Who Was Seth Rich?

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Re: Who Was Seth Rich?

Postby stickdog99 » Mon Apr 22, 2019 2:10 am

Belligerent Savant » 21 Apr 2019 22:47 wrote:^^^^^^^^
Was thinking along the same lines, then came across additional context.

While I also believe Seth Rich was/is the most probable source for the leak to WL/Assange, it appears Binney painted a bit of a broad stroke when describing the FOIA request (though of course this doesn't mean there aren't communications between Assange and Rich, but there's likely other info as well given the language of the request).

In the comments section of the above-linked Medium page:


In my opinion Binney might have misrepresented the content of the letter.

Ty Clevenger posted the NSA reply to his FOIA request on his blog.


According to the NSA reply, Ty Clevenger inquired about “documents, records or communications referencing or containing communications between Seth Rich and any of the following: Julian Assange, Wikileaks, Kim Dotcom, Aaron Rich, Shawn Lucas, Kelsey Mulka, Imran Awan, Abid Awan, Jamal Awan, Hina Alvi, Rao Abbas and/or any person or entity outside the United States” and about documents regarding financial transactions between the same people.

He also asked about records of phone calls made or received by Seth Rich the day before or the same day he was killed.


And finally he asked about correspondence to or from members of Congress regarding the same list of people.

So, I would say that Ty Clevenger’s FOIA request is way too ecompassing for people to be sure that some of the 15 documents the NSA says meets the FOIA request parameters are actually about communications between Seth Rich and Assange or Wikileaks. They might be. But there are too many people in the list to be able to tell with any certainty.



Ty Clevenger's site is also noteworthy (if not previously linked in this thread):

http://lawflog.com/?p=1912


This morning I filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that asks a federal judge in Brooklyn to order the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice to release records concerning the murder of former Democratic National Committee employee Seth Rich.

Back in October, I wrote about the U.S. Department of Justice ordering the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. to release records about the murder, but since that time not a single record has been produced. Around the same time, the FBI refused to search for records in its Washington Field Office, even though that is where the records are most likely to be found. The lawsuit notes that the FBI has a history of trying to hide records from FOIA requestors and Congress.

I also asked the court to order the National Security Administration to release all of its communications with members of Congress regarding Seth Rich, Julian Assange, and Kim Dotcom, among others.

As you are probably aware, Mr. Rich’s parents filed suit this week against Fox News, producer Malia Zimmerman, and frequent guest Ed Butowsky. I think that was a serious tactical error. All of the defendants now have the legal right to subpoena documents and witnesses, and you can be sure they will use that power aggressively.

THE TRANSPARENCY PROJECT

With help from several supporters, I’ve organized The Transparency Project, a nonprofit corporation headquartered in Texas. If you want to support the Seth Rich litigation, you can find out how at Tproject.org. The website is a little primitive, but I plan to update it soon.

I suspect we will soon be filing another FOIA lawsuit, this time because of the FBI’s failure to release records related to the Hillary Clinton email investigation. The Bureau made national headlines last year when it refused to release records about Mrs. Clinton on the grounds that there was “no public interest” in the subject. That decision was reversed by the Justice Department, but the FBI still has not released the records that I requested.

Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for Arkansas officials to decide whether to act on my bar grievance against Mrs. Clinton, and I suspect that case will also result in a lawsuit. If you want to support any of these causes, go to Tproject.org.



LOL. That "Freedom of Information Act" works so well!

We sure don't need anything like Wikileaks in order to find out about what our government is doing in all of our names!
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Re: Who Was Seth Rich?

Postby stickdog99 » Mon Apr 22, 2019 2:14 am

Jerky » 22 Apr 2019 01:37 wrote:Who was Seth Rich?

One thing is certain. He was NOT a Wikileaker, and he had no dealings with Assange whatsoever (regardless of what that grotesque albino vampire tried to imply with his cutesy 'saying no while nodding yes' bullshit.


Yeah, if Snopes, James Randi, and Robert Mueller don't believe it happened, that's definite proof it never happened.
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Re: Who Was Seth Rich?

Postby alloneword » Mon Apr 22, 2019 6:03 pm

McCarty penned another piece yesterday:

Ed Butowsky’s Tale

On March 12 of this year, attorney Ty Clevenger filed a defamation lawsuit on behalf of plaintiff Ed Butowsky, who alleges that he has been subjected to libelous attacks by a wide range of defendants owing to allegedly true statements he has made regarding his interactions with Seth Rich’s family. Since Butowsky’s legal complaint is 36 pages long, I have extracted key portions of it that are most pertinent to the question of whether Seth and his brother Aaron were Wikileaks’ source for the DNC emails published just prior to the 2016 DNC convention. I have largely omitted the portions describing the frivolous lawsuits filed against Butowski, and the attacks on Butowsky leveled in the media — those interested in these issues can consult the full document...
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Re: Who Was Seth Rich?

Postby liminalOyster » Mon Apr 22, 2019 6:13 pm

alloneword » Mon Apr 22, 2019 6:03 pm wrote:McCarty penned another piece yesterday:

Ed Butowsky’s Tale

On March 12 of this year, attorney Ty Clevenger filed a defamation lawsuit on behalf of plaintiff Ed Butowsky, who alleges that he has been subjected to libelous attacks by a wide range of defendants owing to allegedly true statements he has made regarding his interactions with Seth Rich’s family. Since Butowsky’s legal complaint is 36 pages long, I have extracted key portions of it that are most pertinent to the question of whether Seth and his brother Aaron were Wikileaks’ source for the DNC emails published just prior to the 2016 DNC convention. I have largely omitted the portions describing the frivolous lawsuits filed against Butowski, and the attacks on Butowsky leveled in the media — those interested in these issues can consult the full document...


Interesting stuff:

54. Aaron Rich’s suspicious behavior continued after Mr. Wheeler was terminated. Mr. Rich claimed that he was only seeking the truth when he filed suit against Mr. Butowsky, but he refused to sign a waiver authorizing Wikileaks to reveal what it knows about Seth Rich’s involvement in the DNC email leaks. His attorneys subsequently claimed that they would issue their own subpoena for Wikileaks. They have since reneged, however, because they realized that Wikileaks would likely construe the subpoena as a waiver, in which case it would likely release records showing that Aaron Rich and Seth Rich were both responsible for leaking the DNC emails.
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Re: Who Was Seth Rich?

Postby Jerky » Tue Apr 23, 2019 2:21 am

Yeah, "interesting". Good stuff there, guys. Too bad it's all fantasy camp conspiranoid infotainment industry bullshit designed specifically to get your brain juices squirting without actually saying anything of substance.

In the meanwhile, you guys believe the Mueller report now, right?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/20/us/m ... sange.html
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Re: Who Was Seth Rich?

Postby stickdog99 » Tue Apr 23, 2019 3:02 am

No, I don't believe the Mueller report told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Do you?
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Re: Who Was Seth Rich?

Postby liminalOyster » Tue Apr 23, 2019 12:50 pm

Jerky » Tue Apr 23, 2019 2:21 am wrote:Yeah, "interesting". Good stuff there, guys. Too bad it's all fantasy camp conspiranoid infotainment industry bullshit designed specifically to get your brain juices squirting without actually saying anything of substance.

In the meanwhile, you guys believe the Mueller report now, right?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/20/us/m ... sange.html


How the discourse, language, actions of it all works remains interesting whether or not it's true. I'm less interested in establishing whether or not, definitively, Seth Rich had anything to do with the DNC emails leak than I am in seeing what I can learn about how the public sphere works.
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Re: Who Was Seth Rich?

Postby alloneword » Tue Apr 30, 2019 7:47 pm

Hmmm...

It appears that 'medium.com' have scrubbed the Mark McCarty article I linked to above ('Ed Butowsky's Tale'), plus the one Harvey linked to on the previous page - and basically any trace of McCarty.

So here's the whole thing again in full, because, well... fuck 'em. +See below this for another one regarding Butowsky and NPR...

Ed Butowsky’s Tale — Or, Why Won’t Aaron Rich Sign a Waiver Permitting Assange to Reveal the Involvement (or Lack Thereof) of He and His Brother Seth in the Transmittal of DNC Emails to Wikileaks?

On March 12 of this year, attorney Ty Clevenger filed a defamation lawsuit on behalf of plaintiff Ed Butowsky, who alleges that he has been subjected to libelous attacks by a wide range of defendants owing to allegedly true statements he has made regarding his interactions with Seth Rich’s family. Since Butowsky’s legal complaint is 36 pages long, I have extracted key portions of it that are most pertinent to the question of whether Seth and his brother Aaron were Wikileaks’ source for the DNC emails published just prior to the 2016 DNC convention. I have largely omitted the portions describing the frivolous lawsuits filed against Butowski, and the attacks on Butowsky leveled in the media — those interested in these issues can consult the full document:

http://lawflog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/2019.03.12-Original-Complaint-stamped.pdf

Case 4:19-cv-00180 Document 1, Filed 03/12/19

Edward Butowsky, in his personal and professional capacities, Plaintiff,

v.

Michael Gottlieb, Meryl Governski, Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, Brad Bauman, The Pastorum Group, Leonard A. Gail, Eli J. Kay-Oliphant, Suyash Agrawal, Massey & Gail LLP, Arun Subramanian, Elisha Barron, Gloria Park, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., Anderson Cooper, Gary Tuchman, Oliver Darcy, Tom Kludt, The New York Times Company, Alan Feuer, Vox Media, Inc., Jane Coaston, and The Democratic National Committee,Defendants

6. As a result of the lies fabricated and perpetuated by the Defendants, Mr. Butowsky and his family received death threats, he lost one third of his business clients, rocks were thrown through the windows of his home, his automobiles were burglarized, his computers were hacked, he lost friendships, and he lost the opportunity to host a planned television program. Left-wing extremists even posted a clock on the internet counting down the time until Mr. Wigdor’s son would return for classes at Vanderbilt University, implying that Mr. Butowsky’s son would be harmed when he returned. As a result, Mr. Butowsky had to hire a bodyguard for his son. 7. The Defendants’ smear campaign never should have begun, and it has lasted for far too long. Now it’s time for the Defendants to answer for the lies that they spread and the harm that they caused.

36. Mr. Butowsky stumbled into the RCH [Russia collusion hoax] crosshairs after he was contacted by a third party who had recently met with Mr. Assange in London.
According to that third party, Mr. Assange said Seth and his brother, Aaron, were responsible for releasing the DNC emails to Wikileaks.[/b]
At the instigation of that third party, Mr. Butowsky contacted Joel and Mary Rich, the parents of Seth, and relayed the information. During that conversation, Mr. Rich told Mr. Butowsky that he already knew that his sons were involved in the DNC email leak.[/b]
Mr. Rich said he did not have enough money to hire a private investigator, so Mr. Butowsky offered to pay for one. Mr. Rich accepted the offer and thanked Mr. Butowsky in an email.

37. Mr. Butowsky referred the Riches to Rod Wheeler, a Fox News contributor and former homicide detective with the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. … Mr. Butowsky agreed to pay from Mr. Wheeler’s services, but he had no control over Mr. Wheeler’s work for the Rich family.46. In early March of 2017, Joel Rich informed Mr. Butowsky that he had received a call from Defendant Bauman, and that Defendant Bauman said he had been “assigned” to the Rich family [by] Defendant DNC.

38. On May 16, 2017, FoxNews.com published a story by Malia Zimmerman which claimed that Seth Rich had been involved in the DNC email leak. The article undermined the official narrative of the Metropolitan Police Department that Seth Rich had been murdered in a “botched robbery,” and it likewise undermined the Russia Collusion Hoax. The story featured quotes from Mr. Wheeler regarding his investigation, as well as quotes from an unnamed federal official who claimed that federal investigators had copies of Seth Rich’s communications with Wikileaks. Shortly thereafter, the Rich family terminated Mr. Wheeler, and Mr. Wheeler was subjected to withering scorn and criticism from anti-Trump media.

45. On March 13, 2018, Joel and Mary Rich sued Mr. Butowsky on the grounds of intentional infliction of emotional distress, alleging that Mr. Butowsky knowingly caused them harm by misrepresenting the circumstances of their son’s death. The frivolous lawsuit was dismissed on August 2, 2018, the same day that Mr. Wheeler’s frivolous lawsuit was dismissed.

54. Aaron Rich’s suspicious behavior continued after Mr. Wheeler was terminated. Mr. Rich claimed that he was only seeking the truth when he filed suit against Mr. Butowsky, but
he refused to sign a waiver authorizing Wikileaks to reveal what it knows about Seth Rich’s involvement in the DNC email leaks.[/b]
His attorneys subsequently claimed that they would issue their own subpoena for Wikileaks. They have since reneged, however, because they realized that Wikileaks would likely construe the subpoena as a waiver, in which case it would likely release records showing that Aaron Rich and Seth Rich were both responsible for leaking the DNC emails.

63. On May 30, 2018, Plaintiff’s Counsel asked Defendant Governski if her client, Aaron Rich, would authorize Wikileaks to reveal what it knew about whether he and his brother were involved in leaking emails.[/b]
In an email sent at 3:14 p.m., he wrote:

I’ve attached a preservation letter that I sent to eBay and PayPal, and I have also attached a proposed waiver for your client.
Julian Assange / Wikileaks likely will not cooperate unless your client consents to the release of information.[/b]
Please let me know if he is willing to consent. Thanks.
Ms. Governski responded at 4:27 p.m.:
We believe the appropriate mechanism for obtaining information from third parties is to serve subpoenas to those third parties as contemplated under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Those rules do not require any advance waiver from any party in order to serve or enforce such a subpoena. If any third party has a request to make of our client as a result of a subpoena, we will address those requests directly with those third parties rather than through opposing counsel.
At 8:12 p.m. Plaintiff’s Counsel replied as follows:
Yes, but as a practical matter, Julian Assange, Kim Dotcom, and Wikileaks are beyond U.S. jurisdiction.
Furthermore, Assange and Wikileaks have shown that they will not be coerced into revealing the identity of their sources[/b].
It is for that reason that I am asking your client to voluntarily waive any objections to the release of such information.[/b]
If you are saying your client is unwilling to do that, I think the media (and the public) will find that very interesting.[/b]
Ms. Governski did not respond, so Plaintiff’s Counsel sent a letter via fax and email at 7:51 a.m. on June 1, 2018 to her, Mr. Gottlieb, and a third lawyer at the firm, Randall Jackson:
I write concerning your client’s pleadings in the case identified above. According to Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(b), an attorney’s signature on the pleadings is certification that he or she has performed “an inquiry reasonable under the circumstances” to determine the accuracy and propriety of those pleadings.As you know, Ms. Governski and I have exchanged emails about whether your client, Aaron Rich, is willing to voluntarily authorize Wikileaks, Julian Assange, and/or Kim Dotcom to discuss any relationship that they may have had with Mr. Rich or his brother, Seth Rich. Thus far, it appears that your client is unwilling to authorize such disclosures.This is very telling. On the one hand, Mr. Rich boldly denies that he and/or his brother leaked DNC emails to Wikileaks. On the other, he refuses to authorize disclosures from the witnesses who are in the best position to know who leaked those emails.
That begs a question: if your client has nothing to hide, why is he hiding it?[/b]Under Rule 11(b), you have a duty to answer that question. Furthermore, you should ask your client some pointed questions about what funds may have been transferred to him or his brother through eBay accounts. And you should remind him that every trip to a safe deposit box is recorded on video and preserved. If the evidence leads where we expect it to lead, my client will aggressively seek sanctions against Mr. Rich and everyone else responsible for bringing meritless claims. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
64. In a bizarre and angry five-page letter sent on June 2, 2018 (a Saturday morning), Defendant Gottlieb offered the following rationale for refusing to authorize Wikileaks to disclose what it knew about the Riches involvement in email leaks:
[P]roviding such a waiver would create precisely the impression you claim we are seeking to avoid. Namely, the mere act of granting a waiver to disclose communications to these third parties could create an impression that there exist communications that could or should be disclosed, and that is especially so if you were to follow through on your threat of disclosing such information to the media.
Defendant Gottlieb nonetheless wrote that he would be issuing subpoenas to third parties such as Wikileaks. On June 22, 2018, Defendant Governski wrote in an email that subpoenas would need to be served on Wikileaks, Julian Assange and Kim Dotcom via letters rogatory, and that she was working on that process. The subpoenas were not issued, however, so Plaintiff’s Counsel sent a news article to Defendant Governski on August 20, 2018 noting that a federal court had authorized service of a DNC lawsuit against Wikileaks via Twitter.Defendant Gottlieb responded with baseless accusations that Plaintiff’s Counsel was practicing law in D.C. without a license.

65. Nearly ten months after the issue was first raised, and despite repeated inquiries from Plaintiff’s Counsel, no subpoenas have been issued to Wikileaks, Julian Assange, or Kim Dotcom[/b] by Defendants Governski or Gottlieb. Contrast that with the fact that Defendants Governski and Gottlieb issued a subpoena within a matter of hours for the private communications of Plaintiff’s Counsel. The reason for this disparity is straightforward: Defendants Governski and Gottlieb know that if Mr. Butowsky issues a subpoena to Wikileaks, the subpoena will be ignored pursuant to its policies for protecting sources. If,[/b] however, Defendants Governski and Gottlieb issue a subpoena to Wikileaks on behalf of Aaron Rich, Wikileaks will likely construe that as a waiver of confidentiality, in which case the damning emails would finally be released. That’s the last thing they want, so they have reneged on their earlier statements about issuing their own subpoenas.[/b]After reading this complaint, I have several questions. Would Butowsky just have made up out of whole cloth his claim that an associate of Assange had informed him that Seth and Aaron Rich were the sources for the DNC emails published by Wikileaks, and that Joel Rich had initially confirmed to him that he was aware of this? If Butowsky had indeed quite outrageously invented this, why were the various lawsuits filed against him dropped — and why did Butowsky have the effrontery to counter-sue? Why did the Rich family claim that the purpose of Bukowsky’s lie had been to traumatize them? — this seems ridiculous on its face. And, most importantly, why won’t the Rich family lawyers follow through on Butowsky’s suggestion that they provide a legal waiver to Assange, or subpoena Assange in Aaron’s name, thereby enabling Assange to state whether or not Seth and Aaron were the sources of the DNC emails? If the Rich family is correct that the brothers were not involved, then Assange could state this and instantly confirm that Butowsky’s claims are rubbish — putting a stop to the alleged trauma that the Rich family claims they are subjected to by “conspiracy theorists”. And why did the DNC feel the need to send the Rich family Brad Bauman as a “crisis counselor” — when they hadn’t even bothered to offer a reward (as Wikileaks did) for the apprehension of Seth’s killer? It appears that the cooperation of the Rich family with Butowsky ended after the unsolicited appearance of Bauman.[/i]And the failure of the Rich family to solicit input from Assange brings to mind the fact that, analogously, Robert Mueller, in his “investigation” of the “Russian hacking” alleged to be responsible for the Wikileaks DNC/Podesta releases, failed to subpoena or attempt to interview Assange, Craig Murray, or Kim Dotcom, all of whom either know or claim to know the sources responsible for these Wikileaks releases. Why didn’t Mueller do the proper investigation he was paid to do? Would a proper investigation run the risk of decimating the Russophobic myths that the Deep State is intent on spreading?[/i]

(apologies for formatting - currently available at https://archive.li/LMOB6)

Right... so the reason I'd gone to check the above - now disappeared - article is that the following showed up:

Fake News Media Suffers Body Blow on Case Linked to Seth Rich by Larry Johnson
29 April 2019

A big, old, giant Sequoia has been knocked down in the mainstream media forest of lies and none of the fake news media are commenting on this development. Ok. Got your attention? I am referring to a defamation case that a Texas financial advisor brought against NPR reporter, David Folkenflik. The Judge in the case described it as:
This is an action for defamation, business disparagement, and civil conspiracy filed by Plaintiff Ed Butowsky (“Plaintiff” or “Butowsky”), a Dallas investment advisor, against National Public Radio, Inc. (“NPR”),1 its senior media correspondent, David Folkenflik (“Folkenflik”), and certain former and current executive editors at NPR.2 According to Plaintiff, the defendants published false and defamatory statements about Plaintiff online and via Twitter between August 2017 and March 2018 – statements Plaintiff alleges injured his business and reputation.
NPR and Folkenflik filed a motion to dismiss. The Judge said no. The case will go forward:
The Court, having carefully considered the relevant briefing and hearing arguments of counsel February 7, 2019, recommends the motion be DENIED.
Oh oh. NPR could be paying out some big dollar to Mr. Butowsky
Here's how the judge explained the critical facts:

[Ed Butowsky] resides with his family in Plano, Texas and is an “internationally recognized expert in the investment wealth management industry.” Docket Entry # 1 at 7. He has been in the financial services industry for over twenty-nine years and has made hundreds of appearances on national television and radio shows. Id. at 7-8. In early 2017, Plaintiff contacted the family of Seth Rich to help the family investigate their son’s unsolved murder.6 Id. at 39, ¶ 58. Plaintiff offered to pay for a private investigator.
Ed Butowsky has been described as a Republican party activist. Essentially, that means he has donated money to a bunch of Republican candidates and offered advice on economic policy matters, but is not an activist. Ed also is a bit of a noble crusader. When he sees wrong he sets out to do something about it. The murder of Seth Rich in the summer of 2016 was brought to Ed's attention by someone close to Julian Assange. Turns out he was friends with a couple of people who knew Julian Assange (Ed had no knowledge or association with Assange) and had access to Assange. Through those contacts he learned that Seth Rich was the source of the DNC emails passed to Julian Assange and was asked to reach out to the family of Seth Rich. (This is the story Ed tells and I believe him.)
Ed is Jewish and has a son. He empathized with the depth of loss suffered by Seth's parents and reached out to them. They took him up on his offer.
The Judge continued:
On February 23, 2017, Plaintiff contacted Rod Wheeler via text message to see if Wheeler would be interested in investigating the murder. Id. at 39, ¶ 59. Plaintiff did not know Wheeler, but he had seen him on television and Wheeler appeared to be a competent investigator. Id. Plaintiff alleges the family of Seth Rich engaged Wheeler to help solve Seth’s murder. Id. at 18, n. 5.
Wheeler entered into a contract with the Rich family (specifically with Aaron Rich, Joel Rich and Mary Rich) to investigate the murder. Id. at 39, ¶ 60. Plaintiff was not a party to the contract between Wheeler and the Rich family, and his role and involvement in the investigation of Seth’s murder were limited. Id. at 39-40, ¶¶ 57, 61. According to Plaintiff, Wheeler investigated the matter and came up with the theory that Seth’s murder was not the result of a botched robbery. Id. at 18, n. 5.
On March 31, 2017, Wheeler appeared on Fox 5 DC and claimed he had been investigating Seth’s murder over the “past three weeks.” Id. at 42, ¶¶ 67-69. After the interviewer pointed out to Wheeler that people were “hinting at the fact that perhaps Seth Rich may have given some documents [to WikiLeaks],” . . . .
According to the Complaint, after Wheeler appeared on Fox 5 DC, he updated Malia Zimmerman, an “award-winning investigative reporter” employed by FoxNews.com, concerning his investigation. Id. at 43, ¶¶ 71-72. Wheeler was actively and extensively in contact with Zimmerman. Id. at 43, ¶ 73. In one of his texts to Zimmerman, Wheeler stated, “I’m ready to say that Seth’s [sic] Death was not a botched robbery and there appears to be a coverup within the D.C. Govt related to his death.” Id. at 43, ¶ 74; see also id. at 18, n. 5. Zimmerman, who knew Wheeler worked for the Rich family, asked Wheeler if the family was letting him talk. Id. at 43, ¶ 75. Zimmerman expressed interest in doing a story on the murder investigation, if Wheeler was “up to it.” Id.
On May 15, 2017, Wheeler was in contact with Zimmerman multiple times about an article Zimmerman was writing. Id. at 51, ¶94. Zimmerman provided Wheeler several “drafts” containing quotes attributed to Wheeler. Id. at 51-57. At no point in time did Wheeler ever deny making the statements quoted by Zimmerman; instead he offered further quotations. Id. at 55, ¶¶ 114-117.
On May 16, 2017, in the early morning, Fox published Zimmerman’s story entitled, “Seth Rich, slain DNC staffer, had contact with WikiLeaks, say multiple sources.” Id. at 58, ¶ 131. The article included the statements Wheeler had made and approved. Id. On May 16, 2017, after publication of Zimmerman’s article, Wheeler appeared on Fox News and was interviewed by Sean Hannity, where Wheeler again confirmed Seth had communicated with WikiLeaks. Id. at 59, ¶¶ 133-135. On May 16, 2017, Wheeler appeared on Fox Business with Lou Dobbs to discuss the Seth Rich murder investigation. Id. at 62, ¶ 139.
On May 16 or May 17, 2017, one or more members of the Rich family, or a spokesman for the Rich family, threatened to sue Wheeler for violating the terms of his contract with the Rich family by speaking with Marraco, Zimmerman, Hannity, and Dobbs. Id. at 64, ¶ 141. According to Plaintiff, the threats from the Rich family provided Wheeler with a motive to lie, backtrack, and distance himself from the quotes and statements he had made to Marraco, Zimmerman, Hannity, and Dobbs. Id. at 65, ¶ 144. Wheeler then “flip-flopped on virtually all the essential facts.” Id. at 67, ¶ 149.
Folkenflik and his editors tried to hide under the First Amendment and claimed that they were just reporting facts and offering honest opinions. The Judge described Butowsky's claim this way:
Plaintiff’s claim implicates five reports that he alleges contain defamatory statements, four of which Folkenflik authored and NPR published, and one interview, published on Mediaite.com, in which Folkenflik discussed his reporting on the Wheeler lawsuit. As previously noted, Plaintiff argues the “gist” of the publications is that Plaintiff, a “Dallas investment manager” and “financial talking head,” concocted, spearheaded and actively participated with Fox News and the White house in a concerted scheme to promote “fake news.”23 Id.
The Judge then proceeds to give Folkenflik and NPR an ass whooping:
Evaluating the August 1 Report as a whole, the Court finds because of material additions and misleading juxtapositions, an objectively reasonable reader could conclude the report mischaracterized Plaintiff’s role in the Seth Rich investigation and “thereby cast more suspicion on [Plaintiff’s] actions than an accurate account would have warranted.”24 Turner, 38 S.W. 3d at 119 (“But by omitting key facts and falsely juxtaposing others, the broadcast’s misleading account cast more suspicion on Turner’s conduct than a substantially true account would have done. Thus, it was both false and defamatory.”). The August 1 Report as a whole is reasonably capable of a defamatory meaning because it goes “beyond merely reporting materially true facts.” White, 909 F.2d at 521. . . .
Folkenflik implied Plaintiff fabricated the story about Seth Rich and WikiLeaks. The Court agrees, especially when read in context with the rest of the statements contained in the August 1 Report. . . .
The Court finds the August 1 Report, as a whole, can be reasonably understood as stating the meaning Plaintiff proposes and is capable of defamatory meaning. . . .
The Court finds Folkenflik’s statements in the Mediaite Interview, as a whole, can be reasonably understood as stating the meaning Plaintiff proposes and are capable of defamatory meaning.
The August 7 Report contains three alleged defamatory statements: (1) Fox News had a “role” in “concocting a baseless story” on the death of Seth Rich; (2) Fox was involved in a “journalistic scandal” over the story; and (3) Fox “concocted” the story “in order to help President Trump.” Unlike the other reports discussed above, Plaintiff is not mentioned in the August 7 Report. According to the Complaint, the August 7 Report, “[r]ead together with the [August 1 Report], the overall tenor and context of Folkenlik’s messages was that Butowsky lied, was dishonest, and aided, abetted and actively participated in a fraudulent journalistic scandal.” Docket Entry # 1 at 36, n. 12.
According to Plaintiff, the overall “gist” is that Fox News and Plaintiff worked together, each playing a “role,” to “concoct” a “baseless story” that resulted in a journalistic “scandal.” Docket Entry # 32 at 24. At this stage of the proceedings, accepting the allegations in the Complaint as true, the Court finds the August 7 Report can be reasonably understood as stating the meaning Plaintiff proposes.
. . . .According to Plaintiff, Folkenflik’s statement, explicitly or by implication, accuses him of engaging in “activities” that caused harm to the Rich Family and that Plaintiff lacked empathy and understanding that his actions “affected” the Riches. The Court finds the August 16 Report, considered as a whole, can be reasonably understood as stating the meaning Plaintiff proposes and is capable of defamatory meaning.
. . . . Plaintiff asserts the word “player” carries a very heavy negative connotation and “highlights Folkenflik’s malicious agenda and extreme bias.” Docket Entry # 32 at 26. The Court finds the September 15 Report, as a whole, can be reasonably understood as stating the meaning Plaintiff proposes and is capable of defamatory meaning.
In sum, the Court finds Plaintiff has alleged the gist of the reports can be reasonably understood as stating the meaning Plaintiff proposes. Because the reports are “reasonably capable” of communicating the meaning Plaintiff proposes, the next question is whether that meaning is “reasonably capable” of defaming Plaintiff. Tatum, 554 S.W.3d at 637. The Court concludes it is, as discussed further below on actual malice.28
Boys and girls, this is a Shaquille O'Neal equivalent of a slam dunk. I am sure that the NPR lawyers will continue to try to escape this judgment. Odds are they will fail. When that happens, they will be ready to sit down and negotiate a settlement to make this case go away.
Folkenflick is a hack. A partisan hack. Karma is a bitch and Folkenflik is likely to get bitch slapped in a big way. Instead of reporting the story straight up, he opted for a propaganda hit job. He is unworthy of the title, journalist.

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Re: Who Was Seth Rich?

Postby Cordelia » Wed Jul 10, 2019 9:03 am

Another year.

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https://mpdc.dc.gov/node/1179876

What say MPDC Cold Cases?

Case Buried.

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Re: Who Was Seth Rich?

Postby BenDhyan » Mon Jul 15, 2019 7:23 pm

Source is Gateway Pundit, so this needs to be confirmed...

BREAKING: Lawsuit Outs Reporter Ellen Ratner as Source for Seth Rich Information

by Jim Hoft July 15, 2019

Businessman Ed Butowsky filed a lawsuit on Monday that outed FOX News reporter Ellen Ratner was his source for the Seth Rich information.

This comes after Michael Isikoff’s report last week that labeled Butowsky as a Russian source.

Ed told The Gateway Pundit today that Ellen Ratner lied to Isikoff.
Ed provided The Gateway Pundit with a copy of his email with Ratner.

Butowsky added that he spoke with Isikoff off the record and he broke his trust by contacting Ratner.

Butowsky told The Gateway Pundit that after last week’s report he was forced to speak out.
Ed also says he has more evidence that Ratner was his source on the Seth Rich information.

Butowsky claims Ratner gathered the information on Seth Rich after contact with Wikileaks officials.
The Gateway Pundit has not confirmed that information.

Isikoff is already tied to the Trump-Russia collusion scandal after reporting on the junk dossier in his Yahoo report in 2016. The deep state leaked the info specifically to Isikoff who they knew to be a friendly reporter.

Lawflog.com reported:

Fox News news analyst Ellen Ratner relayed information from Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to Texas businessman Ed Butowsky regarding Seth Rich’s role in transferring emails to Wikileaks, according to an amended lawsuit that I filed this morning on behalf of Mr. Butowsky.

Although Ms. Ratner appears on Fox News, she is by no means a Republican or a conservative, and her role in the Seth Rich saga (like that of journalist Sy Hersh) obliterates the Democratic narrative that right-wing zealots fabricated the story about Mr. Rich leaking emails from the Democratic National Committee.

Mr. Rich, a DNC employee, was murdered in Washington, D.C. on July 10, 2016, and the murder remains unsolved. Here’s an excerpt from the amended suit (“RCH” stands for “Russian Collusion Hoax”):

45. Mr. Butowsky stumbled into the RCH crosshairs after Ellen Rattner [sic], a news analyst for Fox News and the White House correspondent for Talk Media News, contacted him in the Fall of 2016 about a meeting she had with Mr. Assange. Ms. Rattner’s brother, the late Michael Rattner, was an attorney who had represented Mr. Assange. According to Ms. Rattner, she made a stop in London during a return flight from Berlin, and she met with Mr. Assange for approximately six hours in the Ecuadorean embassy. Ms. Rattner said Mr. Assange told her that Seth Rich and his brother, Aaron, were responsible for releasing the DNC emails to Wikileaks. Ms. Rattner said Mr. Assange wanted the information relayed to Seth’s parents, as it might explain the motive for Seth’s murder.

46. Upon her return to the United States, Ms. Rattner asked Mr. Butowsky to contact the Rich family and relay the information from Mr. Assange, apparently because Ms. Rattner did not want her involvement to be made public. In the two months that followed, Mr. Butowsky did not attempt to contact the Rich family, but he grew increasingly frustrated as the DNC and #Resistance “journalists” blamed the Russian government for the email leak. On December 16, 2016, Mr. Butowsky sent a text message to Ms. Ratner:

BUTOWSKY [7:10 a.m.]: “Why don’t [sic] you speaking up about email hack?”

RATTNER [9:28 a.m.]: “I have”

Ms. Rattner subsequently told Mr. Butowsky that she had informed Bill Shine, who was then the co-president of Fox News, about her meeting with Mr. Assange in London. Ms. Rattner also informed Fox News producer Malia Zimmerman about her meeting with Mr. Assange.

47. On December 17, 2016, at the instigation of Ms. Rattner, Mr. Butowsky finally contacted Joel and Mary Rich, the parents of Seth, and he relayed the information about Ms. Rattner’s meeting with Mr. Assange. During that conversation, Mr. Rich told Mr. Butowsky that he already knew that his sons were involved in the DNC email leak, but he and his wife just wanted to know who murdered Seth. Mr. Rich said he was reluctant to go public with Seth’s and Aaron’s role in leaking the emails because “we don’t want anyone to think our sons were responsible for getting Trump elected.” Mr. Rich said he did not have enough money to hire a private investigator, so Mr. Butowsky offered to pay for one. Mr. Rich accepted the offer and thanked Mr. Butowsky in an email.

48. On December 29, 2016 at 1:51 p.m., Mr. Butowsky sent an email to Ms. Rattner from his iPad: “If the person you met with truly said what he did, is their [sic] a reason you we aren’t reporting it ?” At 3:48 p.m. that afternoon, Ms. Rattner responded as follows: “because— it was a family meeting—- I would have to get his permission– will ask his new lawyer, my sister-in-law.”

The complaint also mentions an interesting development in my ongoing Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the FBI. The feds claimed they had no information pertaining to Seth Rich, but they appear to be changing their tune. Shortly after Attorney General William Barr announced plans to declassify documents related to the Russian Collusion Hoax, the FBI’s attorney informed me that new documents were being processed. I should receive them not later than July 22, 2019. The DNC’s objections to our subpoenas for “Russian hacking’ information are also due on July 22, 2019, and production is due on August 8, 2019.

The more I’ve reviewed the Seth Rich case, the more I’m convinced of its central role in the whole Russian Collusion Hoax. I believe DNC officials knew that the emails would become public as the result of an internal leak, and they knew that the emails would be very damaging, so they attempted to turn the tables by pointing fingers at Donald Trump and the Russians. Hopefully we will know more by next week.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/07/breaking-lawsuit-outs-reporter-ellen-ratner-as-source-for-seth-rich-information/

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Re: Who Was Seth Rich?

Postby Harvey » Mon Jul 15, 2019 8:06 pm

And while we spoke of many things, fools and kings
This he said to me
"The greatest thing
You'll ever learn
Is just to love
And be loved
In return"


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Re: Who Was Seth Rich?

Postby seemslikeadream » Mon Jul 15, 2019 9:06 pm

why did Lawflog take down the actual legal document filed by Butowsky?

http://lawflog.com/wp-content/uploads/2 ... t-61-1.pdf

....if someone can find it I would like to finish reading it
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Who Was Seth Rich?

Postby Harvey » Mon Jul 15, 2019 9:19 pm

And while we spoke of many things, fools and kings
This he said to me
"The greatest thing
You'll ever learn
Is just to love
And be loved
In return"


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Re: Who Was Seth Rich?

Postby Harvey » Mon Jul 15, 2019 9:48 pm

42. The DNC employee responsible for the leaks was Seth Rich, and he was assisted by his brother Aaron. Mr. Butowsky does not know exactly when the DNC figured out that Mr. Rich was the source of the leak. On July 10, 2016, however, Mr. Rich was fatally shot while walking home in Washington, D.C., and the murder has not been solved. Mr. Butowsky does not know whether the murder is related to Mr. Rich's role in leaking DNC emails.


Worth noting (once again) Trump almost certainly learned details of the leak via a meeting between Kushner, his son and Russian Intelligence (allegedly) the day before, when he probably learned of the source.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-tower-idUSKBN1KH1F7 Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., along with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and senior campaign aide Paul Manafort took part in the June 9, 2016, meeting with Nataliya Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer and acknowledged Kremlin informant.


Did the Clinton/DNC machine learn of the source via Trump that same evening? They were friends after all and friends talk. Seth died the following day. The DNC reported a 'hack' the following Tuesday. A year before John Podesta had demanded that an example be made. Was Trump, far from colluding with Russia, passing on useful knowledge to the Clinton campaign while gloating about his possession of 'dirt' on them? Did the subsequent distance everyone involved wanted to create between themselves and that meeting (DNC via the 'Russia-gate' nonsense and Trump via disavowal of knowledge) have much more to do with the fate of Seth Rich than with 'Russia'? It's certainly plausible. :shrug:
And while we spoke of many things, fools and kings
This he said to me
"The greatest thing
You'll ever learn
Is just to love
And be loved
In return"


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Re: Who Was Seth Rich?

Postby JackRiddler » Tue Jul 16, 2019 7:28 am

Harvey » Mon Jul 15, 2019 8:48 pm wrote:
Worth noting (once again) Trump almost certainly learned details of the leak via a meeting between Kushner, his son and Russian Intelligence (allegedly) the day before, when he probably learned of the source.


There is no reason to think based on available published evidence or the biographies of the people present that the wrongly famous "Trump Tower meeting" of June 9, 2016 included any person privy to better information than what was available via open source at that point. Not the British record promoter who baited it by (he says) pretending to Don Jr. they would have damaging info on Clinton. By then that was already the line to claim, so as to attract Trump campaign interest. Not the Russian lawyer (Natalia Veselnitskaya) who was almost certainly there not for orphans, but to lobby for parties targeted under the Magnitsky Act sanctions. Interestingly she met a bit after the meeting with Glenn Simpson, co-founder of Fusion GPS (Steele dossier company). Just to tie it all into one ball of incestuous mid-level grifter reach-arounds. Was that more Magnitsky lobbying or was she filing her report? Ha ha. Seriously who can know. Still it's incredible the infinitely functional afterlife this meeting of such great minds has had. #Russiagaters talk about it like it was the final conference before the Japanese command greenlit Pearl Harbor.

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