Consortiumnews
Independent Investigative Journalism Since 1995
A New Twist in Seth Rich Murder Case
August 8, 2017
Exclusive: The U.S. mainstream media dismisses any link between the murder
of DNC official Seth Rich and leaked DNC emails as a "conspiracy theory" -
while blaming Russia instead - but a new possibility has arisen, writes Joe
Lauria.
By Joe Lauria
With U.S.-Russia tensions as dangerously high as they've been since the
worst days of the Cold War, there is potential new evidence that Russia was
not behind a hack of the Democratic National Committee, although Congress
and the U.S. mainstream media accept the unproven allegation of Russia's
guilt as indisputable fact.
Slain Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich
The possible new evidence comes in the form of a leaked audiotape of veteran
investigative journalist Seymour Hersh in which Hersh is heard to say that
not Russia, but a DNC insider, was the source of the Democratic emails
published by WikiLeaks just before the start of the Democratic National
Convention in late July 2016.
Hersh said on the tape that the source of the leak was former DNC employee
Seth Rich, who was murdered on a darkened street in a rough neighborhood of
Northwest Washington D.C. two weeks before the Convention, on July 10, 2016.
But Hersh threw cold water on a theory that the murder was an assassination
in retaliation for the leak. Instead, Hersh concurs with the D.C. police who
say the murder was a botched robbery.
Mainstream news outlets have mocked any linkage between Rich's murder and
the disclosure of the DNC emails as a "conspiracy theory," but Hersh's
comments suggest another possibility - that the murder and the leak were
unrelated while Rich may still have been the leaker.
In dismissing the possibility that Rich was the leaker, mainstream media
outlets often ignore one of the key reason why some people believe that he
was: Shortly after his murder, WikiLeaks, which has denied receiving the
emails from the Russian government, posted a Tweet offering a $20,000 reward
for information leading to the solution of the mystery of who killed Rich.
Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder and publisher, brought up Rich's murder
out of context in an interview with Dutch TV last August. "Whistle-blowers
go to significant efforts to get us material and often very significant
risks," Assange said. "As 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."
Pressed by the interviewer to say whether Rich was the source of the DNC
emails, Assange said WikiLeaks never reveals its sources. Yet, it appeared
to be an indirect way of naming Rich, while formally maintaining WikiLeak's
policy. An alternative view would be to believe that Assange is cynically
using Rich's death to divert the trail from the real source.
But Assange is likely one of the few people who actually knows who the
source is, so his professed interest in Rich's murder presents a clue
regarding the source of the leak that any responsible news organization
would at least acknowledge although that has not been the case in many
recent mainstream articles about the supposed Seth Rich "conspiracy theory."
Hersh's Unwitting Tapes
Hersh's taped comments add another element to the mystery, given his long
record of shedding light into the dark corners of the U.S. government's
crimes, lies and cover-ups. He exposed the My Lai massacre during the
Vietnam War; revealed illegal CIA spying in the 1970s spurring wide-ranging
Congressional investigations and reform; and uncovered U.S. torture in Abu
Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh
In the audiotape - which Hersh told me was made without his permission - he
quoted an unnamed government source who told him that Rich offered the DNC
emails to WikiLeaks in exchange for money.
"What I know comes off an FBI report. Don't ask me how. You can figure it
out, I've been around a long time," Hersh says on the tape. "I have somebody
on the inside who will go and read a file for me. This person is
unbelievably accurate and careful, he's a very high-level guy and he'll do a
favor. You're just going to have to trust me."
The FBI cyber unit got involved after the D.C. police were unable to access
protected files on Rich's computer, Hersh said. So the FBI "found what he'd
done. He had submitted a series of documents, of emails. Some juicy emails
from the DNC," to Wikileaks, Hersh said.
"He offered a sample, an extensive sample, you know I'm sure dozens of
emails and said 'I want money.' Then later Wikileaks did get the password,
he had a Dropbox, a protected Dropbox," Hersh said.
"Wikileaks got access, and before he was killed . he also, and this is also
in the FBI report, he also let people know, with whom he was dealing. . I
don't know how he dealt with the Wikileaks and the mechanism but . the word
was passed according to the NSA report, 'I've also shared this box with a
couple of friends so if anything happens to me it's not going to solve your
problem.'" Hersh said he didn't know what this "problem" was.
Either Hersh misspoke when he mentioned an "NSA report," instead meaning the
FBI report, or the National Security Agency may have provided a record of
Rich's communication to the FBI. Both the FBI and the D.C. police have
denied that the FBI got involved in the case.
The Tape Is Leaked
The Hersh audiotape was posted on a website called Big League Politics,
which displays links to Project Veritas, a right-wing group run by James
O'Keefe, though there is no evidence that Veritas was involved in the Hersh
tape. Veritas does undercover audio and video recordings of unsuspecting
subjects and has been accused of doctoring its video and audiotapes. But a
recent O'Keefe undercover video of a CNN medical producer saying the
network's coverage of the Russia-gate story was "bullshit" was confirmed by
CNN, which took no action against the producer.
President Donald Trump being sworn in on Jan. 20, 2017. (Screen shot from
Whitehouse.gov)
People who believe that Hersh's apparent revelation could reduce Russia-U.S.
tensions are clamoring for him to confirm what he said. Popular blogger
Caitlin Johnstone wrote: "If Hersh has any information at all indicating
that the WikiLeaks releases last year came not from Russian hackers but from
a leaker on the inside, he is morally obligated to volunteer all the
information that he has. Even the slightest possibility that his information
could help halt America's collision course with Russia by killing public
support for new cold war escalations makes his remaining silent absolutely
inexcusable."
Only Hersh's voice is heard on the taped interview, which was conducted by
Ed Butowsky, a wealthy Republican donor and Trump supporter. Until now,
Hersh's only public comment about the tape was to National Public Radio. "I
hear gossip," Hersh said. "[Butowsky] took two and two and made 45 out of
it."
I contacted Hersh on Friday via email. He confirmed to me that it was his
voice on the tape by angrily condemning those who he said secretly recorded
him, without identifying them. He did not respond when I asked him whether
he thought the tape may have been altered. Hersh refused to comment further.
On June 2, in an exchange of emails between Hersh and Butowsky, Hersh denied
any knowledge of the FBI report. That was two months before Hersh discovered
that he had been secretly recorded when the tape was made public on Aug. 1
by Big League Politics. A screenshot of the Hersh-Butowsky email exchange
was published by Big League Politics last week.
"I am curious why you haven't approached the house committee telling them
what you were read by your FBI friend related to Seth Rich that you in turn
read to me," Butowsky wrote.
Hersh replied: "ed -you have a lousy memory.i was not read anything by my
fbi friend..i have no firsthand information and i really wish you would stop
telling others information that you think i have.please stop relaying
information that you do not have right.and that i have no reason to believe
is accurate."
Without informing him that he had been recorded, Butowsky replies: "I know
it isn't first hand knowledge but you clearly said, my memory is perfect,
that you had a friend at the FBI who read / told you what was in the file on
Seth Rich and I wonder why you aren't helping your country and sharing that
information on who it was?"
Further suggesting that Rich may have been the source of the DNC emails,
WikiLeaks posted a link to the audiotape on Twitter.
Hersh has given no indication he's planning to write a piece based on his
source who he said has seen the FBI report. Hersh has found it difficult to
be published in recent years in the United States. He has been writing for
the London Review of Books until that publication earlier this year rejected
a piece challenging the purported U.S. evidence blaming a chemical weapons
attack in Syria, which led to Trump's bombing of a Syrian air field. Hersh's
story was published instead in a major German weekly, Die Welt.
MSM Contempt
Corporate media's uniform reaction has been to treat the idea of Seth Rich
being WikiLeak's source as a "conspiracy theory" - while mostly ignoring
Assange's hints and now the Hersh tape. Major U.S. media outlets cover
Russia-gate as if Russian interference in last November's U.S. election is
proven, rather than based on a shaky "assessment" by "hand-picked" analysts
from three - not all 17 - U.S. intelligence agencies.
Fox News' anchor Bill O'Reilly interviewing President Donald Trump.
If Russia-gate special prosecutor Robert Mueller is serious about getting to
the bottom of who WikiLeak's source is there are several avenues he could
pursue. He could check Rich's bank accounts to see if there was a transfer
of money from a representative of WikiLeaks. He could try to find Rich's
friends who may have been given his DropBox password. He could seek to
interview Hersh.
"Someone ought to ask Mueller, if he had an ounce of integrity (which he
doesn't), why he's not showing these FBI and/or NSA reports to his Grand
Jury which could blow the lid off of 'Russiagate' that Mueller was appointed
to investigate," former FBI official and whistleblower Coleen Rowley told me
in an email. "It's sad the FBI could be keeping this secret. But I think the
[Rich] family could sue to get the FBI Report that Hersh mentioned or now
that FOX is sued, its attorneys could try to subpoena the FBI documents in
discovery." She added that the FBI would likely fight such a subpoena,
however.
The lawsuit that Rowley mentioned was filed by Rod Wheeler, a D.C. private
detective, against Butowsky and Fox News. Wheeler was hired by Butowsky on
behalf of the Rich family to find the killer. In a Fox News item on May 16,
Wheeler was quoted referring to a Fox source in the federal government who
said that Rich was WikiLeak's source.
Fox News retracted the story a week later citing unspecific breaches of its
editorial policies. At the time Fox had suffered ad boycotts when its
chairman, Roger Ailes, and then its top presenter, Bill O'Reilly, faced
sexual harassment allegations. Both later resigned. Sean Hannity, another
top presenter, continued to pursue the Rich story until he was threatened
with an ad boycott, at which point Fox retracted the story.
Wheeler's suit now alleges that he was misquoted and that the purpose of the
Fox story was to distract attention from Russia's connection with the DNC
emails. Big League Politics has posted audio of Wheeler saying that Aaron
Rich, the victim's brother, blocked him from pursuing leads on Seth Rich's
computer.
It is not clear if Hersh's source is the same as Fox's (or if Fox was using
Hersh in a second-hand way). Butowsky has a connection with Fox as an on-air
commentator. The date of the Hersh audio recording has not been made known
although it presumably predated his email exchange with Butowsky on June 2.
If an FBI report exists indicating that Rich was the source of the DNC
emails and the report is made public, it could reduce tensions with Russia
that Congress ratcheted up further last week by escalating sanctions - a
form of economic warfare - against Russia as punishment for its alleged role
in exposing the DNC emails and others belonging to Hillary Clinton's
campaign chairman John Podesta.
The DNC emails revealed DNC officials improperly interfering in the
Democratic primaries to undercut Clinton's chief rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The Podesta emails included the contents of Clinton's speeches to Wall
Street and other special interests as well as pay-to-play features of the
Clinton Foundation.
On Jan. 6 - before leaving office - President Obama's intelligence chiefs
oversaw "hand-picked" analysts from the CIA, FBI and NSA creating an
"assessment" blaming Russia for the hacked emails albeit without presenting
any hard evidence. Russian officials have denied supplying the emails to
WikiLeaks and WikiLeaks has denied receiving them from Russia.
Nevertheless, the unproven allegations of Russian interference in the
election have raised tensions between the two nuclear powers to levels not
seen since the darkest days of the Cold War and possibly worse. Stephen
Cohen, a leading U.S. expert on Russia, said the current showdown may be
even more hazardous than the Cuban missile crisis.
"I think this is the most dangerous moment in American-Russian relations, at
least since the Cuban missile crisis. And arguably, it's more dangerous,
because it's more complex," he told Democracy Now! in April. "Therefore, we
. have in Washington these - and, in my judgment, fact-less - accusations
that Trump has somehow been compromised by the Kremlin."
In the missile crisis "there was no doubt what the Soviets had done, putting
missile silos in Cuba," Cohen said. "No evidence has been presented today of
anything. Imagine if Kennedy had been accused of being a secret Soviet
Kremlin agent. He would have been crippled. And the only way he could have
proved he wasn't was to have launched a war against the Soviet Union. And at
that time, the option was nuclear war."
As it still is today.
Joe Lauria is a veteran foreign-affairs journalist. He has written for the
Boston Globe, the Sunday Times of London and the Wall Street Journal among
other newspapers. He is the author of How I Lost By Hillary Clinton
published by OR Books in June 2017.
