New York

Mueller Report Blames WikiLeaks for Promoting Conspiracy Theory About Slain DNC Staffer Seth Rich

The redacted Mueller Report released Thursday mentions a murder mystery in Washington, D.C.

The special counsel blamed WikiLeaks for promoting the conspiracy theory about Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich’s death.

Rich, 27, was shot and killed in D.C. in July 2016. D.C. police have long said Rich died during a random robbery attempt.

But a conspiracy theory suggested Rich was the source of the leaked DNC emails and that’s why he was killed.

The Mueller report says beginning in the summer of 2016 Julian Assange and WikiLeaks made statements about Rich falsely implying he leaked the stolen emails.

The report mentioned an Aug. 9, 2016, WikiLeaks tweet offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to a conviction in the Rich case. The report also says that in an Aug. 25, 2016, interview, Assange was asked about his interest in Rich's death and replied, "We're very interested in anything that might be a threat to alleged WikiLeaks sources."

He continued denying Russian hacking was the source of the leak.

A former spokesman for the Rich family released a statement Friday, saying, "(Julian) Assange did untold damage to a grieving family in order to try and hide his work with Russian intelligence to destabilize American democracy."

It went on to say, "Yesterday's report proved (Assange) is a monster, not a journalist."

Contact Us