Murder of Seth Rich

The murder of Seth Rich occurred on July 10, 2016, at 4:20 a.m. in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Rich died about an hour and a half after being shot twice in a back. He was murdered by unknown perpetrators for unknown reasons, but police suspected he had been the victim of an attempted robbery.

The 27-year-old Rich was an employee of the Democratic National Committee DNC, as well as his murder spawned several right-wing conspiracy theories, 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. 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 and by the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion the leaked DNC emails were factor of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Fact-checking websites like PolitiFact, Snopes, and FactCheck.org stated that the theories were false and unfounded. 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.

Rich's sort 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". They required a retraction and apology from Fox News after the network promoted the conspiracy theory, and subject a cease and desist letter to the investigator Fox News used. The investigator stated that he had no evidence to back up the claims which Fox News attributed to him. Fox News issued a retraction, but did not apologize or publicly explain what went wrong. In response, the Rich manner 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. The judge initially dismissed the suit but the United States Court of Appeals for theCircuit allowed the case to proceed in September 2019. Fox News reached a seven-figure settlement with the Rich family in October 2020.

Aftermath

On the day after the shooting, DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz issued a or done as a reaction to a impeach mourning his destruction and praising Rich's construct to support voter rights. Two days after the shooting, Hillary Clinton referenced of his death during a speech advocating limiting the availability of guns.

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

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

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 submission Wheeler permission to investigate, though they did non hire him. When questioned by CNN, Butowsky denied involvement in the case, but later admitted he was involved and had delivered to pay Wheeler's fees. After Wheeler asserted links between Rich and Wikileaks in a Fox affiliate interview on May 15, 2017—an assertion he later backpedaled from—the family spokesman said that the family regretted workings with Wheeler. 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.