News and Commentary

Is The Right Falling For Another Fake News Hoax With Seth Rich?

   DailyWire.com

The conspiracy theory that Seth Rich was murdered over his supposed ties to WikiLeaks was revived when a Fox report purportedly substantiated those claims, but the report was quickly debunked. And yet, a number of people on the Right continue to perpetuate the conspiracy theory, which is simply reprehensible.

Here is a roundup of those on the Right perpetuating this ridiculous conspiracy theory.

Sean Hannity.

Hannity has become one of the more vocal and well-known proponents of the conspiracy theory; he had the source of the Fox report claiming he had seen evidence that Rich was in contact with WikiLeaks. As The Washington Post‘s Dave Weigel pointed out, Hannity didn’t seem to realize that the source, private investigator Rod Wheeler, was actually walking back his story on-air:

Hannity has been doubling down on Twitter about the conspiracy theory, reaching fever-pitch levels:

A couple of Hannity’s tweets involve him quote-tweeting Kim Dotcom, whom Hannity seems to be treating as a legitimate source on the matter. However, Dotcom cannot be considered to be a legitimate source.

According to Wired:

The man once known as Kim Schmitz (and as Kimble, and as Kim Tim Jim Vestor, and finally as Kim Dotcom), now awaiting extradition from New Zealand to face charges of conspiracy, money laundering and copyright crimes in the US, has enveloped his actual life in a cloud of hype and bluster that echo the worst of the dot-com bubble from which he took his new surname. In 2001, the Telegraph called Schmitz “a PR man’s nightmare and a journalist’s dream.”

The article also notes that Dotcom “was convicted of 11 counts of computer fraud, 10 counts of data espionage, and an assortment of other charges” in 1998 but because he was only 20 years old he received “a two-year suspended sentence.”

In other words, the source that Hannity is hyping to prove the Rich conspiracy theory is a man who has been convicted of computer fraud, is facing extradition over a myriad of charges and has a history of puffing his own image.

Not that any of that would matter to Hannity:

Well, as long as his heart isn’t troubled that makes it all fine and dandy.

Gateway Pundit.

This pro-Trump news outlet (and that’s putting it mildly) has been fanning the flames of the Rich conspiracy theory for quite some time. Here are some examples of some of their headlines on the matter:

Police Never Asked For Surveillance Video From Bar Seth Rich Was Last Spotted Hours Before His Murder

BOOM! Hacker Kim Dotcom: “I Knew Seth Rich Was the Wikileaks Source – I Was Involved” (Updated)

Breaking: ‘Complete Panic’ at Highest Levels of DNC Over Kim DotCom’s Seth Rich Announcement

The funny thing is that in two of those articles, they link to 4Chan and Reddit as legitimate sources. Seriously. The other treats World Net Daily (WND) as a legitimate source, a website that has constantly hyped conspiracy theories about Barack Obama’s birth certificate.

It would certainly explain why the Gateway Pundit has been dubbed the “Fake News King.”

Drudge Report.

Drudge seems to be doing their part in perpetuating the Rich conspiracy:

Drudge even had the Rich story as the banner link on its site:

One America News Network (OAN).

OAN produced a lengthy video that hypes the Rich conspiracy theory and treats the now-debunked Fox story as fact as well as perpetuating another conspiracy theory that the Clintons were behind the death of former United Nations diplomat John Ashe:

Breitbart.

Here are some of their headlines on the matter:

Silence from Establishment Media over Seth Rich WikiLeaks Report

4 Unanswered Questions Surrounding Murdered DNC Staffer Seth Rich

Fox News: Seth Rich, Murdered DNC Staffer, ‘Leaked Thousands of Internal Emails to WikiLeaks’

It’s only fitting that the site that Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro has called “Trump Pravda” and panders to the odious alt-right would fan the flames of the Rich conspiracy theory.

Infowars.

It wouldn’t be a conspiracy theory without Infowars getting in on it:

DEMS WALK BACK TRUMP IMPEACHMENT CALLS AMID SETH RICH PROBE

FBI HAS FORENSIC EVIDENCE THAT TIES WIKILEAKS TO SETH RICH

MSM COVERS UP MURDER OF DNC STAFFER SETH RICH

Infowars’ Paul Joseph Watson has also been spreading the conspiracy on Twitter.

World Net Daily.

WND, which also has a reputation for pushing conspiracy theories, is naturally pushing the Rich one as well:

BOMBSHELL: DONNA BRAZILE WARNED OFF PRIVATE EYE ON SETH RICH MURDER

CHILLING SIMILARITIES BETWEEN SETH RICH MURDER AND ‘CLINTON BODY COUNT’ VICTIMS

NEWS MEDIA BLACKOUT OVER SETH RICH REVELATIONS

The conspiracy theories that the Clintons have murdered others has been pervasive among some of the Right for quite some time, but there is zero evidence linking the Clintons to any murders.

Bill Mitchell.

The Trump cultist has repeatedly called for a special prosecutor to investigate the Rich murder on Twitter.

Mike Cernovich.

Like Hannity, Cernovich has been vocal about the Rich conspiracy theory on Twitter and is pushing Dotcom as a legitimate source.

In a prior list, The Daily Wire put forward the facts surrounding the Rich case and showed that there is nothing to indicate that Rich was in contact with WikiLeaks and that such a theory doesn’t even make sense, since all evidence points to the DNC and John Podesta’s emails being hacked. Unfortunately, there are no leads at this point, so it’s hard to know for sure what happened on the night of Rich’s murder, but the police’s belief that it was a botched robbery does make the most sense, even if nothing was taken from Rich, because the conspiracy theorists seem to be unaware that a botched robbery means it was a robbery gone wrong.

But that doesn’t matter to those perpetuating the Rich conspiracy theory, because they desperately want it to be true in order to prove that Russia didn’t provide WikiLeaks with those emails, hence proving that there was no collusion between Donald Trump and Russia during the campaign. The Democrats have yet to convince the public of such collusion, so there’s no need for the Right to fight the Democrats’ insanity with their own insanity and worsen the pain of Rich’s grieving family.

Follow Aaron Bandler on Twitter.

Got a tip worth investigating?

Your information could be the missing piece to an important story. Submit your tip today and make a difference.

Submit Tip
The Daily Wire   >  Read   >  Is The Right Falling For Another Fake News Hoax With Seth Rich?