The family of Seth Rich, the DNC staffer whose murder spawned a host of ugly conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton, is suing Fox News, who they claim “intentionally exploited” their family tragedy for a juicy political story.
The story started in May of 2017, when Rich was killed on a walk home during what police believe was a botched robbery. Conspiracy theorists concocted a narrative about Rich’s involvement in leaking the DNC emails to Wikileaks during the 2016 presidential election, falsely claiming that investigators had proof linking him to the leak. That conspiracy theory was picked up and briefly touted as fact by Fox News, even though U.S. Intelligence then, as now, believed that Russia was behind the DNC email hack.
Fox’s story didn’t stand up to scrutiny. Two of the sources named in the story turned out to be nonexistent, while the third source said Fox had fabricated his quote entirely and sued for defamation.
Fox pulled the story six days after it was published, but not before it’d been trumpeted on its network by the likes of Sean Hannity and Newt Gingrich.
Rich’s parents say that they’ve been haunted by it ever since, and that the clumsy reporting harmed their son’s legacy. They’re seeking an unspecified amount.
“No parent should ever have to live through what we have been forced to endure,” Joel and Mary Rich said in a statement. “The pain and anguish that comes from seeing your murdered son’s life and legacy treated as a mere political football is beyond comprehension.”