BUT INVESTIGATION CONTINUES …
Fox News has retracted a story in which unnamed government sources alleged a conspiracy in the July 2016 murder of Democratic National Committee (DNC) data analyst Seth Rich.
“On May 16, a story was posted on the Fox News website on the investigation into the 2016 murder of DNC Staffer Seth Rich,” the retraction reads. “The article was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting.”
“Upon appropriate review, the article was found not to meet those standards and has since been removed,” the statement added.
However the network said its reporters would continue to investigate the story.
Meanwhile Fox News host Sean Hannity – who has aggressively promoted the Rich conspiracy theory – told his audience on Tuesday evening that “out of respect for the family’s wishes, for now, I am not discussing this matter at this time.”
Hannity did not retract his prior statements regarding the matter, though.
“I am not Fox.com or FoxNews.com,” he said on the air. “I retracted nothing.”
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Rich, a 27-year-old data analyst with the Democratic National Committee (DNC), was gunned down in July 2016 in what metropolitan police in Washington, D.C. have referred to as a “botched robbery.” This despite the fact the would-be “thieves” ignored his wallet, cell phone, car keys, watch and a $2,000 necklace.
No suspects have ever been named in connection with Rich’s murder.
Two weeks after Rich’s death, the #DNCLeaks scandal broke – a massive data dump on whistleblowing website Wikileaks (here). Thousands of leaked DNC emails exposed a veritable “vast left-wing conspiracy” involving the party, the campaign of eventual nominee Hillary Clinton and supplicant members of the mainstream media.
As a result of thousands of leaked emails, Democrats were caught red-handed colluding with the press to secure their party’s nomination for Clinton – while demonizing populist insurgent Bernie Sanders.
The #DNCLeaks scandal served as the genesis of the “Russia hacked the election” narrative – which alleges that the campaign of U.S. president Donald Trump colluded with Russian interests to wage cyberwarfare on Democrats in an effort to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.
This narrative continues to dominate headlines in Washington, D.C. after the U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) named a special counsel to lead its investigation of the matter.
The Russian hacking narrative has been denied by Wikileaks. It’s also been denied by Trump’s administration – which is angrily refuting allegations that his former staffers colluded with Russian interests. Russia is also angrily refuting such allegations … accusing the American mainstream media of promoting the hacking narrative at the expense of the truth about Rich’s murder.
Was Rich the source of Wikileaks treasure trove of emails? According to New Zealand internet mogul Kim Dotcom, the answer is “yes.” Dotcom has said that he worked with Rich to release the #DNCLeaks data and will provide evidence and testimony to that effect in the event the special counsel in Washington, D.C. guarantees him “safe passage.”
We’ve urged special counsel Robert Mueller to make such a guarantee so that Dotcom’s testimony and any evidence he may have to support can be part of the public record.
More importantly, we’ve urged our readers to exercise caution before diving “all in” on either the “Rich” or the “Russia” narrative – and to use their best judgment as more facts become available.
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