Posted on 05/21/2017 12:10:08 PM PDT by ckilmer
That report about Seth Rich, the slain DNC staffer, is hot hunk of hokum
by Becket Adams | May 16, 2017, 4:05 PM | Updated May 16, 2017, 9:30 PM
The only thing that has been accomplished with this latest story is that the people involved have angered a still-grieving family. (Twitter)
The only thing that has been accomplished with this latest story is that the people involved have angered a still-grieving family. (Twitter)
Recommended for You
One last time: That Seth Rich story is garbage
Trump 'furious' at Guilfoyle's bid for Spicer's job, 'She's using us'
GOP fears Trump will take the Republican Party down with him
DNC blames Trump's backing of Erdogan for attack outside DC embassy
Camille Paglia: Democrats are colluding with the media to create chaos
Most Read Articles
FEC boss who tried to muzzle Drudge now on Soros payroll
Trump 'furious' at Guilfoyle's bid for Spicer's job, 'She's using us'
GOP fears Trump will take the Republican Party down with him
Anderson Cooper to Jeffrey Lord: You'd defend Trump if he 'took a dump on his desk'
Camille Paglia: Democrats are colluding with the media to create chaos
That new report alleging collusion between WikiLeaks and Seth Rich, the Democratic National Committee staffer who was murdered near his home in Washington, D.C., last year, isn't what you think it is.
At least, that's what Rich's family and law enforcement officials said Tuesday. Also, that's basically what the source of the report's biggest claim said after he recanted most of his story.
Susan Ferrechio interviews Senator Rob Portman
Watch Full Screen
In short, the report is a hot hunk of hokum.
"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," the Rich family said through spokesman Brad Bauman.
Bauman, whose body of work includes consultation services to Democratic candidates, said separately in a comment to Business Insider: "It's sad but unsurprising that a group of media outlets who have repeatedly lied to the American people would try and manipulate the legacy of a murder victim in order to forward their own political agenda."
"I think there is a special place in hell for people like that," he added.
The young DNC staffer was murdered on July 10. His death has not yet been solved, and law enforcement officials say they have no promising leads.
This iteration of the Seth Rich news cycle begins with Rod Wheeler, an ex-D.C. homicide detective who works now as a private investigator and occasional Fox News contributor.
Wheeler told Washington, D.C., Fox News affiliate Fox 5 that he had information showing the slain DNC data analyst was in contact with WikiLeaks prior to his murder.
WikiLeaks, of course, published thousands of stolen emails in 2016 that had been pilfered from accounts belonging to Democratic National Committee staffers and failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta.
Asked whether his sources have said Rich was tied directly to WikiLeaks, Wheeler told Fox 5, "Absolutely. Yeah. That's confirmed."
Wheeler also said he believed local authorities were conducting a cover-up.
Law enforcement officials, who maintain Rich was the victim of a botched robbery, denied this charge (again).
FoxNews.com reported separately Tuesday that the murdered staffer was in contact with WikiLeaks via the late journalist Gavin MacFadyen. Rich reportedly handed over 44,053 emails and 17,761 attachments belonging to top DNC staffers to MacFadyen before May 21, FoxNews.com reported, citing a nameless federal official.
The FBI conducted a forensic report on Rich's laptop within 96 hours of his death, the anonymous official reported said.
This is where everything falls apart for the Fox reporters.
Wheeler recanted most of his story Tuesday evening. He told CNN he had no proof that Rich was ever in contact with WikiLeaks.
CNN reported:
Wheeler instead said he only learned about the possible existence of such evidence through the reporter he spoke to for the FoxNews.com story. He explained that the comments he made to WTTG-TV were intended to simply preview Fox News' Tuesday story.
[…]
Asked about a quote attributed to him in the Fox News story in which he said his "investigation up to this point shows there was some degree of email exchange between Seth Rich and Wikileaks," Wheeler said he was referring to information that had already been reported in the media.
"I only got that [information] from the reporter at Fox News," Wheeler told CNN.
The family spokesman stressed Wheeler had never actually seen Rich's laptop.
NBC News also reported Tuesday that separate FBI sources contradict everything in the Fox 5 and FoxNews.com stories.
"[A] current FBI official and a former one completely discount the Fox News claim that an FBI analysis of a computer belonging to Rich contained thousands of e-mails to and from WikiLeaks," the report read. "Local police in Washington, D.C., never even gave the FBI Rich's laptop to analyze after his murder."
Simply put, in regards to Rich's laptop, "It never contained any e-mails related to WikiLeaks, and the FBI never had it," a former law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the case said.
Lastly, the Rich family itself has been loudest and most vocal in disputing what they say are "unsubstantiated" garbage reports.
"We see no facts, we have seen no evidence, we have been approached with no emails and only learned about this when contacted by the press," the statement added. "Even if tomorrow an email was found, it is not a high enough bar of evidence to prove any interactions as emails can be altered, and we've seen that those interested in pushing conspiracies will stop at nothing to do so."
The family's statement added:
The services of the private investigator who spoke to press was offered to the Rich family and paid for by a third party, and contractually was barred from speaking to press or anyone outside of law enforcement or the family unless explicitly authorized by the family.
The "third party" mentioned in the statement is financial adviser and Fox News contributor Ed Butowsky, Bauman told NBC News Tuesday.
However, Butowsky has denied any part in Wheeler's investigation of Rich's death.
"I'm not involved with any of what you said," he told NBC.
Butowsky declined to respond when he was asked if he was in contact with the Rich family.
"This can't possibly go well," he said. "I didn't pay anybody. I didn't hire anybody."
He then referred all questions to Wheeler.
Bauman tells a different story.
Not only did Butowsky connect the Rich family to Wheeler, but he also offered to pay the private investigator's fees, according to Bauman.
Though the family's initial response to the Fox 5 report declined to mention Butowsky by name, Bauman told NBC News he felt compelled to reveal the Dallas-based financial adviser's role as the "third party" after he denied involvement in the story.
"He's the one who paid for it," Bauman said.
To sum things up: The supposed bombshell reports this week are trash.
They have done nothing to answer some of the conspiracies surrounding Rich's unsolved murder. They have, however, done a great job of infuriating the victim's still-grieving family.
Great work all around, fellas.
—
This story, which warned from the outset that the two Fox reports didn't add up, has been updated to include Wheeler's admission to CNN.
Sure, the family can say what they please, but my point is that they really don’t (are at least certainly should not) have any say as to how his murder is investigated.
So if one of them runs out yelling at everyone to let him rest in peace - sorry, but the right to control the investigation disappeared once he part of the high-octane political world.
And, in fact, if some girl in Nebraska is killed, it’s really no different. Should her father (who may well be a suspect in this hypothetical example) be allowed to tell the police to stop investigating and let his daughter rest in peace?
It includes the revelation that the "family spokesman" is a Democrat party "PR consultant." It has a link to a video from Seth Rich's actual parents (vs. the fake "family spokesman") thanking everyone who is helping to find their son's two killers.
Sounds like this article is the only "hokum" out there to me - written to serve their DC establishment swamp creature masters.
someone has posted on reddit the Donald that Newt Gingrich was on Fox calling for Mueller to include Seth Rich’s killing in his investigation, no link as yet.
given that if it were proved that Rich leaked the DNC emails it would destroy the RussiaRussiaRussia narrative, why doesn’t Jeff Sessions start an investigation, as the Seth Rich angle is not Russian-related, so he would not need to recuse himself.
find Rich’s laptop, get to the bottom of DC police/FBI involvement in the case, etc.
Gingrinch didn't call for Mueller to investigate the Seth Rich murder. He uses the Seth Rich leak and murder as examples of areas of worthy investigation. Newt's conclusion is that if Mueller confines his investigation to only Trump (which is the only thing his grant of investigatory authority covers), then the public will not learn, from the Mueller investigation, what it ought to know about foreign influence in US elections.
It’s interesting that the man who recieved the files from Rich was found dead.......gee
No. The FBI source is denying that they were ever given the laptop to analyze.
Simple stuff.
Generally speaking, it appears that you just made a drive by posting. Why would you care about flaming, if you generally abandoned the posting ?
Timeline of Seth Rich and recent finds by citizen journalists.
Generally speaking, it appears that you just made a drive by posting. Why would you care about flaming, if you generally abandoned the posting ?
.........
The point of the post was not to troll but rather to marshall arguments because the MSM is counter attacking the seth rich story. I didn’t reply because I don’t have much to add. I wanted to be informed rather than inform. Then I want to show the results to others.
Mon APR 18: John Jones pushed in front of train and dies.
Wed MAY 11: Michael Ratner dies of cancer
Thu MAY 12: WSJ reveals Clinton charity giving millions to Scott Kleeb (SR’s former employer)
Sun JUN 12: Assange interview “More leaks to come”
Sat JUN 18: Guccifer 2.0 leak of DNC donors
Wed JUN 22: John Ashe dies (barbell accident)
Sun JUN 26: Creighton Grad Simone Sanders quits as Bernie’s National Press Secretary
Tue JUN 28: Suit filed by Shaun Lucas George says: “The last tranche has gone” approx in here
Fri JUL 01: Shaun Lucas serves the DNC
Sat JUL 02: Hillary meets with FBI to answer questions about private email server. HOLIDAY WEEKEND
Tue JUL 05: Seth Rich hears he will join Hillary’s Campaign and go to Brooklyn? James Comey says Hillary was careless in handling of email.
Wed JUL 06: AG Loretta Lynch says Clinton won’t be charged.
Thu Jul 07: State Dept reopens email server investigation
Sun JUL 10: Seth Rich killed in early morning hours
Mon JUL 11: two dudes killed in SC (might be dead end)
Tue JUL 12: Sanders caves and endorses Hillary
Fri JUL 22: Wikileaks publishes 19,252 emails and 8,034 attachments from the DNC
Sat JUL 23: DN Convention begins in Philadelphia Mon
JUL 25: Joe Montano dies
Tue JUL 26: DebbieWS Resigns
JUL Late: FBI starts investigation intoTrump links to Russia and to Russian ‘hackers’
Thu JUL 28: Class Action suit is filed
FRI JUL 29: Court filing shows that FBI turned over “thousands of documents” to State Dept as part of the email investigation.
Sat JUL 30: Clinton goes on Fox and brags that Comey believes her to be “truthful”
Tue AUG 02: Shawn Lucas dies & “Heads Roll at DNC” 3 fired
Tue AUG 09: Wikileaks offers $20K reward for SR killer and Assange hints at DNC connection to killer in TV Interview.
Sat AUG 20: Assange implies Seth Rich was source
Tue AUG 30: Assange/Pilger interview
SEP ??: Craig Murray says he received a “clandestine handoff” Wash DC
Sat SEP 17 Eric Braverman goes missing?
Fri OCT 07: Wikileaks publishes John Podesta emails daily through 10/31
Mon OCT 17: Pamela Anderson brings Assange a sandwich.
Sat OCT 22: Death of Gavin MacFayden
Tue NOV 01 Shawn Lucas’ cause of death released
FBIanon in a recent 4chan Q&A on the Seth Rich execution:
Expect a flood of new info regarding this. It was a sloppy hit and can lead directly to 3 senators, and John Brennan calling in a favor from some of his Mossad buddies. This I have heard from more than one source.
There is a leaker in the DC police and fireworks will come soon enough. Seth Rich passed over 44,000 emails to Wikileaks.
Why do you think the CIA is calling for Julian Assange’s head?
Because they must silence any investigation into Rich’s execution. Start with Schumer and McCain and see where the breadcrumbs lead.
Ridiculous.
Everyone knows this hit bears the unmistakable signature of the yakuza, not Mossad.
Further, it's common knowledge that the yakuza only work with the House of Representatives, not the Senate (although they do freelance for the Knights Templar).
Breaking: ‘Complete Panic’ Has Set in at the Highest Levels of DNC Over Seth Rich Murder Investigation
who is joseph p. capone? does he own the bar (lou’s city bar) that seth rich walked to his death from? why was he in the white house 4 days before seth rich was assassinated?
https://www.yelp.com/biz/lous-city-bar-washington
That is kinda what I suspected. Think you got a lot of ammo from our fellow freepers.
Poor Larry was very trusting for a guy whose criminal record includes forgery, larceny, and fraud.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.