WorldNetDaily cynically peddled lies and baseless conspiracy theories about the death of Democratic staffer Seth Rich — things WND almost certainly knew were lies — for the sole excuse of having something else with which to attack the Clintons. WND somehow avoided being sued by Rich’s family for the malicious lies it spread — though outlets like Fox News did — and WND censored news of those lawsuits and the settlements those outlets were forced to make to atone for those lies. Throughout it all, WND has refused to apologize or correct the record, even as it tries to further those bogus conspiracy theories. WND’s latest attempt at ghoulish cynicism came in a Nov. 2 article by Bob Unruh that contradicts itself right out of the gate:
Virtually all of the details of the death of Seth Rich, a Democratic National Committee worker who was shot and killed as he walked to his Washington, D.C., home about 4 a.m. on July 10, 2016, remain a mystery.
There was evidence of a struggle, with his hands, knees and face bruised, yet he had two shots in his back. Police said it was a robbery, but his wallet and other items weren’t taken.
That’s a lot of information for something that he had just called a “mystery.” Unruh went on to rehash:
Two weeks later, WikiLeaks began releasing DNC emails damaging to Hillary Clinton, and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange mentioned Rich on Dutch TV: “Whistleblowers go to significant efforts to get us material and often very significant risks. There’s a 27-year-old, works for the DNC, was shot in the back, murdered just a few weeks ago for unknown reasons as he was walking down the street in Washington.”
Assange has never offered any proof that Rich leaked those DNC emails to him — indeed, the evidence is clear that the Russians stole those emails and gave them to Assange. That was followed by more rehashing:
To further the mystery, the FBI earlier released a tidbit of information, a cryptic note about the idea that someone would “pay for his death.”
that’s based on a 2021 article Unruh wrote. As we noted, blogger Emptywheel explained that the claim proves nothing; the document in which the “pay for his death” statement appears “may reflect the FBI investigation into allegations that someone tried to hack Rich’s email.” Indeed, the whole tranche of FBI documents being referenced isn’t worth much since the FBI didn’t do the primary investigation into Rich’s death.
Not that Unruh will tell you any of this, of course — he’s too committed to his employer’s lies. Besides, he has a new thing to peddle:
Now Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, has written a commentary at Stream.org pointing out the additional mystery of why “does FBI want Seth Rich records sealed for 66 years?”
He pointed out at one time, the FBI claimed to have “no records” relating to Rich’s murder.
“Now they’re asking a federal court for an order to seal the records that they said they didn’t have — they have them, all right — for 66 years,” Huckabee explained.
Huckabee’s source for this claim is a report from an obscure, sketchy-looking site called Slay News, which in turn references a paywalled story by the Epoch Times, best known for being pro-Trump stooges and spreading lies and misinformation about COVID vaccines. Neither of these sources appear trustworthy, and Unruh made no apparent effort to fact-check anything they wrote; instead. Unruh went on to rehash conspiracy theories peddled by Ty Clevenger, who we’ve documented is in it because he hates the Clintons, not because he cares about facts.
Meanwhile, in related happenings: A book about Rich’s death, by Andy Kroll, has been published that reveals the false and hateful conspiracy theories spread about it, and Rich’s parents have given interviews about the ordeal they have been put through because of the lies and conspiracy theories spread about their son’s death peddled by the likes of WND. Unsurprisingly, WND has hidden these events from its readers.
UPDATE: And that’s not all. An Oct. 31 column by Scott Lively portrayed Rich as the victim of murder by a vindictive Hillary Clinton:
Enemy No. 1 was not, surprisingly, Donald Trump. It was Seth Rich, because he was the Benedict Arnold of the Army of the Dems – the one who (I am convinced) ratted her out to WikiLeaks and created the fatal email-scandal that she never really recovered from. Ironically, “Bernie Bot” Seth Rich was (I am convinced) seeking revenge on Hillary for her seriously dirty tricks against the Bern-Meister in the 2016 Democratic primary. (Remember that charnel-house chapter of the internal Democrat civil war? Wow!)
Technically, Seth Rich was murdered on July 10, 2016, four months before the election, but the sin for which he was struck down did not bear its ultimate fruit until Nov. 3. Rich’s murder (to use the satirical term I invented during law school) was an act of “anticipatory retaliation” on Hillary’s part (allegedly).
Needless to say, Lively offered no evidence whatsoever to support his bizarre conspiracy theory.