The brother of murdered Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich is pleading with a top producer at Sean Hannity’s Fox News show to stop spreading conspiracy theories about the unsolved killing.
In an emotional letter to “Hannity” executive producer Porter Berry, Aaron Rich asked him to think about how he “would feel losing a son or brother,” especially when the death is “part of a vast conspiracy.”
“As the family, we would hope to be the first people to learn about any such evidence and reasons for Seth’s death,” he wrote, according to CNN. “It is a travesty that you would prompt false conspiracy theories and other people’s agendas rather than work with the family to learn the truth.”
Minutes after CNN posted its story on the letter, Hannity asked his Twitter followers to read a statement from Kim Dotcom, the Megaupload founder, who has claimed he has evidence Rich leaked documents to WikiLeaks.
Wow. PLEASE READ ASAP https://t.co/wAmkwQkMMs
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) May 23, 2017
Fox News reported last Tuesday that Rich may have been behind the leak of information from the DNC to WikiLeaks that showed the party favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders in the presidential primary.
The report claimed investigators found more than 44,000 emails and almost 18,000 attachments between DNC leaders from January 2015 to May 2016 were sent by Rich to Gavin MacFayden, a reporter and WikiLeaks director who is now dead.
The Rich family has pushed back on the report by denying the 27-year-old DNC staffer leaked the emails, but Hannity has continued to push to conspiracy.
“We appeal to your decency to not cause a grieving family more pain and suffering by allowing your platform to be used by someone to drag our family name through the mud,” the letter concluded.
About an hour after CNN published the letter, Fox News retracted its story.
“On May 16, a story was posted on the Fox News website on the investigation into the 2016 murder of DNC Staffer Seth Rich,” a statement on Fox’s website read. “The article was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting. Upon appropriate review, the article was found not to meet those standards and has since been removed.”
Rich was killed when he was shot twice in the back as he walked home last summer. His wallet, cellphone, keys, watch and necklace were left on his body.
