purported theft of emails from the DNC.[145] On October 1, 2018, as part of a settlement they had reached with Aaron Rich, The Washington Times retracted the relevant articles and apologized to Rich and his family.[146]

Lawsuit against Fox News

In March 2018, Rich's family filed a lawsuit against Fox News, Fox reporter Malia Zimmerman, and Fox contributor Ed Butowsky, for publishing a news report about Seth Rich. The suit alleges that the report fueled conspiracy theories about Rich's death and caused the family emotional distress.[147] Judge George B. Daniels dismissed the lawsuit in August 2018 alongside the case against Fox News from Wheeler. Judge Daniels ruled that, although it was reasonable for plaintiffs to believe their son's death was being used for political purposes, the plaintiffs failed to allege "intentional infliction" of emotional distress on the part of defendants, as that standard is determined under New York state law: "defamatory statements to news outlets 'fall well short of meeting the high standards for extreme and outrageous conduct.' They would have had to prove more extreme and persistent distress under the law."[148]

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned the dismissal in September 2019 saying, "the Riches plausibly alleged what amounted to a campaign of emotional torture."[149] In subsequent proceedings, the Rich family used information from the failed Wheeler lawsuit to support further allegations towards Fox News. Among that information included the level of involvement that Butowsky had in preparing and coaching the Fox News hosts in the days before they broke their version of the Seth Rich story, his hiring of Wheeler, and his meeting with Spicer.[143] On October 12, 2020, Fox News reached a settlement with the Rich family.[23] The terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but were reported to be in the seven figures.[150][151] The settlement also dismissed the actions against Zimmerman and Butowsky, which eliminated the need for Fox News hosts like Hannity and Dobbs to give testimony.[143] The settlement contained the provision that it had to be kept secret for a month.[23]

Documentary

In April 2018, the BBC broadcast the documentary Conspiracy Files: Murder in Washington examining the death of Rich and subsequent theories about the death.[152]

In May 2022, an episode of the Netflix documentary series Web of Make Believe: Death, Lies and the Internet examined the murder of Seth Rich, the unfounded conspiracy theories and his family.[153][154]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Guo, Jeff (May 24, 2017). "The bonkers Seth Rich conspiracy theory, explained". Vox. Archived from the original on June 12, 2017. Retrieved May 29, 2017.
  2. ^ Morton, Joseph (August 4, 2016). "D.C. police, family of slain DNC staffer Seth Rich urge anyone with information about murder to come forward". Omaha World-Herald. Archived from the original on July 10, 2018. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c Isikoff, Michael (July 16, 2019). "How a 'slick talker' lobbyist boosted the false Seth Rich murder conspiracy - before getting shot himself". Yahoo News. Archived from the original on July 19, 2019. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Bromwich, Jonah Engel (May 17, 2017). "How the Murder of a D.N.C. Staffer Fueled Conspiracy Theories". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 7, 2020. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Kiely, Eugene (May 22, 2017). "Gingrich Spreads Conspiracy Theory". FactCheck.org. Archived from the original on May 24, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Carroll, Lauren (May 23, 2017). "The baseless claim that slain DNC staffer Seth Rich gave emails to WikiLeaks". PolitiFact.com. Archived from the original on March 22, 2018. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  7. ^ Polantz, Katelyn; Collinson, Stephen (July 14, 2018). "12 Russians indicted in Mueller investigation". CNN. Archived from the original on July 14, 2018. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  8. ^ "Cyber-spying: Bear on bear". The Economist. September 22, 2016. Archived from the original on May 20, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
  9. ^ a b c d e Gillin, Joshua (May 26, 2017). "Conspiracy theory that Comey hid Seth Rich's ties to WikiLeaks based on retracted story". PolitiFact.com. Archived from the original on June 16, 2018. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Palma, Bethania (May 16, 2017). "Fact Check: Did DNC Staffer Seth Rich Send 'Thousands of E-Mails' to WikiLeaks Before He Was Murdered?". Snopes.com. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2017. We were able to confirm the FBI is not investigating Rich's murder — it is an MPD investigation ... All claims made by Mr. Wheeler are false and take fake news to a whole new level. The family deserves better and everyday MPD continues to work diligently to solve this case.
  11. ^ a b c Rutenberg, Jim (May 24, 2017). "Sean Hannity, a Murder and Why Fake News Endures". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 28, 2018. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  12. ^ a b c d e Shalby, Colleen (May 24, 2017). "How Seth Rich's death became an Internet conspiracy theory". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 29, 2017. Retrieved May 24, 2017. Despite police statements and Rich's family concluding that his death was the result of an attempted robbery, the rumor spread within the same circles that churned out the bogus 'PizzaGate' story
  13. ^ a b c d e f Weigel, David (May 20, 2017). "The Seth Rich conspiracy shows how fake news still works". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 20, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
  14. ^ a b Rich, Mary; Rich, Joel (May 23, 2017). "We're Seth Rich's parents. Stop politicizing our son's murder". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 23, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  15. ^ Guttman, Nathan (May 17, 2017). "Seth Rich Parents Refute New Claims On Wikileaks Contact". The Forward. Archived from the original on May 16, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  16. ^ a b c Stein, Perry (May 20, 2017). "Family of slain DNC staffer Seth Rich sends 'cease and desist' letter to Fox News contributor". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 21, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
  17. ^ a b c Seitz-Wald, Alex (May 19, 2017). "Slain DNC Staffer's Family Orders Blabbing Detective to 'Cease and Desist". NBC News. Archived from the original on May 22, 2017. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  18. ^ a b "Statement on coverage of Seth Rich murder investigation". Fox News. May 23, 2017. Archived from the original on May 23, 2017. On May 16, a story was posted on the Fox News website on the investigation into the 2016 murder of DNC Staffer Seth Rich. The article was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting. Upon appropriate review, the article was found not to meet those standards and has since been removed. We will continue to investigate this story and will provide updates as warranted.
  19. ^ a b Folkenflik, David (September 15, 2017). "No Apology, No Explanation: Fox News And The Seth Rich Story". Morning Edition. NPR. Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  20. ^ Grynbaum, Michael M. (March 13, 2018). "Family of Seth Rich Sues Fox News Over Retracted Article". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  21. ^ Maddaus, Gene (August 2, 2018). "Seth Rich Family's Lawsuit Against Fox News Dismissed". Variety. Archived from the original on March 5, 2019. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
  22. ^ Isikoff, Michael (November 24, 2020). "Fox paid seven figures to settle lawsuit over bogus Seth Rich conspiracy story". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on January 18, 2021. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  23. ^ a b c Smith, Ben (January 18, 2021). "Fox Settled a Lawsuit Over Its Lies. But It Insisted on One Unusual Condition". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 18, 2021. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  24. ^ "Rich, Seth C." Omaha World-Herald. July 13, 2016. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  25. ^ a b Hermann, Peter (July 12, 2016). "Hillary Clinton invokes name of slain DNC aide Seth Rich in calling for gun control". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 23, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  26. ^ "Parents of slain DNC staffer Seth Rich decry politicization of their son's murder". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. May 24, 2017. Archived from the original on July 19, 2020. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  27. ^ "Seth Rich's family calls on Fox to retract WikiLeaks allegations". The Times of Israel. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. May 19, 2017. Archived from the original on July 19, 2020. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  28. ^ Morton, Joseph (July 13, 2016). "27-year-old Creighton grad, DNC staffer shot dead in D.C. wanted 'to try to save the world'". Omaha World-Herald. Archived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved May 29, 2017.
  29. ^ a b c Abraham, Steven (July 22, 2016). "In Memoriam: Seth Conrad Rich". The Jewish Press. Omaha. Archived from the original on August 26, 2016. Retrieved August 12, 2016. Eulogy given by Rabbi Steven Abraham of Beth El Synagogue at the service on July 13, 2016.
  30. ^ Orti, Camila (July 12, 2016). "Creighton grad living in D.C. killed in weekend shooting". KETV. Archived from the original on May 30, 2017. Retrieved May 29, 2017.
  31. ^ a b c d e f Morton, Joseph (August 10, 2016). "WikiLeaks offers $20,000 reward for help finding Omaha native Seth Rich's killer". Omaha World-Herald. Archived from the original on August 22, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
  32. ^ Mallory Hughes (August 11, 2016). "DNC Employee Fatally Shot in DC". WUSA. Archived from the original on September 15, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  33. ^ Rojas, Warren (July 11, 2016). "DNC Staffer Killed in DC". Roll Call. Archived from the original on September 12, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  34. ^ "Bloomingdale residents question police after killing, robberies in neighborhood". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 11, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  35. ^ a b c Stein, Jeff (August 20, 2016). "Seth Rich: Inside the Killing of the DNC Staffer". Newsweek. Archived from the original on August 21, 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
  36. ^ a b "Mother, Police Seeking Tips on Killing of DNC Staffer Seth Rich". NBC. August 5, 2016. Archived from the original on August 10, 2016. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  37. ^ Mindock, Clark (May 16, 2017). "Who is Seth Rich – and was his death really connected to Hillary Clinton?". The Independent. Archived from the original on June 18, 2022. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  38. ^ a b Hermann, Peter; Williams, Clarence (July 11, 2016). "Slain Democratic National Committee staffer 'wanted to make a difference'". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 19, 2016. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  39. ^ a b Harris, Chris (July 13, 2016). "Friends of Slain DNC Staffer Seth Rich Remember Him as 'Honest' and 'Self-Sacrificing'". People. Archived from the original on July 17, 2016. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  40. ^ "Homicide: 2100 Block of Flagler Place, Northwest | mpdc". Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia. July 11, 2016. Archived from the original on May 28, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  41. ^ Roig-Franzia, Manuel (January 19, 2017). "The DC murder victim who became a political meme". The Independent. Archived from the original on June 18, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  42. ^ Khan, Mariam (June 11, 2020). "DNC Employee Shot Dead in DC Over the Weekend". ABC News. Archived from the original on June 11, 2020. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  43. ^ Collins, Pat; Swalec, Andrea (July 11, 2016). "27-Year-Old DNC Staffer Seth Rich Shot, Killed in Northwest DC". NBC. Archived from the original on January 5, 2017. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  44. ^ a b c Roig-Franzia, Manuel (January 18, 2017). "Seth Rich wasn't just another D.C. murder victim. He was a meme in the weirdest presidential election of our times". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 19, 2017. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  45. ^ a b Burdine, Nikki (October 17, 2016). "DNC honors murdered staffer Seth Rich". WUSA. Archived from the original on October 19, 2016. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
  46. ^ "Family of murdered DNC employee Seth Rich speaks out on 'Crime Watch'". KOMO-TV. September 30, 2016. Archived from the original on October 4, 2016. Retrieved October 4, 2016.
  47. ^ Kurzius, Rachel (October 3, 2016). "Murdered DNC Staffer's Mom: 'Seth Would Be So Offended' By Conspiracy Theories". DCist. Archived from the original on October 3, 2016. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  48. ^ Kelly, Michael (February 25, 2017). "Kelly: Camp scholarship memorializes Omahan Seth Rich, who was killed in D.C. in July". Omaha World-Herald. Archived from the original on February 25, 2017. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
  49. ^ Guttman, Nathan. "Seth Rich's Family Furious At Attorney For Claiming Russia Behind The Murder". The Forward. Archived from the original on May 16, 2017. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  50. ^ "'Who Murdered Seth Rich?': Billboards to be Posted in DC". WRC-TV. January 18, 2017. Archived from the original on July 7, 2017. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  51. ^ Searching for clues in the Seth Rich murder. The Washington Post. May 11, 2017. Archived from the original on June 2, 2019. Retrieved May 27, 2017 – via YouTube.
  52. ^ Guttman, Nathan (March 1, 2017). "Was Russia Behind Mystery Murder Of DNC Worker Seth Rich?". Forward. Archived from the original on June 1, 2017. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  53. ^ Kurzius, Rachel (March 2, 2017). "'It's Hurtful': Seth Rich's Family Responds To Latest Conspiracy Theory About His Murder". DCist. Archived from the original on July 14, 2017. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  54. ^ "Family Seeks Funds for Answers, Leads in Seth Rich Death". WRC-TV. Archived from the original on March 23, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
  55. ^ Collins, Ben (May 16, 2017). "The Big-Money PR War Over Seth Rich's Death". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on May 24, 2017. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  56. ^ Chiquillo, Julieta (May 19, 2017). "How a Dallas financier got tangled up in conspiracy theories about slaying of DNC staffer Seth Rich". Dallas News. Archived from the original on May 19, 2017. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  57. ^ Rutenberg, Jim (May 24, 2017). "Sean Hannity, a Murder and Why Fake News Endures". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 28, 2018. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  58. ^ Marraco, Marina (May 15, 2017). "Family's private investigator: There is evidence Seth Rich had contact with WikiLeaks prior to death". Archived from the original on June 13, 2017. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  59. ^ Swanson, Ian (August 1, 2017). "Lawsuit claims Trump involvement in retracted Fox story on Seth Rich". The Hill. Archived from the original on August 2, 2017. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  60. ^ a b c Morton, Joseph (November 23, 2016). "Parents of DNC staffer Seth Rich vow to find his killer; reward now $125,000". Omaha World Herald. Archived from the original on November 13, 2017. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
  61. ^ Tschida, Stephen (August 9, 2016). "WikiLeaks offering $20,000 reward for information regarding D.C. murder of DNC's Seth Rich". WJLA-TV. Archived from the original on May 21, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  62. ^ Hermann, Peter; Williams, Clarence (August 9, 2016). "WikiLeaks offers reward for help finding DNC staffer's killer". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 20, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
  63. ^ "Assange implies murdered DNC staffer was WikiLeaks' source". Fox News. August 10, 2016. Archived from the original on May 21, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
  64. ^ "GOP lobbyist adds $5K to reward for info on murder of former DNC staffer Seth Rich". WJLA-TV. December 5, 2016. Archived from the original on May 15, 2017. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
  65. ^ Kutner, Max (September 16, 2016). "A GOP lobbyist will pay $100,000 to learn who killed DNC staffer Seth Rich". Newsweek. Archived from the original on May 25, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  66. ^ Heat Street Staff. "Beloved DNC Staffer Seth Rich Shot Dead in the Back in DC, Just Hours After Calling For Dallas Unity; Conspiracy Theories Abound". Heat Street. Archived from the original on July 12, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
  67. ^ a b Bump, Philip (July 9, 2019). "Don't blame the Seth Rich conspiracy on Russians. Blame Americans". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 10, 2019. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
  68. ^ a b c Nuzzi, Olivia (May 28, 2017). "Is This Even About Seth Rich at All?". New York. Archived from the original on June 1, 2017. Retrieved May 29, 2017.
  69. ^ a b Guo, Jeff (May 24, 2017). "The bonkers Seth Rich conspiracy theory, explained". Vox.com. Archived from the original on June 12, 2017. Retrieved May 29, 2017.
  70. ^ a b LaCapria, Kim (July 14, 2016). "Seth Rich Homicide". Snopes.com. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved May 29, 2017.
  71. ^ a b Whitehouse, John (May 27, 2017). "How the murder of a DNC staffer turned into a right-wing conspiracy". Salon. Archived from the original on March 14, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  72. ^ Zanotti, Emily (July 29, 2016). "Dem Aide Seth Rich's Death Still Inspiring Conspiracy Theories". Heat Street. Archived from the original on September 30, 2016. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  73. ^ Campbell, Duncan (July 31, 2018). "Briton ran pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign that helped Trump deny Russian links". Computer Weekly. Archived from the original on October 31, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  74. ^ Tucker, Patrick (August 2, 2018). "A new report claims that Russian hackers altered dates in stolen documents to frame the DNC staffer for the theft." Archived August 25, 2018, at the Wayback Machine Defense One. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  75. ^ Nieuwsuur (August 9, 2016). "Assange belooft nieuwe onthullingen over Clinton" (in Dutch). Nieuwsuur. Archived from the original on March 19, 2018. Retrieved March 18, 2018 – via YouTube.
  76. ^ Nieuwsuur (August 9, 2016). "Julian Assange on Seth Rich". Archived from the original on August 2, 2017. Retrieved August 2, 2017 – via YouTube.
  77. ^ Mueller Report Archived April 19, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, vol. I, p. 46: On July 14, 2016, GRU officers used a Guccifer 2.0 email account to send WikiLeaks an email bearing the subject "big archive" and the message "a new attempt."163 The email contained an encrypted attachment with the name "wk dnc link I .txt.gpg."
  78. ^ Mueller, Robert S. "Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 19, 2019. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  79. ^ a b Poulsen, Kevin (April 18, 2019). "Mueller Report: Assange Smeared Seth Rich to Cover for Russians". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  80. ^ a b Collier, Kevin (April 5, 2018). "These Messages Show Julian Assange Talked About Seeking Hacked Files From Guccifer 2.0". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on April 7, 2018. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
  81. ^ Mervosh, Sarah (April 20, 2019). "Seth Rich Was Not Source of Leaked D.N.C. Emails, Mueller Report Confirms". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 20, 2019. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
  82. ^ Collins, Ben; Alba, Monica (July 11, 2019). "Conspiracy theorists, far-right agitators head to White House with social media in their sights". NBC. Archived from the original on July 13, 2021. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  83. ^ "In Pro-Trump media land, the last week's been irrelevant or just 'fake news'". Stuff. May 18, 2017. Archived from the original on October 1, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  84. ^ "The FBI is not investigating DNC staffer Seth Rich's murder, despite WikiLeaks claim". Newsweek. May 17, 2017. Archived from the original on May 25, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  85. ^ Lytvynenko, Jane (May 29, 2017). "Pro-Trump Media Figure And Conspiracy Theory Peddler Jack Posobiec Is Out At The Rebel". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on June 10, 2017. Retrieved June 23, 2017.
  86. ^ a b Manjoo, Farhad (May 31, 2017), "How Twitter Is Being Gamed to Feed Misinformation", The New York Times, archived from the original on June 1, 2017, retrieved June 1, 2017, Bots flood the network, tweeting and retweeting thousands or hundreds of thousands of messages in support of the story, often accompanied by a branding hashtag — #pizzagate, or, a few weeks ago, #sethrich.
  87. ^ Stetzer, Ed (May 31, 2017), "Christians, Repent (Yes, Repent) of Spreading Conspiracy Theories and Fake News—It's Bearing False Witness", Christianity Today, archived from the original on June 3, 2017, retrieved June 1, 2017, And now I noticed that many of the same conservative Christians who shared about #pizzagate have been spreading the #SethRich conspiracy theory.
  88. ^ a b c d Farhi, Paul (May 17, 2017). "A conspiratorial tale of murder, with Fox News at the center". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 18, 2017. Retrieved May 18, 2017. The Rich story has taken on elements of the Comet Ping Pong conspiracy, a false and preposterous tale involving Hillary Clinton and her supposed operation of a child-abuse ring at a District pizza restaurant.
  89. ^ Scheck, Frank (May 31, 2017), "Critic's Notebook: Sean Hannity Returns to Talk About Not Talking About the Seth Rich Conspiracy Theory", The Hollywood Reporter, archived from the original on August 2, 2017, retrieved June 1, 2017, So it's only a matter of time before another lunatic, like the one who showed up with a loaded weapon after Pizzagate, becomes inspired to deliver vigilante-style justice.
  90. ^ a b Boehlert, Eric (May 19, 2017), "Fox's Vulgar Coverage Of A Murdered DNC Staffer Is Nothing New", The Huffington Post, archived from the original on June 1, 2017, retrieved June 1, 2017, Basically, it was the 'alt-right' idiocy of Pizzagate all over again.
  91. ^ Marwick, Alice (May 18, 2017), "The Online Radicalization We're Not Talking About", New York, archived from the original on June 5, 2017, retrieved June 1, 2017, If you've read this week's conspiracy-mongering stories about the supposedly suspicious death of DNC employee Seth Rich — or if you've read in the past about the rise of White Student Unions on college campuses, or 'Pizzagate' — you've seen the fruits of their efforts.
  92. ^ Viebeck, Elise (December 22, 2016), "Schooled on Benghazi and Pizzagate, Trump team is heavy on conspiracy theorists", The New York Times, archived from the original on July 31, 2017, retrieved June 1, 2017, Many of Trump's highest-level appointees have a history of publicly promoting conspiratorial, outlandish and fringe beliefs, particularly about Muslims, the Clinton family and the environment — unproven narratives that remain stubbornly alive on the Internet despite being debunked by the mainstream media.
  93. ^ Lanard, Noah (May 17, 2017), "Fox 5's Nonsensical Seth Rich Story Managed to Disintegrate in a Way That Made No Sense", Washingtonian, archived from the original on May 17, 2017, retrieved June 1, 2017, After being forced out of the Trump administration for promoting the Comet Ping Pong conspiracy theory, Michael Flynn Jr., the son of the former National Security Adviser, tweeted, 'So many stories to take away from the #SethRich bombshell.'
  94. ^ Parton, Heather Digby (May 24, 2017), "Donald Trump must be getting desperate: Does he really think thuggish Corey Lewandowski can save him?", Salon, archived from the original on May 29, 2017, retrieved June 1, 2017, Seth Rich saga, which has the right-wing media in a full-blown frenzy. ... It has all the hallmarks of a Bossie-style hit although the inane Pizzagate conspiracy spread by the likes of former national security adviser Michael Flynn proves that dirty tricks can be done just as well by amateurs.
  95. ^ Asarch, Steven (May 20, 2017). "Reddit News: The Donald Sub Set To Private, Maybe Done For Good [UPDATE: It's Back]". International Business Times. Archived from the original on May 20, 2017. Retrieved May 29, 2017. The_donald is arguably the most polarizing sub on reddit ... has become the main political subreddit for continued conspiracy theories, like Pizzagate or that the DNC murdered Seth Rich.
  96. ^ a b c Kurtzleben, Danielle (May 17, 2017). "Unproved Claims Re-Emerge Around DNC Staffer's Death: Here's What You Should Know". National Public Radio. Archived from the original on May 26, 2017. Retrieved May 28, 2017. As with many other conspiracy theories ... this kind of assertion in part functions by trying to shift the burden of proof. Rather than proving with hard evidence that there was a conspiracy surrounding Rich's murder (or that the owners of Comet Ping Pong, the pizza restaurant, were harming children), the people making the unproved claims end up pushing the other side to try to disprove it.
  97. ^ Hannon, Elliot (May 24, 2017), "Hannity Says He Will Stop—But Also Never Stop—Pushing the Seth Rich Conspiracy", Slate, archived from the original on June 3, 2017, retrieved June 1, 2017, the PizzaGate-like conspiracy theory surrounding Rich's death
  98. ^ Cramer, Meg (May 19, 2017), "Can Fox News Survive Without Roger Ailes?", BuzzFeed News, archived from the original on June 1, 2017, retrieved June 1, 2017, Yesterday there was this ludicrous story that I think Seth Rich was trying to imply that this poor DNC staffer who'd been killed had been like, set up by the Clintons. ... You know, it evokes the pizza-gate terrible allegations utterly unfounded and unfair
  99. ^ Sullivan, Margaret (May 23, 2017), "Margaret Sullivan: The Seth Rich lie, and how the corrosion of reality should worry every American", The Salt Lake Tribune, The Washington Post, archived from the original on June 3, 2017, retrieved June 1, 2017, The Seth Rich lie has become the new Comet Ping Pong — another Washington-based conspiracy theory that ended in January with a gunman walking into a family-friendly pizza joint and firing shots as he 'self-investigated' a supposed child-molestation plot involving Hillary Clinton. Crazy, baseless and dangerous.
  100. ^ a b Michael Isikoff (July 9, 2019). "Exclusive: The true origins of the Seth Rich conspiracy theory. A Yahoo News investigation". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on July 9, 2019. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  101. ^ a b c d Darcy, Oliver (May 16, 2017). "Story on DNC staffer's murder dominated conservative media – hours later it fell apart". CNNMoney. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  102. ^ Savransky, Rebecca (May 16, 2017). "Slain DNC staffer's family quashes report he had contact with WikiLeaks". The Hill. Archived from the original on May 21, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  103. ^ Waldron, Travis (May 16, 2017). "Fox Pushes WikiLeaks Murder Conspiracy From Man Who Warned Of Armed Lesbian Pedophiles". HuffPost. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  104. ^ Sommer, Allison Kaplan (May 17, 2017). "Explained: 'Alt-right' Using Cruel Seth Rich Conspiracy Theory to Deflect From Trump's Russia Scandal". Haaretz. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
  105. ^ a b Borchers, Callum (May 16, 2017). "Conservative media coverage of Trump's classified disclosure will make your head spin". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 22, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  106. ^ Alvin Chang (May 18, 2017). "We tracked the Trump scandals on right-wing news sites. Here's how they covered it". Vox. Archived from the original on May 18, 2017. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  107. ^ "The FBI is not investigating DNC staffer Seth Rich's murder, despite WikiLeaks claim". Newsweek. May 17, 2017. Archived from the original on May 26, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  108. ^ Zimmerman, Malia (May 16, 2017). "Family of slain DNC staffer Seth Rich blasts detective over report of WikiLeaks link". Fox News. Archived from the original on May 16, 2017. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
  109. ^ Choi, David; Bondarenko, Veronika (August 2, 2017). "A 27-year-old DNC staffer was shot and killed in DC — and his mysterious death led to a lawsuit against Fox News". Business Insider. Archived from the original on August 7, 2017. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
  110. ^ a b c d "DNC staffer's murder draws fresh conspiracy theories". NBC News. Archived from the original on May 16, 2017. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  111. ^ "FBI is not involved in Seth Rich case despite 'conspiracy theories', officials say". ABC News. May 22, 2017. Archived from the original on May 22, 2017. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  112. ^ "Meet The Private Detective Who Ignited A Clinton Conspiracy Theory". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  113. ^ "Family of slain Seth Rich says reports that he fed DNC info to WikiLeaks are untrue". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 16, 2017. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  114. ^ "The Seth Rich conspiracy's biggest myths, explained". The Washington Post The Fix blog. Archived from the original on May 23, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  115. ^ a b Darcy, Oliver (May 19, 2017). "Russian embassy promotes conspiracy theory on DNC staffer's death after false Fox News story". CNNMoney. Archived from the original on May 19, 2017. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  116. ^ Darcy, Oliver (May 22, 2017). "Fox News staffers 'disgusted' at network's promotion of Seth Rich conspiracy theory". CNNMoney. Archived from the original on May 23, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  117. ^ Darcy, Oliver (May 23, 2017). "Seth Rich's brother pleads with Hannity to stop spreading conspiracy theory". CNNMoney. Archived from the original on May 23, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  118. ^ Philips, Kristine (May 24, 2017), "Sean Hannity done talking about Seth Rich and WikiLeaks 'for now' as Fox News retracts story", The Washington Post, archived from the original on May 28, 2017, retrieved May 30, 2017
  119. ^ a b "The life and death of the Seth Rich conspiracy theory". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 24, 2017. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
  120. ^ Roginsky, Julie (May 22, 2017), "Julie Roginsky claps back at Seth Rich conspiracy theorists", Fox News, archived from the original on May 29, 2017, retrieved May 28, 2017
  121. ^ "Prime-Time Conspiracy Theory". Weekly Standard. May 26, 2017. Archived from the original on May 26, 2017. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  122. ^ "The Facts of the Seth Rich Murder That Don't Support Conspiracy Theories". National Review. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  123. ^ "The Seth Rich Conspiracy Theory Is Shameful Nonsense". National Review. Archived from the original on May 28, 2017. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  124. ^ Rubin, Jennifer (May 24, 2017). "Questions Fox and the right need to answer". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on May 26, 2017. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  125. ^ Gerson, Michael (May 25, 2017). "The conservative mind has become diseased". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on August 5, 2017. Retrieved May 29, 2017.
  126. ^ "The Shameless Conspiracy Theorizing Involving Seth Rich Must Stop". Commentary Magazine. May 23, 2017. Archived from the original on May 25, 2017. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
  127. ^ Folkenflik, David (November 24, 2020). "Fox News Settles With Seth Rich's Parents For False Story Claiming Clinton Leaks". NPR. Archived from the original on January 19, 2021. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
  128. ^ "Fox retracts Seth Rich murder conspiracy". BBC News. May 23, 2017. Archived from the original on May 24, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  129. ^ a b "Fox News Retracts DNC Staffer Conspiracy Story, But Hannity Keeps It Alive". NPR. Archived from the original on May 24, 2017. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
  130. ^ a b Victor, Daniel (May 23, 2017). "Fox News Retracts Seth Rich Story That Stirred Controversy". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 24, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  131. ^ "Fox News's retraction is a woefully inadequate response to its colossal mistake". Poynter Institute. May 23, 2017. Archived from the original on May 24, 2017. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
  132. ^ a b c Steinberg, Brian (May 23, 2017). "Sean Hannity Says He Will 'Cease' Discussing Seth Rich Case". Variety. Archived from the original on December 20, 2017. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  133. ^ Bond, Paul (May 25, 2017). "Several advertisers have pulled TV spots over the 'Hannity' host's reporting on Seth Rich, while conservatives are mounting a counter-boycott". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 13, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  134. ^ Hawkins, Derek (May 25, 2017). "Sean Hannity loses advertisers amid uproar over slain DNC staffer conspiracy theories". San Francisco Chronicle. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 25, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  135. ^ Flint, Joe (May 26, 2017). "Sean Hannity Loses Some Advertisers After Advancing Conspiracy Theory". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on May 26, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  136. ^ Gabbatt, Adam (May 26, 2017). "Sean Hannity hit by advertiser exodus in wake of bogus Seth Rich story". The Guardian. Archived from the original on May 27, 2017. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  137. ^ Morona, Joey (May 31, 2017). "Sean Hannity, still talking about Seth Rich, gets an advertiser back". cleveland.com. Archived from the original on June 1, 2017. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  138. ^ Darcy, Oliver (March 4, 2019). "Jerome Corsi retracts InfoWars story that spread Seth Rich conspiracy theory | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  139. ^ Kroll, Andy (March 4, 2019). "Pro-Trump Conspiracy Peddler Jerome Corsi Apologizes to Seth Rich's Family". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  140. ^ a b c Bump, Philip (August 1, 2017). "A timeline of the explosive lawsuit alleging a White House link in the Seth Rich conspiracy". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
  141. ^ a b c d "Behind Fox News' Baseless Seth Rich Story: The Untold Tale". NPR. August 1, 2017. Archived from the original on August 3, 2017. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  142. ^ Folkenflik, David (August 3, 2018). "Judge Dismisses Suits Against Fox News Over Seth Rich Story". NPR. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  143. ^ a b c Folkenflik, David (November 24, 2020). "Fox News Settles With Seth Rich's Parents For False Story Claiming Clinton Leaks". NPR. Archived from the original on January 19, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  144. ^ David Weigel (May 21, 2017). "Gingrich spreads conspiracy theory about slain DNC staffer". The Washington Post PowerPost blog. Archived from the original on May 21, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
  145. ^ Darcy, Oliver. "Seth Rich's brother sues right-wing activists, Washington Times over conspiracy theories". CNNMoney. Archived from the original on October 1, 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  146. ^ Darcy, Oliver. "The Washington Times settles lawsuit with Seth Rich's brother, issues retraction and apology for its coverage". CNNMoney. Archived from the original on February 21, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  147. ^ Del Moro, Michael (March 13, 2018). "Family of slain DNC staffer sues Fox News over retracted story". ABC News. Archived from the original on March 14, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  148. ^ Segers, Grace (August 2, 2018). "Seth Rich case against Fox News dismissed by federal judge". CBS. Archived from the original on August 2, 2018. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  149. ^ Gerstein, Josh (September 13, 2019). "Court reinstates suit against Fox News over Seth Rich murder saga". Politico. Archived from the original on March 10, 2021. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  150. ^ Isikoff, Michael (November 25, 2020). "Fox paid seven figures to settle lawsuit over bogus Seth Rich conspiracy story". news.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on December 13, 2020. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  151. ^ Isadi, Elahe; Farhi, Paul (November 24, 2020). "Fox News reaches settlement with parents of slain DNC staffer Seth Rich". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 13, 2020. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  152. ^ "Conspiracy Files: Murder in Washington". BBC Two. Archived from the original on April 5, 2019. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  153. ^ "Web of Make Believe: Death, Lies and the Internet". Netflix. Archived from the original on June 22, 2022. Retrieved June 15, 2022.
  154. ^ "Seth Rich's killing was exploited on Fox News and online. His parents are fed up". NPR.org. Archived from the original on June 20, 2022. Retrieved June 15, 2022.

Further reading

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Murder_of_Seth_Rich&oldid=1258313431#Conspiracy_theories"