The true origins of the Seth Rich conspiracy theory. A Yahoo News investigation.

Exclusive: The true origins of the Seth Rich conspiracy theory. A Yahoo News investigation.

WASHINGTON — In the summer of 2016, Russian intelligence agents secretly planted a fake report claiming that Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was gunned down by a squad of assassins working for Hillary Clinton, giving rise to a notorious conspiracy theory that captivated conservative activists and was later promoted from inside President Trump’s White House, a Yahoo News investigation has found.

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.

This is a very interesting article for several reasons. I know there are many people on this site who are/were convinced that Seth was murdered as part of some deep state plot masterminded by Hillary after he supposedly uncovered tons of dirt and transferred it to certain outlets supposedly "proving" this that or the other.

And I am not surprised so many were duped.

But as the article shows, it's a complete fabrication by Russian intelligence that was seeded on the internet, picked up by right wing blogs, Alex Jones, and then made its way into right wing prime time—Fox, Hannity, etc, smearing a murdered staffer for ratings, to blame Hillary, and to detract from the investigations.

The Russian effort to exploit Rich’s tragic death didn’t stop with the fake SVR bulletin. Over the course of the next two and a half years, the Russian government-owned media organizations RT and Sputnik repeatedly played up stories that baselessly alleged that Rich, a relatively junior-level staffer, was the source of Democratic Party emails that had been leaked to WikiLeaks.

IRA-created fake accounts, masquerading as those of American citizens or political groups, tweeted and retweeted more than 2,000 times about Rich, helping to keep the bogus claims about his death in the social media bloodstream, according to an analysis of a database of Russia troll accounts by Yahoo News.

Sines, the former prosecutor, said that the Russian conspiracy-mongering vastly complicated her efforts to solve the murder by forcing her and the Washington, D.C., police department to investigate a blizzard of false allegations in order to make sure there was nothing to any of them. “To waste your time investigating BS is just horrible,” said Sines.

“It appeared to me that it was a very clear campaign to deflect an ongoing federal criminal investigation,” Sines said. “So then you have to look at why is Russia doing this? … It’s not rocket science before you add it up and you go, ‘Oh, if Seth is the leaker to WikiLeaks — it doesn’t have anything to do with the Russians.

Bingo.

And here we have Fox and Hannity, aiding and abetting the fabrication to millions of viewers, viewers who took it hook, line, and sinker, believing it.

The conspiracy claims reached their zenith in May 2017 — the same week as Mueller’s appointment as special counsel in the Russia probe — when Fox News’ website posted a sensational story claiming that an FBI forensic report had discovered evidence on Rich’s laptop that he had been in communication with WikiLeaks prior to his death. Sean Hannity, the network’s primetime star, treated the account as major news on his nightly broadcast, calling it “explosive” and proclaiming it “might expose the single biggest fraud, lies, perpetrated on the American people by the media and the Democrats in our history.”

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.”

I'm sure this will convince few of you already so steeped in the belief that Hillary is still behind it, but that's the whole point in propaganda. And I expect the usual trolls to swarm in trying to discredit the article and the information.

a reply to: Liquesence

This still doesn't explain who killed him and why.

originally posted by: Wide-Eyes
a reply to: Liquesence

This still doesn't explain who killed him and why.

OH, why it was just a robbery gone wrong.

Gone wrong in that nothing was stolen and they murdered him. If you are robbing someone and you happen to kill him, wouldn't you grab at least something for your trouble?

a reply to: Liquesence

Cool, so who killed him and why was he killed?

I think it is very, very clear you have not researched the facts of this case. Maybe you should check out one of the massive threads on ATS with massive amounts of real evidence and not just some words.

a reply to: Liquesence

Why would this story convince anyone???

Well, it may have been Russians, or it may have been Hillary. But one thing is for sure, Hillary lost the Presidential race and that is a good thing.

Yes, a botched robbery.

Occam's Razor.

Not a deep state Hillary hit job.

But police quickly concluded that the scenario was most likely that of an attempted robbery that was foiled by Rich’s resistance.

The police and Sines, the prosecutor, believe there was good reason to draw that conclusion. In the six weeks prior to Rich’s shooting, there had been seven armed robberies in the same neighborhood, causing residents to complain to local police.

“We’ve had so many holdups on the same corner, with the same method of holdup, where two guys grab the person,” said Mark Mueller, a neighbor of Rich’s

But like I said, I don't expect any of you to be convinced otherwise.

a reply to: Liquesence

Of course, go ahead and skip all the things that do make his murder "mysterious". I am sure the comment section in yahoo will tell you all you need to know if you are interested.

I have to admit, I do admire yahoo for being one of the few MSM outlets that still allow comments. Still though, "russian" conspiracy??? Is there anything the Russians can't do to harm the DNC?

originally posted by: Liquesence


But like I said, I don't expect any of you to be convinced otherwise.

what the hell were we thinking. I mean, this is a news site, and conspiracy is widely frowned upon here, so I am with you OP. Anyone who doesn't buy the "botched robbery" story, is a certified tin foil hat idiot. Kudos to you for sticking with the status quo. Don't let those nutters decide which MSM outlet to believe or disregard. MAKE them accept the "truth". "it's for their own protection".

originally posted by: Fools
a reply to: Liquesence

Of course, go ahead and skip all the things that do make his murder "mysterious". I am sure the comment section in yahoo will tell you all you need to know if you are interested.

I have to admit, I do admire yahoo for being one of the few MSM outlets that still allow comments. Still though, "russian" conspiracy??? Is there anything the Russians can't do to harm the DNC?

I think the Russians have infiltrated your mind. Perhaps some re-education is necessary.

a reply to: Liquesence

Isn't that the same outlet used for circular reporting with the "steele dossier" to falsely obtain a fisa warrant?
yeah I would trust those guys......

originally posted by: network dude

originally posted by: Fools
a reply to: Liquesence

Of course, go ahead and skip all the things that do make his murder "mysterious". I am sure the comment section in yahoo will tell you all you need to know if you are interested.

I have to admit, I do admire yahoo for being one of the few MSM outlets that still allow comments. Still though, "russian" conspiracy??? Is there anything the Russians can't do to harm the DNC?

I think the Russians have infiltrated your mind. Perhaps some re-education is necessary.

I am thinking that the Russians may have me under some sort of mind control for sure.

a reply to: Liquesence

SoOo...

It was Russian disinformation fed to one of our news outlets to confuse the citizens.

Why does this sound familiar?

Like Steele Dossier familiar.

Worst.

Damage.

Control.

Ever.

Whoever killed him was very good at making it look like they were not very good because he lived for a while. What if he would have lived. Now it has to be done all over again....meh.

My money is it was an attempted robbery but Seth was full of liquid courage and fought whoever it was off. Probably over powered them then they got pissed off and took a random shot fleeing.

originally posted by: shooterbrody
a reply to: Liquesence

Isn't that the same outlet used for circular reporting with the "steele dossier" to falsely obtain a fisa warrant?
yeah I would trust those guys......

Yes Michael isikoff, whose unproven conspiracy theory that he worked with Christopher Steele to push to spy on trump campaign has the nerve to blame Russians for pushing a conspiracy theory

Even if isikiff is right which is see no proof of

Which conspiracy theory did more damage

The Seth rich one

Or the one that he helped push, with his own article used as part of a wiretap on an innocent American, that led to and over two year investigation

What a hypocrite

a reply to: Liquesence

Yes, a botched robbery.

Occam's Razor.

If you are going to invoke Occam's Razor...

The data was transferred from a thumb drive.

Now who would have means, motive and opportunity to do that?

Seth Richards was a pissed off Bernie supporter that knew Hillary and the DNC stole the election from Bernie.

Who had access to the DNC server.

Who had an appointment with the FBI with information about the DNC when there as a "botched robbery attempt".


Now... who had the means, motive and opportunity to make Seth go away?

About the "Author" of this masterpiece from Yahoo News (the most trusted source in propaganda !!)

He has all the necessary crudentials 😆


Michael Isikoff

Michael Isikoff

Chief Investigative Correspondent

Isikoff is chief investigative correspondent for Yahoo News, where he is also editor at large for reporting and investigations. He digs into national security, money in politics, and whatever else strikes his fancy. Previously, he was an investigative correspondent for NBC as well as a staff writer for Newsweek and the Washington Post. Isikoff has written two best-sellers, "Uncovering Clinton" and (with David Corn) "Hubris," about the selling of the Iraq War.

a reply to: Lumenari

Occam’s razor

Democrats refused to allow the fbi to loom at their server, despite them saying it was hacked by Russia and was one of the biggest attacks on our elections ever



What’s the razor say about that?


Maybe they lied about what they were claiming?

originally posted by: Lumenari
a reply to: Liquesence

Yes, a botched robbery.

Occam's Razor.

If you are going to invoke Occam's Razor...

The data was transferred from a thumb drive.

Now who would have means, motive and opportunity to do that?

Seth Richards was a pissed off Bernie supporter that knew Hillary and the DNC stole the election from Bernie.

Who had access to the DNC server.

Who had an appointment with the FBI with information about the DNC when there as a "botched robbery attempt".


Now... who had the means, motive and opportunity to make Seth go away?

Duh, Russians.