Newt Gingrich Fans Conspiracy Theory Over DNC Staffer Killed Last Year

Kim Bellware
Updated

Former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, is adding fuel to the reinvigorated conspiracy theory that the Democratic National Committee staffer that was slain last year ― not Russia ― was behind a transfer of DNC emails to WikiLeaks.

During a Sunday morning appearance on Fox News, Gingrich tried to deflect attention from the scrutiny over the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia by pointing to the still-unsolved death of Seth Rich. The 27-year-old DNC staffer was killed last July while walking home from a bar late at night in what police have characterized as a robbery gone wrong.

“We have this very strange story now of this young man who worked for the Democratic Committee, who apparently was assassinated at four in the morning, having given WikiLeaks something like 53,000 emails and 17,000 attachments,” Gingrich said.

The Fox and Friends hosts failed to refute any of Gingrich’s claims, and neither they nor Gingrich noted that the claims have recently unraveled when the story’s main source backtracked on his statements, calling them a “misunderstanding.”

The conspiracy over Rich’s death was revived last week when both Fox News and its affiliate Fox 5 DC ran stories that leaned on anonymous law enforcement sources claiming there was “information” that could link Rich to WikiLeaks.

At the center of the controversy was Fox News contributor Rod Wheeler, a former D.C. homicide detective who was hired by a GOP donor to serve as a private investigator into the staffer’s death for the Rich family. He made the claim to Fox 5 DC that he had a local police contact who said officers were told to “stand down” in the investigation, implying a cover-up. Wheeler later reversed course, saying this statements to the network were a “miscommunication” to CNN, forcing Fox 5 DC to update its story.

A spokesman for the Rich family told Fox 5 DC, “The family has relayed their deep disappointment with Rod Wheeler’s conduct over the last 48 hours, and is exploring legal avenues to the family.”

On Friday, the family sent Wheeler a cease and desist letter ordering him to stop commenting publicly on the investigation.

“Your statements and actions have caused, and continue to cause, the Family severe mental anguish and emotional distress,” the family wrote.

Despite the pushback from the family, Gingrich on Sunday went on to lament that “nobody’s investigating” Rich’s death and suggested it’s a cover-up.

“What does that tell you about what’s going on? Because it turns out, it wasn’t the Russians,” he said. “It was this young guy who, I suspect, was disgusted by the corruption of the Democratic National Committee.”

The conspiracy went mainstream last year when WikiLeaks announced a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Rich’s killer.

Related Content

Fox Stands By DNC Murder Conspiracy Theory Even After Main Source Changes Story

Also on HuffPost

2007: Guantanamo Bay

Wikileaks <a href="http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2007/11/gitmo" target="_hplink">released a military manual</a> entitled 'Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedures' on November 7, 2007 with details about the Guantanamo detention facility.

2008: Scientology

Wikileaks <a href="http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology's_'Operating_Thetan'_documents_leaked_online" target="_hplink">released the Church of Scientology's 'Operating Thetans' documents</a> on its website on March 26, 2008. The documents contained instructions from L. Ron Hubbard for each level of Scientology.

2008: Sarah Palin

The hacker group, Anonymous, <a href="http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1842097,00.html" target="_hplink">got into Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account</a> in September of 2008 and posted some screen shots of e-mails and family photos on the Wikileaks website.

2009: September 11

In 2009, Wikileaks <a href="http://911.wikileaks.org/" target="_hplink">released over half a million text pager intercepts</a> covering the 24-hour period surrounding the events on 9/11.
In 2009, Wikileaks released over half a million text pager intercepts covering the 24-hour period surrounding the events on 9/11.

2010: Baghdad Airstrike

A <a href="http://www.collateralmurder.com/" target="_hplink">video</a> of an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/world/middleeast/06baghdad.html?scp=1&sq=WikiLeaks&st=nyt" target="_hplink">American airstrike in Baghdad</a>, killing two Reuters employees, was released on Wikileaks in April of 2010.

2010: Afghanistan War

In one of the biggest leaks, <a href="http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Afghan_War_Diary,_2004-2010" target="_hplink">Wikileaks released over 90,000 reports</a> on the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010. This move was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10888993" target="_hplink">heavily criticized by the U.S. government and particularly the Pentagon</a>.

2010: Iraq War

The largest military leak in history was <a href="http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/10/wikileaks-press/" target="_hplink">released by Wikileaks in October of 2010</a> and contained about 400,000 documents about the war in Iraq.

2011: Guantanamo Bay

In 2011, Wikileaks revisited the issue of Guantanamo Bay and <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0425/For-Obama-WikiLeaks-Guantanamo-files-come-at-bad-time" target="_hplink">released over 700 documents</a> on the Guantanamo detainees.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.