The story gained traction among conservative outlets following WikiLeaks’s release of hacked Democratic emails, hacks which U.S. intelligence believe were also conducted by Moscow.
As late as 2017, then-White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon reportedly texted a “60 Minutes” producer to say Rich’s death was “a contract kill, obviously,” claiming that Rich was a supporter of Clinton’s primary rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Fox News’s Sean Hannity also frequently promoted the conspiracy theory in 2017. Fox eventually retracted a report that Rich had been in contact with WikiLeaks after one of its main sources backtracked on his claims.
Great job, all around. I know this will get lost in the daily noise of the ■■■■■■■■■ but it’s worth a look. Also, there will be zero accountability for any individuals or news agencies that flogged this flaming garbage, long after it even had the thinnest shred of credibility, beyond the point at which the Rich family literally sued a news network over it. So thanks!
The Seth Rich conspiracy would not have worked if it wasn’t for decades of things like the Clinton death list, the conspiracy around the death of Vince Foster (the reason for the website “What really happened”) and nicknames like Killery.
People don’t peddle this and buy it for no reason.
There was a lot of groundwork that this was built upon.
Those who traffic in conservative scandal mongering don’t care how many of their theories get debunked. Its all about ginning up the base and keeping them outraged, which is obviously working.
I guess this is where we pretend Fox News and conservative talk radio didn’t spend a disgusting amount of time trying to implicate Hillary Clinton in the murder of this poor kid.
Well, this is one of those times I have to admit I was wrong. I dismissed the idea of “fake news” as being ludicrous. With this information, we can see that fake news is indeed real. The sources may be different than what the concept usually suggests, but it does appear to be a real thing
Remember that a few years from now, when the question will be, Who is Donald Trump? I am a ________ [fill in the blank with some ■■■■■■■■ about “independent” or “constitutional conservative”] and I never supported that liberal!
There is no separate “true conservatism” or “real Republican party.” There’s Donald Trump and his supporters.
If you disagree, then you’re probably really dumb or clueless or oblivious, and you’ve done an incompetent and ■■■■■■ job looking after your party. Your opinion should be ignored indefinitely.
My understanding is that this is the actual genesis of the “fake news” construct, utter ■■■■■■■■ being propogated on the internet, made to have the verisimilitude of legitimacy, by interested parties to achieve an end. It was only later hijacked, especially by Donald Trump, to cast all broadcast and traditional media.
