Seth Rich

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…you probably know him as "Russia"
Said to be last FB post, 8 July 2016. The euglogy given by Rabbi Steven Abraham of Beth El Synagogue, 13 Jul. 2016

July 10th shooting

When and where did Seth Rich die?

Hoax sites

Was Rich the DNC leaker?

Fake FBI memo on Seth Rich says Wikileaks
Main article: DNC Leak

Timeline

  • 17 December, 2016 at 3.17 pm Ed Butowsky contacts Rich family, after being introduced by someone, and speaks with them for some 30 minutes on the phone, as he learned something from a source he won't reveal and having something to do with the Wikileaks. Source: Ed Butowsky interview, 1 Aug. 2017. -Rich family did not want to talk about the Wikileaks.
  • Someone introduced Ed Butowsky to Seymour Hersh , who gave him 'all that information'. Ed Butowsky sends it to Rich family, but they are not interested in the Wikileaks part, only in 'something concrete'. At this point, an idea to hire a private investigator is suggested by Ed Butowsky. Family cannot pay for it, but Ed offers to do so. Source: Ed Butowsky interview, 1 Aug. 2017.
  • 23 February, 2017 /"February 2017". Rod Wheeler first contacted and later hired (Source: Ed Butowsky interview, 1 Aug. 2017/ Rod Wheeler lawsuit).
  • 8 April, 2017. Wikileaks released supposedly Guccifer2.0 messages to Robin Young, dated 25 August 2016, and claiming that Seth Rich is a source (see links on this page).
  • 20 April, 2017. Ed Butowsky, Rod Wheeler meeting with the White House (ex) press secretary Sean Spicer, discussing Rod Wheeler investigation and information from Seymour Hersh (Spicer has no use for it, and they talk about something else). Source: Ed Butowsky interview, 1 Aug. 2017/Rod Wheeler interview, 2 Aug. 2017.
  • 9 May, 2017. FBI director James Comey fired.
  • 15 May, 2017. Fox interview with Rod Wheeler aired.
  • 20 May, 2017. Kim Dotcom claims it too
  • 23 May, 2017. Judicial Watch files several freedom of information requests (DC police department and DC mayor office, 'last week'; FBI request is 'pending from the last year') .
  • 2 June, 2017 E-mail exchanges between Butowsky and Hersh; Hersh appears now to contradict the version on the audio; Butowsky presses on.
  • 11-12 July, 2017. Audio recordings claimed to be of Seymour Hersh , Rod Wheeler are posted on the youtube channel Debunking Rod Wheeler.
  • 24 July, 2017. Intel Vets (VIPS) Challenge ‘Russia Hack’ Evidence.
  • 25 July, 2017. House nearly unanimously approves a bill imposing sanctions on Russia, followed by a near-unanimous Senate vote on 28 July
  • 1 August, 2017. Information about lawsuit, claims and counter-claims appeared. (Also, FBI director Christopher Wray confirmation hearing on this day).
    Rod Wheeler lawsuit is uploaded. Audio recordings on Debunking Rod Wheeler channel is highlighted by Wikileaks and in Ed Butowsky interview, but ignored or downplayed in the mass media. Some alternative media starts to report on it, and it continues the next day.
  • 2 August, 2017. Russia sanctions bill is signed by president Donald J. Trump.
  • 3 August, 2017. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher drew the attention of members of Congress to VIPS report (published by July 24, 2017)
  • 15 August, 2017. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher meeting with Assange, reported by the Hill.

List of people who say Seth Rich is the DNC leaker

  1. Guccifer 2.0 via Robin Young
  2. Kim Dotcom
  3. Seymour Hersh (unconfirmed)
  4. Rod Wheeler
  5. Anonymous federal investigator who spoke to Fox News & OANN
  6. James Lyons
  7. Ed Butowsky
  8. Ellen Ratner according to Ed Butowsky
  9. Bill Binney
  10. Mark Dougan aka BadVolf (unreliable) (Noted: got an asylum in Russia; claims (17:39) that he set up DCLeaks--discussed in the link).
  11. Julian Assange strongly suggests but does not say so. As does his mother.

Two other people claim that they know first hand that the data came from a leaker, but do not mention the leaker's name.

  1. Craig Murray
  2. Ray McGovern

Guccifer 2.0

Robin Young claims Guccifer 2.0 told her in a private communication, that he had received the material from Seth Rich. See Guccifer 2.0#Robin Young.

Kim Dotcom

  • I knew Seth Rich. I know he was the Wikileaks source. I was involved, Kim Dotcom to Sean Hannity on twitter, May 20, 2017
  • On May 23, kim.com issues a statement (without specific URL) on his website which reads:
    I know [that Seth Rich was involved in the DNC leak] because in late 2014 a person contacted me about helping me to start a branch of the Internet Party in the United States. He called himself Panda. I now know that Panda was Seth Rich. Panda advised me that he was working on voter analytics tools and other technologies that the Internet Party may find helpful. I communicated with Panda on a number of topics including corruption and the influence of corporate money in politics. [...]
Dotcom would be willing to give details only to "the authorities" as his lawyers advised him, the statement continues.
  • On May 25, Dotcom releases an open letter to the Rich family asking them not to repeat allegations, whose preposterous nature he outlines to them, originating with the Washington Post of him having tried to hack Seth Rich's email account.
  • SETH RICH – A TALE OF TWEETS - May 28, 2017 (archive)
  • Kim Dotcom Approaches Special Counsel, press release by Kim Dotcom, 30 May 2017
    (says he has relevant information, does not provide details on information itself, only on his legal situation)
  • On the Consortium News Live show of September 20, 2019, Joe Lauria plays parts of an interview he did with Kim.com and discusses it with guest Bill Binney. The new information seems to be that after Kim communicated with "Panda" first over twitter and then encrypted messenger, including specifically about "Panda"'s work for the DNC and his frustration with their methods against Sanders, Kim decided that it was too hot for him to be involved with, given his own struggle against extradition to the US. He then brought "Panda" in contact with someone apparently from the hacker scene who had been working with wikileaks in the past, and from there the story developed without further involvement of Kim.com. --CE (talk) 16:05, 24 September 2019 (UTC)
  • Why Kim Dotcom Connects The DNC Email Leak To The Murder Of Seth Rich - Moon of Alabama, April 24, 2023

TruthWyspr

Source used by Fox News, OANN, and Joe Biggs.

Apparently, according to him, an ex-investigator, something happened , here

Fox News report

ACLOS epistemological principals consider the original report as a primary source and thus more reliable than the later forced retraction.
  • Family of slain DNC staffer Seth Rich blasts detective over report of WikiLeaks link - Malia Zimmerman, Fox News, May 16, 2017 (video)
    The federal investigator, who requested anonymity, said 44,053 emails and 17,761 attachments between Democratic National Committee leaders, spanning from January 2015 through late May 2016, were transferred from Rich to MacFadyen before May 21.
  • Fox News, May 15, 2017 updated May 17, 2017 , with video, includes fragment with Wheeler saying his thing, well-copied in many youtubed studies Fox 5 You have sources at the FBI saying that there is information RW: For Sure..Fox 5...that could link Seth Rich to Wikileaks? RW: Absolutely. Yeah. That's confirmed .The story was later retracted, more interviews given and stuff said; this does not pretend to be the full lengthy account
Reprinted by NY Post
May 17
  • Private investigator Rod Wheeler backtracked from his statements, shortly after making them - Fox News, 17 May 2017 update
    When interviewed by Jason Goodman on May 28 he says he is under a gag order and cannot speak about anything.
May 23

Fox News is forced to dump the story into the Memory Hole. All copies of the original report are removed from the Internet. The NY Post page is replaced with a statement:

Aug. 1
2019
  • Fake News Media Suffers Body Blow on Case Linked to Seth Rich by Larry Johnson - Sic Semper Tyrannis, April 29, 2019
    On May 15, 2017, Wheeler was in contact with Zimmerman multiple times about an article Zimmerman was writing. Zimmerman provided Wheeler several “drafts” containing quotes attributed to Wheeler. At no point in time did Wheeler ever deny making the statements quoted by Zimmerman; instead he offered further quotations.
    On May 16, 2017, in the early morning, Fox published Zimmerman’s story entitled, “Seth Rich, slain DNC staffer, had contact with WikiLeaks, say multiple sources.” The article included the statements Wheeler had made and approved. Id. On May 16, 2017, after publication of Zimmerman’s article, Wheeler appeared on Fox News and was interviewed by Sean Hannity, where Wheeler again confirmed Seth had communicated with WikiLeaks. On May 16, 2017, Wheeler appeared on Fox Business with Lou Dobbs to discuss the Seth Rich murder investigation.
    On May 16 or May 17, 2017, one or more members of the Rich family, or a spokesman for the Rich family, threatened to sue Wheeler for violating the terms of his contract with the Rich family by speaking with Marraco, Zimmerman, Hannity, and Dobbs. According to Plaintiff, the threats from the Rich family provided Wheeler with a motive to lie, backtrack, and distance himself from the quotes and statements he had made to Marraco, Zimmerman, Hannity, and Dobbs. Wheeler then “flip-flopped on virtually all the essential facts.”
  • Debunking Rod Wheeler's Claims

Seymour Hersh

  • Audio: Seymour Hersh States Seth Rich Was WikiLeaks Source - Cassandra Fairbanks, Big League Politics, August 1st, 2017
    Another transcript: Seymour Hersh audio transcript revealing Seth Rich leaked the DNC emails to Wikileaks- redpilledworld.blogspot.com, August 2-3, 2017
  • Rod Wheeler lawsuit - scribd.com, August 1, 2017
    • 55. During his conversation with Butowsky, Mr. Hersh claimed that he had received information from an “FBI report.” Mr. Hersh had not seen the report himself, but explained: “I have somebody on the inside who will go and read a file for me. And I know this person is unbelievably accurate and careful. He’s a very high level guy.”
    • 56. According to Mr. Hersh, his source told him that the FBI report states that, shortly after Seth Rich’s murder, the D.C. police obtained a warrant to search his home. When they arrived at the home, the D.C. police found Seth Rich’s computer, but were unable to access it. The computer was then provided to the D.C. police Cyber Unit, who also were unable to access the computer. At that point, the D.C. police contacted the Cyber Unit at the FBI’s Washington D.C. field office. Again, according to the supposed FBI report, the Washington D.C. field office was able to get into the computer and found that in “late spring early summer [2016], [Seth Rich] [made] contact with Wikileaks.” “They found what he had done. He had submitted a series of documents, of emails. Some juicy emails from the DNC.” Mr. Hersh told Butowsky that Seth Rich “offered a sample [to WikiLeaks][,] an extensive sample, you know I’m sure dozens, of emails, and said I want money.”
      Compare this to leaked audio. (unconfirmed)
    ... ... ...
    • 77. ...In fact, the only purported source saying that Seth Rich sent any emails to WikiLeaks was Butowsky and Zimmerman’s supposed source within the FBI. Mr. Wheeler had never even spoken with this individual, to the extent he or she even exists. In fact, when Mr. Wheeler was interviewed by a Fox affiliate on the evening of May 15, 2017, he made sure not to confirm as fact the proposition that Seth Rich sent emails to WikiLeaks, instead confirming only that a “source” (i.e., Zimmerman’s and Butowsky’s alleged source) had information that could link Seth Rich to WikiLeaks. (see also: 70-77).
    • 103. (Butowsky): I’ve got a friend of mine (...) I sent him the Sy Hersh redacted where it’s just his voice (...) Butowsky then claimed that he had Mr. Hersh’s “balls in a noose.”
  • 2 June, 2017 E-mail exchanges between Butowsky and Hersh; Hersh appears now to contradict the version on the audio; Butowsky presses on; contradiction appears unresolved. No comment volunteered by Hersh in August 1-3, 2017.
  • Seymour Hersh Owes The World An Explanation For His Seth Rich Comments - Caitlin Johnstone, August 3, 2017
    A good summary of the Hersh issue (possibly copied from here.)
    Don't know Hersh but have a different mental model of how he may operate. He may be very rational and well-planning guy, first publishing stuff after meticulously considering all tiny details; then maybe talking about it, and sounding very charismatic, but this all adds to sales part too, not just truth and charisma parts. In this situation, lots of risk and no advancing of the business part. Plus, it is very likely he will be called to testify in the lawsuit, and so he may not say a word in any unguarded way from now; it may all go to his legal rep first, and well-considered before anything is said at all. --Resup (talk) 02:14, 4 August 2017 (UTC)
    Come on, we live in a real world. We are not talking about an artifact on the dark side of the Moon, we are talking about FBI files which either exist, or not. Instead of banging on 'poor' old Hersh head, why not to submit a freedom of information request to the FBI (links here) ? One needs to be a physical, not virtual, person, and motivate why this is needed, but with an army of journalists interested in this, why that was not done already, or why we have not heard the outcome? --In the end of the day, the chief executive is the president and there is a machine behind, justice department and all that stuff, whatever it is. It mystifies me why it was not sorted out long time ago (if it was not).--Resup (talk) 03:28, 4 August 2017 (UTC) (Noted: Judicial Watch tried ...).
  • A New Twist in Seth Rich Murder Case - Joe Lauria, August 8, 2017
    Joe Lauria: I contacted Hersh on Friday via email. He confirmed to me that it was his voice on the tape by angrily condemning those who he said secretly recorded him, without identifying them. He did not respond when I asked him whether he thought the tape may have been altered. Hersh refused to comment further.
  • National Security Agency hiding communications between Seth Rich and Julian Assange - Ty Clevenger, LawFlog, December 30, 2020

Admiral James Lyons

Ed Butowsky

  • More cover-up questions - James A. Lyons, Washington Times, March 1, 2018
    (James A. Lyons, Jr., a retired U.S. Navy admiral, was commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and senior U.S. military representative to the United Nations.)
    Data on the laptop revealed that Mr. Rich downloaded thousands of DNC emails and was in touch with Wikileaks. The file with evidence of what was on Mr. Rich’s laptop sits with the FBI in a co-shared space with the D.C. police department. According to Ed Butowsky, an acquaintance of the family, in his discussions with Joel and Mary Rich, they confirmed that their son transmitted the DNC emails to Wikileaks.
    Since then, the DNC hired a “spokesperson,” Brad Burman, a known hatchet man to basically cut off any further communications with Mr. Rich’s parents. Interestingly, it is well known in the intelligence circles that Seth Rich and his brother, Aaron Rich, downloaded the DNC emails and was paid by Wikileaks for that information.
  • Ed Butowsky Discusses the Murder of Seth Rich - Newsmax TV, published June 26, 2018
    (on how he got involved with this) information came from London that Seth and Aron downloaded the emails from the DNC server
  • Lawsuit outs Ellen Ratner as source for Seth Rich information - Ty Clevenger, LawFlog, July 15, 2019
    Former Fox News news analyst Ellen Ratner relayed information from Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to Texas businessman Ed Butowsky regarding Seth Rich’s role in transferring emails to Wikileaks, according to an amended lawsuit that I filed this morning on behalf of Mr. Butowsky.
  • WHO KILLED (THE) SETH RICH (STORY)? - Jaraparilla, August 1, 2019

Bill Binney

Also

User Rob Lee has this to say: Wikileaks links to a channel with a video where this section of the whole Rod Wheeler recording is specifically singled out. How much more obvious can they make it?

MSM

Suddenly, Bloomberg in the money

Was Rich a Sanders supporter?

Reddit

Seth Rich and Israel

Did Hillary Clinton murder Seth Rich?

Social media accounts

Pandas4Bernie

Pandas4Bernie is not a Seth Rich account.

Family Response

  • "We’re Seth Rich’s parents. Stop politicizing our son’s murder", by Mary Rich and Joel Rich, Washington Post, May 23, 6:04 PM
    • We know that Seth’s personal email and his personal computer were both inspected by detectives early in the investigation and that the inspection revealed no evidence of any communications with anyone at WikiLeaks or anyone associated with WikiLeaks.
    • He didn’t have access to DNC emails, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee emails, John Podesta’s emails or Hillary Clinton’s emails. That simply wasn’t his job.
    • 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.

Videos

  • "DNC Staffer Killed 'Wanted to Make a Difference,' Family Says", published July 13, 2016 , ABC news.
  • "WATCH: Seth Rich’s Parents Break Their Silence, Issue THIS Heartbreaking Message", published on May 22, 2017 by some News Headlines Daily.
    • User comment by Luana, posted at about 1 pm UTC on 25 May 2017. The reason for this video & the date are misleading. I saw this video at least a full month ago, 3 weeks BEFORE Rod Wheeler revealed what he found. They were thanking people for the GoFundMe donations to help them find the murderers of Seth Rich. It's bad enough already, but to use this video in a misleading way is total BS! Ever since DNC Fixer jumped on the case, NOT ONE WORD has been publicly said by Joel or Mary Rich. Brad Bauman, the DNC fixer, was a self-proclaimed family spokesperson... The fact that neither Rod Wheeler (the investigator hired by Seth's parents via a third party) nor Seth's parents have publicly spoken out since Brad Bauman came on the scene only fuels suspicions further. Why is the DNC so damned interested that they'd get so involved in pulling no punches to get this story stopped? Why does the law firm who sent Rod Wheeler a cease and desist letter & claims to represent the Rich family have a long history of representing DNC interests. Also, what is the nature of involvement of a company called SEIU ... (etc; heavier unsupported allegation follows)
    • Original thank you video, Apr 24, 2017
    • Aaron Rich on gofundme.com

Who is investigating the murder?

  • Brad Bauman, a Democratic communications consultant who serves as a spokesman for the Rich family, told us that the FBI is not investigating Rich’s murder — further undermining the premise of the Fox 5 report. “The FBI is not now and has never been a party to this investigation,” he said. -USA Today, 22 May, 2017
  • Editor's note: Shortly after this fact-check was published, an FBI spokeswoman officially confirmed that Rich's death was being investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department. The text has been updated. Politfact, May 26th, 2017. This seems to be one of sites put up by somebody to fight rumors --those sites come on top of searches
    I was unable to find any FBI official comment on Seth Rich. Google search on fbi.gov for the past year gives stolen weapon reward announcement (I do not know why, a bug?), as the only result. Time unlimited search gives some old not relevant cases. So, unclear whether it was officially stated that fbi is not investigating. If it is not, what does it mean? Maybe no data crime was committed, either it was not him, or it was but he had legal access to data and had a right to whistleblow it.--Resup (talk) 19:55, 29 May 2017 (UTC)
  • FBI Investigating DNC Hack Some Democrats Blame on Russia -Bloomberg, 25 July 2016
  • Joint Statement from the Department Of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Election Security (archived), 7 October, 2016
  • Exclusive: The true origins of the Seth Rich conspiracy theory. A Yahoo News investigation, by Michael Isikoff, Chief Investigative Correspondent, Yahoo News, July 9, 2019
    Russia’s foreign intelligence service, known as the SVR, first circulated a phony “bulletin” — disguised to read as a real intelligence report —about the alleged murder of the former DNC staffer on July 13, 2016, according to the U.S. federal prosecutor who was in charge of the Rich case.
    Noted: is this "exclusive" based on Sorcha Faal ???? archived, 13 July 2016 ; referred to, e.g. here, possibly here, etc --Resup (talk) 18:01, 9 July 2019 (UTC)
    “To me, having a foreign intelligence agency set up one of my decedents with lies and planting false stories, to me that’s pretty outrageous,” said Deborah Sines, the former assistant U.S. attorney in charge of the Rich case until her retirement last year.
    ...In fact, the Fox story was a “complete fabrication,” said Sines, who consulted with the FBI about the Fox News claims. There was “no connection between Seth and WikiLeaks. And there was no evidence on his work computer of him downloading and disseminating things from the DNC.” (A spokeswoman for the FBI’s Washington field office said the office had never opened an investigation into Rich’s murder, considering it a local crime for which the Washington Metropolitan Police Department had jurisdiction. Andrew McCabe, the FBI’s acting director at the time, said in an interview that he reached out to his agents after he heard about the conspiracy stories about Rich and was told, “There’s no there there.”)
    + Noted: Michael Isikoff Cuts His Losses at ‘Russian Roulette’ - by Ray McGovern, Consortium News, December 19, 2018
    Isikoff, Who First Peddled The Fake Steele Dossier, Invents New 'Russian Influence' Story, Moon of Alabama, July 9, 2019
  • We now have unequivocal proof that the FBI is hiding records about Seth Rich - Ty Clevenger, LawFlog, January 27, 2020
  • The FBI Has Been Lying About Seth Rich - Craig Murray, January 28, 2020
    The FBI was at this time supposed to be in the early stages of an investigation into how the DNC emails were leaked to Wikileaks. The FBI here believed Wikileaks to be indicating the material had been leaked by Seth Rich who had then been murdered. Surely in any legitimate investigation, the investigators would have been absolutely compelled to check out the truth of this possibility, rather than treat it as a media issue?
    We are asked to believe that not one of these emails says “well if the publisher of the emails says Seth Rich was the source, we had better check that out, especially as he was murdered with no sign of a suspect”. If the FBI really did not look at that, why on earth not? If the FBI genuinely, as they claim, did not even look at the murder of Seth Rich, that would surely be the most damning fact of all and reveal their “investigation” was entirely agenda driven from the start.
  • FBI doubles down on Seth Rich cover-up - Ty Clevenger, LawFlog, January 29, 2020
  • FBI Lied to a Federal Court Regarding Seth Rich - Larry C Johnson, Sic Semper Tyrannis, January 29, 2020
  • FBI Covered Up Strzok and Page Emails Regarding Seth Rich – Now the FBI Is Doubling Down In their Cover-Up - Joe Hoft, The Gateway Pundit, January 30, 2020

FBI

Online investigation and analysis

Random links

May, or may not be related to Seth Rich.

  • FBI Offers Up to $10,000 Reward to Recover Stolen Weapons - FBI, July 22, 2016
    The FBI’s Washington Field Office is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the recovery of stolen weapons. On Sunday, July 10, 2016, between 12:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m., unknown subjects burglarized an FBI special agent’s vehicle and removed a secured gun lock box which contained weapons and other equipment.
  • Metropolitan Police Department flyer
    On Sunday July 10, 2016, at approximately 4:19 am, Mr. SETH CONRAD RICH was shot and killed in the 2100 block of Flagler Place NW. The Metropolitan Police Department seeks the public’s assistance in gathering information regarding this homicide.

FOIA

Mueller report

See also Russiagate#Mueller Investigation

Redacted report released April, 2019

  • p. 48: (Asssange and WikiLeaks) statements about Rich implied falsely that he had been the source of the stolen DNC email (due to alleged electronic evidence of transfers from Guccifer 2.0 and dcleaks)
  • (same page, later): The office cannot rule out that stolen emails were transferred through intermediaries who visited during the summer of 2016. For example, public reporting identified Andrew Muller-Maguhn as a WikiLeaks associate who may have assisted with the transfer of these stolen documents to WikiLeaks
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