Who Was Seth Rich?

[Jerky]

What a coincidence that WaPo carried an article and NPR aired their piece on the same day Jack Burkman is filming his re-enactment. Too late to RSVP for Scene 1 but maybe not for.............

Scene 2: Murder Re-enactment

Arrive by 7:30pm ET – Scene taping begins 8pm ET
OUTDOOR LOCATION: Corner of W St. and Flagler Pl. NW, Washington, D.C.
***RSVP is required for access.

SOURCE: The Profiling Project

This press release is distributed by PR NewsChannel. Your News. Everywhere.
https://www.prnewschannel.com/2017/07/2 ... -jack-burk

Buried/botched police murder investigation ........

.......... in Washington DC? NO WAY!!!

[seemslikeadream]

White House Communications Department

Americans official propaganda source for Fox News

It is confirmed that Ed Bukowski meet with Sean Spicer in the White House

[seemslikeadream]

Seth Rich: What You Need To Know About Discredited Fox News Story
New lawsuit alleges Fox News story about murdered DNC staffer fabricated quotes – and that Donald Trump pushed for it to be published

Seth Rich's parents, Mary and Joel, have asked for news organizations to stop politicizing their son's death – and a new lawsuit alleges that Fox News fabricated quotes to do just that. Matt Miller/Washington Post/Getty Images
By Tessa Stuart
1 hour ago
Two weeks before Democrats were poised to converge on Philadelphia for their convention in July of last year, the Democratic National Committee's director of voter expansion data, a 27-year-old staffer named Seth Rich, was shot in Washington D.C.'s Columbia Heights neighborhood. Over a year later, Metropolitan Police still have no witnesses, no suspects and no motive for his murder. Their working theory is that Rich was killed in a botched armed robbery, but his watch and wallet were still with the body when police discovered it. His death devastated both his colleagues and his family, who raised money to finance their own investigation when the police's stalled. It remains one of 65 unsolved murders in D.C. last year.

In the year since, Seth Rich's death has become a conspiracy célèbre for supporters of Donald Trump, who have co-opted it to cast suspicion on Hillary Clinton and away from Trump. A lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges that Fox News attempted to use Rich's death that way in a now-retracted story the network aired in May, a story the complainant says was read and approved by the president before it aired.

How did it become a conspiracy theory?
Shortly after Rich's death, it became an object of fixation in the Internet's right-wing fever swamps where frenzied speculation circulated, mutated and, eventually, coalesced around an overarching conspiracy theory: Rich was killed for leaking thousands of Hillary Clinton's emails to Wikileaks. The baseless theory was promoted on conspiracy sites like InfoWars and Breitbart, but probably more significantly, was fueled by suggestive comments from Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who remarked "our sources take risks" after referencing Rich's death during a TV interview in August 2016. Wikileaks later pledged $20,000 for information about Rich’s murder. In January, U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russian military intelligence was responsible for hacking the emails, and feeding them to Wikileaks.

How did the conspiracy theory go mainstream?
In May, Fox News aired, then retracted, a story citing multiple sources, including "a federal investigator who reviewed an FBI forensic report," that ostensibly confirmed the theory that Rich leaked Clinton's emails to Wikileaks before his death. Rod Wheeler – a former DC homicide detective and Fox News contributor who claimed he'd been retained by Rich's family to assist with their investigation – was also quoted in the now-debunked story, confirming Rich emailed Wikileaks, and accusing "someone within the D.C. government, Democratic National Committee or Clinton team [of] blocking the murder investigation from going forward." It wasn't the network's first time addressing the baseless story – Fox fixtures Newt Gingrich and Eric Bolling both discussed it on air, and multiple Fox affiliates ran stories about the theory – but it was it's most complete treatment of the conspiracy.

seth rich murder fox news fake conspiracy
News headlines scroll above the Fox News studios in the News Corporation headquarters in New York, Tuesday, Aug. 1st, 2017. Richard Drew/AP
When did it collapse?
Fox News removed the story from its website one week after it was published, and after the Rich family wrote an emotional appeal in the Washington Post asking the public and Fox to "Stop politicizing our son's murder." In a statement addressing its retraction, Fox News said the story "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." The TV channel's biggest star, Sean Hannity – who'd devoted considerable attention to the conspiracy theory – meanwhile, declared his intention to keep "trying to find the truth" on Twitter.

Why are we talking about it now?
On Tuesday, Rod Wheeler, the Fox News contributor quoted in the discredited story, filed a lawsuit against the network, its parent company and a prominent Republican donor, Ed Butowsky, who offered to pay him to investigate Rich's murder. Wheeler's suit alleges that the reporter, Malia Zimmerman, fabricated the quotes attributed to him in the story, and that President Trump himself read and approved a draft of the story prior to publication.

The point of publishing the now-discredited story, Wheeler's lawyers write in the complaint, was to "establish that Seth Rich provided WikiLeaks with the DNC emails to shift the blame from Russia and help put to bed speculation that President Trump colluded with Russia in an attempt to influence the outcome of the Presidential election." Their complaint includes screenshots of text messages from Butowsky, who arranged a meeting between himself, Wheeler and former press secretary Sean Spicer. "Not to add any more pressure but the president just read the article. He wanted the article out immediately. It's all up to you. But don't feel the pressure," Butowsky wrote. Butowsky told NPR, which broke news of the suit, that his text was meant jokingly. Spicer confirmed to NPR that he met with Butowsky and Wheeler in his office, but said he did not share the story with the president himself. If Butowsky gave it to him directly, he was unaware of it, Spicer said.

During press briefing on Tuesday, acting press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders denied that the president had any involvement in the fake story. "The President had no knowledge of the story, and it's completely untrue that he or the White House had involvement in the story," Sanders said. "Beyond that, this is ongoing litigation, and I'd refer you to the actual parties involved, which aren't the White House."
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/wha ... ry-w495383

[liminalOyster]

"object of fixation" "fever swamps" "frenzied speculation"

[Belligerent Savant]

.

EDIT: the below image succinctly summarizes my view of the information disseminated around this topic -- any topic making headlines in politics the last 9-12 months, really -- via media/entertainment channels. White Noise. Static.





....followed by echo chambers and distortions.

Little, if any, illumination.

[Rory]

It's great when we get to the point of simply being shouted down in the style of 911/JFK debunkers.

It's so obvious the Russia shit is made up, Seth was murdered in revenge for the leaks, and this whole #TheResistance lark is a one to one match for color revolution tactics.

[Jerky]

I sincerely don't know whether this a serious post or not.

Are you taking the piss?

It's great when we get to the point of simply being shouted down in the style of 911/JFK debunkers.

It's so obvious the Russia shit is made up, Seth was murdered in revenge for the leaks, and this whole #TheResistance lark is a one to one match for color revolution tactics.

[seemslikeadream]

I didn't hear any shouting...although the sound of all that eye rolling was annoying

[elfismiles]

So ... ??????

Audio: Seymour Hersh States Seth Rich Was WikiLeaks Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giuZdBAXVh0

Audio: Seymour Hersh States Seth Rich Was WikiLeaks Source
Tue August 1st, 2017 5:08 pm EST
Cassandra Fairbanks

In an audio recording provided to Big League Politics by a source that currently wishes to remain anonymous, journalist Seymour Hersh confirms that Seth Rich had contacted WikiLeaks with sample emails from the leak. Hersh cites an FBI document as proof for his claim.

“There are no DNC or Podesta emails that exist beyond May 21 or 22, last email from either one of those groups. What the report says is that some time in late Spring… he makes contact with WikiLeaks, that’s in his computer,” he says. “Anyway, they found what he had done is that he had submitted a series of documents — of emails, of juicy emails, from the DNC.”

Hersh explains that it was unclear how the negotiations went, but that WikiLeaks did obtain access to a password protected DropBox where Rich had put the files.

“All I know is that he offered a sample, an extensive sample, I’m sure dozens of emails, and said ‘I want money.’ Later, WikiLeaks did get the password, he had a DropBox, a protected DropBox,” he said. They got access to the DropBox.”

Hersh also states that Rich had concerns about something happening to him, and had

“The word was passed, according to the NSA report, he also shared this DropBox with a couple of friends, so that ‘if anything happens to me it’s not going to solve your problems,’” he added. “WikiLeaks got access before he was killed.”

This conversation is the second in a series provided to Big League Politics.

Seymour Hersh did not contact the family with his information.

In the first audio recording, private investigator Rod Wheeler explains what happened with the Fox News coverage of Seth Rich — and how brother Aaron Rich was actively attempting to shut down anyone looking into the WikiLeaks connection. His story in the audio contradicts reports of White House involvement with the media reports regarding Seth Rich.

Wheeler also said that brother Aaron Rich tried to block Wheeler from looking at Seth’s computer, even though there could be evidence on it. “He said no, he said I have his computer, meaning him,” Wheeler said. “I said, well can I look at it?…He said, what are you looking for? I said anything that could indicate if Seth was having problems with someone. He said no, I already checked it. Don’t worry about it.”

http://bigleaguepolitics.com/audio-seym ... ks-source/

White House pushed for fake news story about Seth Rich's death to distract from Russia, claims new lawsuit
The key informant inFox New's story is now suing the network for allegedly fabricating quotes
Emily Shugerman New York an hour ago

...
But Mr Butowksy, after meeting with journalist Seymour Hersh, told Mr Wheeler he had a source within the FBI who could confirm that Mr Rich had been in contact with WikiLeaks. (Mr Hersh has since dismissed these claims as “gossip”.)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 71321.html

A timeline of the explosive lawsuit alleging a White House link in the Seth Rich conspiracy
By Philip Bump August 1 at 5:29 PM

...

February
Butowsky reaches out to Rich’s family to offer to help fund an investigation into their son’s death. They agree.

At some point before or during February, Butowsky apparently speaks with veteran journalist Seymour Hersh, who Butowsky says indicated a link between Rich and the FBI. Hersh told Folkenflik it was “gossip” and that Butowsky “took two and two and made forty-five out of it.”

Feb. 23
Butowsky allegedly texts Wheeler to pitch him on pursuing the Rich investigation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/pol ... onspiracy/

Behind Fox News' Baseless Seth Rich Story: The Untold Tale
August 1, 20177:23 AM ET
Heard on Morning Edition
David Folkenflik
...
And Butowsky lays out a different mission than aiding the Rich family. Butowsky says he became convinced that the FBI had a report concluding that Seth Rich's laptop showed he had had contacts with WikiLeaks after speaking to the legendary reporter Seymour Hersh, who was also investigating Rich's death. According to the transcripts in the lawsuit, Butowsky says Hersh had an FBI source who confirmed the report.

In an interview this week, Hersh sounds unconvinced.

"I hear gossip," Hersh tells NPR on Monday. "[Butowsky] took two and two and made 45 out of it."
...
Wheeler says he doesn't know whether that source emerged from Butowsky's conversation with Seymour Hersh or whether it was a fabrication.

http://www.npr.org/2017/08/01/540783715 ... news-story

[seemslikeadream]

from the lawsuit .....and see I am not shouting Rory

[Elvis]

if you seriously think it's MORE likely that Seth Rich was murdered by the Dems for handing over a bunch of Podesta's (actually pretty tame) emails

I don't think Seth Rich had anything to do with Podesta's emails. No one has said that.

Is that a straw man? I assumed you knew the difference between Podesta's emails and the DNC emails.

[Elvis]

Worth recalling that speculation about Rich being a leaker goes back as early as the first week after his murder, predating not only Hannity's shenanigans by almost a year but even Assange's suggestions. I distinctly remember the notion being raised on Sanders forums almost immediately after his death.

Yes, some people are making this about Hannity and Burkman. Who gives a flying fuck what either of them says? Not me.

[Jerky]

I misspoke in haste, but the point remains the same. The idea that the Clintons would have Rich murdered for passing along emails that proved (GASP!) that the Democratic establishment had a preferred candidate, and that it wasn't 16 month Independent-Socialist-turned-Democrat-of-convenience Bernie Sanders, is laughable.

if you seriously think it's MORE likely that Seth Rich was murdered by the Dems for handing over a bunch of Podesta's (actually pretty tame) emails

I don't think Seth Rich had anything to do with Podesta's emails. No one has said that.

Is that a straw man? I assumed you knew the difference between Podesta's emails and the DNC emails.

[Elvis]

The idea that the Clintons would have Rich murdered

Who said the Clintons killed anybody? Oh yeah... the right.

Every one of these arguments is some kind of straw man.

I checked the links in your article (will you be correcting it btw? at least get the essential facts right), but I don't know if it's worth trying to talk to you about it because you've already declared that if I disagree with you, I'm "too far gone," "disgusting" and "hysterical."

I have notes, but for now in short:

ThinkProgress, Vox and MediaMatters all insist that Seth Rich could not have been the DNC leaker because some loonies on the right say he was. That's their logic.

Vox's "explanation" of the murder is not the least bit objective, and they turn a "suspected" robbery (police quote) into the flat assertion that Rich died of "senseless violence."

Plus there are links about fuckups at Fox news. And Roger Stone, can't leave out Roger! To that 'nothing soup' you add something about the NRA and culture wars, as if all that further disproves the possibility that Seth Rich was the DNC leaker. It doesn't.

There's more but it's late.

To repeat myself about Seth Rich's family: they seem like very nice people, and true-blue Democrats, god bless 'em. To them, stealing and leaking Democratic party emails would be a horrible think to do, and of course that's why they so disdain any speculation that Seth was the leaker. I can't blame them for that; I just think they're mistaken about it.

The DNC emails showed collusion—we all know that word lately—to deprive Bernie Sanders of votes. (Clearly, Jerky, you don't like Sanders, so all the more reason for you to exonerate Clinton, Podesta, Wasserman and the whole DNC gang—who in reality subverted the American democratic process.)

[mentalgongfu2]

Elvis, can we look at this another way - beyond the known facts that Rich worked for the DNC and was killed in a still-unsolved murder, what actual evidence is there that he WAS the leaker?

(Beyond the speculation and implications of the politically motivated)