The parents of a Democratic National Committee staffer who was murdered last summer penned an op-ed published Tuesday evening that rips conspiracy theories about Seth Rich’s death.
“We have seen no evidence, by any person at any time, that Seth’s murder had any connection to his job at the Democratic National Committee or his life in politics. Anyone who claims to have such evidence is either concealing it from us or lying,” Joel and Mary Rich wrote.
“Still, conservative news outlets and commentators continue, day after painful day, to peddle discredited conspiracy theories that Seth was killed after having provided WikiLeaks with emails from the DNC. Those theories, which some reporters have since retracted, are baseless, and they are unspeakably cruel,” the parents added.
Earlier Tuesday, Fox News retracted a story that Rich had shared 44,000 DNC emails with WikiLeaks and was killed for leaking those files. Meanwhile, Fox News host Sean Hannity has insisted the narrative that Democratic officials were behind Rich’s staged death is true. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich also fueled the conspiracy theory over the weekend.
“To those who sincerely want to get to the bottom of Seth’s murder, we don’t hold this against you. We don’t think you are monsters, and we don’t think you are terrible people. We know that so many people out there really do care, don’t know what to think and are angry at the lack of answers,” the Riches wrote.
“We also know that many people are angry at our government and want to see justice done in some way, somehow. We are asking you to please consider our feelings and words. There are people who are using our beloved Seth’s memory and legacy for their own political goals, and they are using your outrage to perpetuate our nightmare. We ask those purveying falsehoods to give us peace, and to give law enforcement the time and space to do the investigation they need to solve our son’s murder,” they added.
Rich’s parents on Tuesday said their son had just been offered a job with Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and been discussing the possibility of accepting it in the minutes leading up to the attack.
