Fox News host Tucker Carlson appeared to revive a false story about the murdered Democratic National Committee (DNC) staffer Seth Rich on Monday, as he claimed it wasn't true that the DNC's servers were hacked in 2016.
Carlson didn't mention Rich by name, but referred to a "Bernie Sanders supporter" whom he blamed for the leak of emails from the DNC that became the focus of intense scrutiny during the 2016 presidential election.
In May 2017, Fox News published a story falsely claiming that Rich was responsible for the email leak. The story was retracted a week later. Rich's parents sued the network for emotional distress and Fox News reached a settlement agreement with them in November, 2020, that reportedly cost millions of dollars.
Fox News' on-air personalities also spent time discussing Rich and the false idea that he was responsible for the email leak, suggesting he was a disgruntled supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
Sanders had lost the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
On Monday, Carlson was speaking about a court filing by Special Counsel John Durham, who is probing the origins of the investigation into alleged links between former President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia.
In that filing, Durham accused a lawyer for the Democrats of sharing internet data with the CIA that allegedly showed the use of Russian-made phones near the White House.
Carlson drew on that filing to suggest that Trump had been the subject of spying at the hands of Clinton. He showed a clip from a 2016 presidential debate where Clinton referred to Russian cyberattacks against U.S. systems.
"That's probably true, in point of fact. But she was speaking about a specific quote 'cyber attack.' She was talking about the Russians hacking the servers at the DNC," Carlson said.
"Here's the interesting thing: It was not true. It has never been true," he went on. "Vladimir Putin did not hack the DNC. There was never any evidence the Russians hacked the DNC."
The U.S. intelligence community and Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe concluded that hackers tied to Russia were responsible for hacking the DNC.
"Instead, the DNC emails were very clearly stolen from within the building, most likely by a Bernie Sanders supporter who wanted to show the world how Bernie Sanders was being shafted by the very same corrupt forces in Washington that later shafted Donald Trump," Carlson said.
Though he didn't mention Rich by name, Carlson was referring to Fox News' retracted reporting that Rich was responsible for the email leak.
Fox News published an article on its website on May 16, 2017, claiming that Rich was responsible for the leak and quoted one source, private investigator Rod Wheeler, suggesting the DNC or Clinton could have been "blocking the murder investigation." The story was discussed on air by Fox News hosts including Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs.
That article was retracted seven days later. In November 2020 Rich's parents reached a settlement with Fox News over the false reporting and though the details were not disclosed at the time, it is believed the family was paid seven figures.
Rich was shot and killed in Washington, D.C., on July 10, 2016, and his murder remains unsolved. His death has been the subject of conspiracy theories and false claims that the Democratic Party was involved.
Newsweek has asked Fox News and attorneys for Seth Rich's family for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Darragh Roche is a U.S. News Reporter based in Limerick, Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. politics. He has ... Read more
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