n of the 2016 murder of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich appear to be raising more questions than they answer about why he was killed and what, if any, contact he had with WikiLeaks.
Who was Seth Rich?
The 27-year-old data analyst who grew up in Omaha, Nebraska was working for the DNC developing software to help voters locate their polling places.
What happened to him?
Rich was shot around 4:19 a.m. on July 10, 2016 in the 2100 block of Flagler Place NW near his home in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of DC. According to a police report, he was still conscious and breathing when officers arrived, but he died soon afterward at an area hospital.
The murder remains unsolved.
What’s new?
Two new media reports claim Rich was in contact with WikiLeaks before his death. Less than two weeks after his murder, the group posted tens of thousands of internal DNC emails that escalated tension within the party and led to the resignation of DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Rod Wheeler, a former DC police officer and private investigator hired on behalf of Rich’s family, told Fox 5 DC Monday that his sources confirmed that Rich’s laptop showed he was communicating with WikiLeaks. Wheeler also claimed that officers had been ordered to “stand down” on the investigation.
A Fox News report Tuesday went even further, citing an unnamed federal investigator to tie Rich to the DNC leak. The investigator claimed a forensic report generated days after Rich’s murder revealed that he made contact with Gavin MacFadyen, who was director of WikiLeaks at the time and later died of cancer.
According to the unnamed investigator, 44,053 emails and 17,761 attachments between DNC leaders were transferred from Rich to MacFadyen before May 21, 2016. This is exactly the number of documents posted by WikiLeaks in late July.
Wheeler also told Fox News that “someone within the DC government, Democratic National Committee or Clinton team” is blocking the investigation. Wheeler is a Fox News contributor.
What do police say about all of this?
Not much. They have consistently declined to discuss details of the investigation since last summer, and Tuesday was no exception.
They did, however, dispute Wheeler’s claim that that the investigation is being obstructed.
“The Metropolitan Police Department’s (MPD) Homicide Branch is actively investigating Mr. Rich’s murder and we continue to work with the family to bring closure to this case as we do with all homicide investigations,” police said in a statement.
“If there are any individuals who feel they have information, we urge them to call us at 202-727-9099 or text us at 50411. The department is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information on this case that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible.”
Fox 5 is standing by the story, but several federal and local law enforcement sources told the Washington Post they were unaware of Rich sending any DNC information to WikiLeaks. Nothing in their examination of Rich’s computer and email activity connected him to WikiLeaks.
“There is nothing that we can find that any of this is accurate,” police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck told the Post.
How is Rich’s family reacting?
They are not thrilled that Wheeler took the information to the media before talking to them, and their spokesman is blasting media outlets for promoting “conspiracies” without proof.
“As we've seen through the past year of unsubstantiated claims, we see no facts, we have seen no evidence, we have been approached with no emails and only learned about this when contacted by the press,” said Brad Bauman, a Democratic political consultant who is serving as family spokesman.
According to Bauman, Wheeler was hired and paid by a third party, not the Rich family, and his contract barred him from speaking to the press without authorization. He also cast doubt on any potential future evidence that might support Wheeler’s claims.
“Even if tomorrow, an email was found, it is not a high enough bar of evidence to prove any interactions as emails can be altered and we've seen that those interested in pushing conspiracies will stop at nothing to do so,” he said. “We are a family who is committed to facts, not fake evidence that surfaces every few months to fill the void and distract law enforcement and the general public from finding Seth's murderers.”
Bauman told Business Insider there is “a special place in hell” for media outlets that “would try and manipulate the legacy of a murder victim in order to forward their own political agenda.”
On Facebook Tuesday, he said the Rich family was desperate for answers and put their trust in people who turned out to have ulterior motives.
“They accepted the help not knowing that their sons legacy would be contorted and manipulated so that every time there is a flare up in the Trump/Russia story, that their son would be used by Russia and allies to try and distract everyone, and guess what...it's working,” he wrote.
Who else has responded to the latest news?
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said during a press gaggle Tuesday that it would be “highly inappropriate” to comment on the case.
The DNC told NBC News and the Washington Post that it is not aware of evidence supporting the allegations.
WikiLeaks did not respond to a request for comment, but its Twitter account and the account of founder Julian Assange have retweeted the Fox reports.
Jack Burkman, a Republican lobbyist who has offered his own reward in the case and has launched an independent investigation, urged Wheeler to make his evidence available for review.
“If such 40,000 emails between Seth Rich and WikiLeaks exist, I’m calling on the private investigator to release them so our team can independently verify the emails and determine how and if they connect Russia and WikiLeaks to Seth’s murder,” he said in a statement.
So why was Rich killed?
We don’t know yet. Police initially indicated his death may have been the result of a botched robbery, but his wallet and jewelry were still on his body when he was found. There had been numerous armed robberies in the neighborhood where Rich was killed in the weeks and months before the crime.
Rich had been on the phone with his girlfriend in the moments before he was shot. According to Fox News, she heard voices in the background before he hung up on her. He reportedly had bruises on his hands and face when he was found.
Police have security camera footage from the street where Rich was killed, but they have not released it. Sources told Fox News the video shows the legs of two possible suspects.
Police have not revealed what, if anything, Rich said to officers before he died. Nearly a year later, there are no suspects in the case.
What does WikiLeaks have to do with it?
Last summer, Assange obliquely indicated Rich may have been the source for the DNC emails the group posted.
"Whistle-blowers go to significant efforts to get us material and often very significant risks," he said in an interview with a Dutch TV station. "As a 27-year-old, works for the DNC, was shot in the back, murdered just a few weeks ago for unknown reasons as he was walking down the street in Washington.”
The group also took the unusual step of offering a $20,000 reward in the case.
WikiLeaks later insisted that the reward and Assange’s statements should not be taken as evidence that Rich provided the emails.
While multiple U.S. intelligence agencies have pointed fingers at hackers associated with the Russian government as the source of documents posted by WikiLeaks that damaged Hillary Clinton’s campaign, Assange has maintained that his source was not affiliated with Russian intelligence.
Why is this generating so much attention?
Seth Rich’s name was trending on Twitter for much of the day Tuesday as Trump supporters claimed a Washington Post article about the president giving classified information to Russia was published to distract from this story. Liberals, meanwhile, argued the Rich story was a distraction from the Trump/Russia controversy.
Rich’s murder has been a subject of fascination and speculation among conspiracy theorists on the right and left since the DNC emails were released.
Some believe he was a Bernie Sanders supporter killed for revealing the DNC’s machinations to keep him from winning the party’s presidential nomination. Others claim, without evidence, that he is one of many people the Clintons have had murdered for getting in their way.
If true, Rich being WikiLeaks’ source would undercut the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia hacked email accounts linked to Clinton to hurt her campaign. It would also refute Democrats’ allegations that Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to release and promote this information.
It is unclear how Rich would have gotten his hands on thousands of emails belonging to other DNC staffers. This theory also would not explain how WikiLeaks obtained emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s account that were released in October.
Fox News host Sean Hannity, popular conspiracy sites like InfoWars, and right wing blogs have fanned the flames of the Rich mystery for months, and they pounced on the latest developments.
However, Wheeler himself warned against careless speculation about the Rich case earlier this year. In a late March interview with Fox 5 DC, he dismissed suggestions by Burkman that Russia was somehow involved in the murder.
“You have to be careful when you start throwing out these conspiracy theories,” Wheeler said at the time. “They actually don’t help the investigation at all.”
So what now?
Wheeler told Fox 5 he would release more information Tuesday to substantiate his allegations, but so far nothing has been posted. He did not respond to a request for comment.
DC police are urging anyone with information about Rich’s murder to contact them directly by phone at 202-727-9099 or by text at 50411.https://t.co/zhfpL3feSY
…
t continues. Dotcom told RT he believes Twitter is targeting tweets about late DNC staffer Seth Rich.Tweeting early Saturday, the Megaupload founder urged Twitter’s Jack Dorsey to “stop messing with our free speech” and warning that if Dotcom creates an alternative platform, “Twitter could be toast within a year”.
https://www.rt.com/news/420428-twitter-censorship-kim-dotcom/…
is Reddit account after it was found by online sleuths, and if they feel they had a good reason for doing it the way they did, I am sure we’re all open to hearing their reasoning. But that information is key to piecing together data that could quite literally save the world, and we need to pay attention to this sort of thing and have a public debate about it. Tensions between the United States and Russia have reached such insane heights that an expert analyst has said we are in more danger of nuclear annihilation in some ways than we were at the peak of the last Cold War, and the reasons being given to the public for those tensions are all based first and foremost on allegations that Russian hackers stole the Democratic party emails that were released by WikiLeaks. This isn’t just about Seth Rich; we’ve all got a stake in this thing.
As explained by iBankCoin, the discovery of Seth Rich’s main account led to the discovery of his secondary account u/pandas4bernie, the existence of which confirms what we’ve all suspected for a long time: that Rich was a closet Bernie supporter. Rich really, really, really, REALLY loved pandas, his known Instagram handle was pandas4progress, and both u/pandas4bernie and Rich’s main account u/MeGrimlock4 stopped posting right after his murder. They’re both him. This adds a great deal of weight to the argument that Rich was upset about the way Sanders was being cheated by the DNC and used his access as DNC Voter Expansion Director to pass Committee emails to late WikiLeaks director Gavin MacFadyen as an anonymous federal investigator is reported to have informed Fox News.
Rest here w/ graphics…
atchblog.com/i-believe-imran-awan-is-tied-directly-to-the-murder-of-seth-rich-he-was-debbie-wasserman-schultzs-it-guy-who-took-care-of-her-every-need-plus-other-breaking-news-on-imran-awan/
by IWB · July 28, 2017
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by Pamela Williams
https://twitter.com/bocavista2016/status/890321218401964032/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F70news.wordpress.com%2Ftag%2Fimran-awan%2F
Debbie Wasserman Schultz employed Pakistani IT staffers who were paid over $4 million dollars over the course of their employment even though they were accused of a cyber-security breach. Imran Awan was arrested as he attempted to flee the U.S. after wiring approximately $300,000 to Pakistan. His lawyer claims that the accusations of bank fraud are due to ‘anti-Muslim’ bigotry. Awan’s lawyer is wasting his time playing the Muslim card.
Now Seth Rich family’s private investigator Rod Wheeler posted an interesting tweet:
Follow the arrest of Awan closely. Connect the dots to “other” cases. (hint, hint) Just the beginning. Stay tuned. I am not surprised at this comment. The Awan brothers did everything for the DNC from being computer specialists, stealing cars, to murder.
The rest of the Awan pack had already escaped back to Pakistan taking the Nation’s secrets with them. But no one in the DNC cares.
The Rich family’s attorney Joseph Ingrisano sent Wheeler a cease and desist letter to prevent Wheeler from leaking his findings.
Ingrisano is a partner at the Kutak Rock law firm. His bio at the firm states that he “has extensive experience in the defense of broker-dealers, investment bankers, underwriting managers, insurance companies, corporate officers and attorneys as lead trial counsel and co-counsel in securities fraud class-actions, litigations and arbitrations throughout the nation, as well as in enforcement matters brought by the SEC and stock exchanges.”
A message left for Ingrisano at his firm was not returned.
The Rich family is currently represented in the press by Democratic crisis communications consultant Brad Bauman, who was unaware that police body camera footage exists even after leading a charge to shut down Internet fact-finders who have come up with new information and advanced the story at every turn.
Ed Butowsky, who financed private investigations into the Rich case, revealed that Rich’s father praised Wheeler’s work.
“I interviewed three or four different private detectives,” Butowsky recently said on Andrew Wilkow’s radio program. “He [Rich’s father] said, my goodness that’s Rod Wheeler from Fox News. I like that guy.”
However, Rod Wheeler was stopped in his tracks with the investigation of Seth Rich. Not only by his family, but by the Washington DC police. They went to Debbie Wasserman Schultz to tell her Wheeler was investigating, and she immediately called the Rich family to ask why Wheeler was sticking his nose in.
“There is a lot of news that is about to break…Everyone is going to have some answers real soon, and people are not going to feel good about it,” Butowsky said.
“Seth’s brother is very difficult for Rod to work with…I sure hope somebody would get a hold of Rod Wheeler and get what he has, because his work has led to what will be a conclusion here very very soon,” Butowsky added.
When I first met Mr. Rich, he said this guy Bauman was assigned to us by the DNC,” Butowsky said, noting an 18-minute nighttime phone call between Rich’s father and Wheeler in which Rich’s father was highly complimentary of Wheeler’s work.
“There’s a lot more to it. Mr. and Mrs. Rich are wonderful people.”
“Brad Bauman wrote it,” Butowsky said, referring to a Washington Post op-ed from the Rich family imploring people to stop “politicizing” the murder.
“Mr. Rich wants to find out who killed his son,” Butowsky said.
I, myself, have been concerned that this DNC operative speaking for the DNC could be controlling them into silence.
I just came on a breaking story on this topic: COPS BAILED FROM MEETIN ON SETH RICH, DEM IT PROBES!
http://www.wnd.com/2017/07/private-eye-cops-bailed-from-meeting-on-seth-rich-dem-it-probes/
Detectives leading the Seth Rich murder investigation agreed to meet with Capitol Hill investigators to discuss evidence surrounding the alleged hacking of Democratice National Committee emails during the 2016 presidential election, a private eye claims.
But the Metropolitan Police Department canceled its meeting with House Investigators on the Hill just hours before it was schedulted to take place, according to former Washington DC homicide detective Rod Wheeler.
I have to break in here, just as soon as we are beginning to see progress, this happens! This story was published 8 hours ago. This is breaking!
Wheeler, who previously worked as the Rich’s family private investigator, told WND he had arranged the meeting between House Investigators looking into the Russian hacking and members of the MPD probing the unsolved murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich.
This is unbelievable and inexcusable for the cops to do this right now when the House has requested this investigation.
Wheeler claims a thorough investigation of the Awan Brothers may reveal more information about “I’ve been following the arrest of Awan – this is a guy whose name came up a couple of times in my investigation as someone that I should look at,” he said in a phone call to WND Wednesday. “I never really got a chance to look at them in the investigation – but what I did do – I met with the Capitol Hill investigators.
“I thought they should meet with D.C. police regarding the Seth Rich case because I thought they may find some correlation between the two things that they were doing,” he continued. “Hill investigators were very interested in meeting with D.C. police – they had never met with them pertaining to the Seth Rich case. The D.C. police detective was very interested in meeting with the Hill investigators.”Rich’s murder, the 2016 email breach of the Democratic National Committee and the Awan family.
“I’ve been following the arrest of Awan – this is a guy whose name came up a couple of times in my investigation as someone that I should look at,” he said in a phone call to WND Wednesday. “I never really got a chance to look at them in the investigation – but what I did do – I met with the Capitol Hill investigators.
“I thought they should meet with D.C. police regarding the Seth Rich case because I thought they may find some correlation between the two things that they were doing,” he continued. “Hill investigators were very interested in meeting with D.C. police – they had never met with them pertaining to the Seth Rich case. The D.C. police detective was very interested in meeting with the Hill investigators.”
The Capitol Police and the MPD hadn’t returned WND’s requests for comment at the time of this report.
“The MPD detective didn’t give me any explanation as to why. He just said, ‘Rod, I am going to need to cancel that meeting,’” Wheeler explained. “I don’t know why they canceled. I do have some suspicions, but I don’t want to speculate. I am always hesitant to speculate because they hang you out to dry when you do.”
Did Rich attend an IT party on night of his death?
Now there is a theory that Rich might have attended an IT PARTY THE NIGHT OF HIS DEATH! Now get the following:
During the course of his investigation of Rich’s mysterious murder, Wheeler claims, he learned something peculiar that he hadn’t heard before: Rich attended a party with numerous IT workers the night he was killed. After the party, Rich went to Lou’s City Bar, the last known location where he was seen before his murder.
Wheeler said he was determined to learn more about the IT party and who was in attendance, but all his questions have gone unanswered.
“Seth attended that party, and I wanted to know who else was at that party. But I could never find out,” Wheeler said. “When I went back to ask other people who should have known who was at that party – these were people who were close to Seth – they told me, ‘You don’t need to know who was at that party because it had nothing to do with his death.’”
This is strange. How would any of those people know that?
Uncovering more details about the attendees of the party is essential in the Rich homicide investigation, Wheeler contends.
“He was at the party before he went to the bar. What you do in a murder investigation is you work backward. You want to trace the victim’s steps as far back as you can – who was that person around the day before? – as far back as you can,” he said. “What was interesting is when I am told as an investigator that I don’t need to talk to people who were at the party. It makes you wonder why.”
The following is a very important resource if you are researching Seth Rich: http://riggedit.com/seth-rich/
The part in it that most interested me is the part on “The Clintons got to Seth Rich’s family:”
Here it is:
The Clintons have gotten to Seth Rich’s parents (Joel and Mary) and have completely silenced them. It is obvious to see the before/after of when the order of silence took place – immediately after Julian Assange made his announcement regarding Seth and his possible link to the Clinton’s emails.
Prior to that announcement, his parents spoke freely and lovingly about Seth; immediately after Assange’s announcement, the Rich’s were silenced and only a Democratic spokesman (Brad Bauman) would speak for them and would do so disparaging any and all people who believed of the Clinton’s involvement (with Bauman calling these people “nutters”).
Take a look at this timeline of Daily Mail articles:
July 11: Joel and Mary talk lovingly about Seth; for example, his mother Mary saying
“Our son may have had a short life but he had a very wonderful life that he smiled and enjoyed.”
July 13: This was the Daily Mail’s headline (emphasis mine):
EXCLUSIVE: DNC staffer’s father tells how his son, 27, who ‘wanted to make a difference’ was on his cell with his girlfriend when he was murdered on a deserted Washington DC street as family attends his funeral
August 4: Seth’s parents continue to call out for help in finding his murder:
Mary Rich has appealed to the public to help catch her son’s killer
Aug 9: Julian Assange announces the reward for information/capture of Seth’s killer.
Aug 10: Immediately after that, Joel and Mary Rich are silenced and are no longer allowed to speak to the press.
They now have to have a spokesman speak for them. This spokeman is Brad Bauman, who is a Democratic operative. This is his current position, per his LinkedIn page:
Managing a crisis communications and full service public relations firm
Providing strategic communications advice to Democratic candidates and labor unions
Brad Bauman has turned the narrative from finding Seth’s killer to that of disparaging the current coverage:
Outrage at Julian Assange for implicating murdered DNC staffer in email leak and offering $20k reward
‘Some are attempting to politicize this horrible tragedy, and in their attempts to do so, are actually causing more harm than good,’ a spokesman for Rich’s parents told Daily Mail Online
Once again, the Clinton’s have silenced people they don’t want to talk. This time it is the parents of murder victim Seth Rich – Joel and Mary Rich.
The following is a picture of Bill Clinton and Imran Awan taken from:
http://ibloga.blogspot.com/2017/07/george-webbs-theory-on-whats-up-with.html
Everyone knows who Investigator George Webb is. He first brought up the topic of the Awan Brothers, and here is his theory:
Webb’s theory is that the Awans (as in “Anthony Weiner’s “trusted team””) provided blackberries to all of these congress-critters. Those blackberries would ‘phone home’ and sync with remote servers/connectedlaptops & store ALL communications (think Weiner’s computer). This is the stuff of blackmail nightmares.
Now, consider the fact these treasonous overpaid “IT” specialists had unlimited access using their top security clearances to access 31 democrats computer systems, particularly access to intel from The Select Intelligence Committee of The House, Homeland Security Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee. These committee members deal with the most sensitive national security measures.
(Seal Team 6 Extortion 17, Yemen Raid, 15 Marines and Navy Corpsman who were killed in Mississippi last week when the KC-130 tanker they were on crashed, all compromised by Awan network?)
Then also consider Obama’s final acts to ensure said access is not interfered with/interrupted:
Jan. 12: Obama expands the NSA’s ability to share data with other agencies
Jan 20:
Obama’s final act as president promises more tech talent in Washington
Muslim Brotherhood infiltration is very very deeply entrenched. Let’s see how this arrest exposes it and hopefully destroys it.
Why did Imran Awan return to the United States from Pakistan? It was confirmed that the Awans liquidated their assets and left for Pakistan back in April-March, and were spotted by multiple people traveling around Pakistan with an armed security detail. Hina Alvi was even stopped at the airport by capitol police with $12,000 cash; but they had to let her board the plane (to Quatar) because they didn’t have a reason to hold her yet. So that leaves the question, WHY? Why come back to the U.S. amid an ongoing investigation? Nobody would be that stupid, especially Imran Awan.
UNLESS….
Imran is going to be the sole fall guy. “They” are setting him up to take the fall for everything. Including “hacking” the DNC, “hacking” the Podesta emails, etc. I have a bad feeling that Imran is going to be pinned as G2, “they” will say he tried to frame Russia, but ultimately works for Pakistan. This is the first step in motion to make this whole “Russia” narrative disappear all while protecting the conductors; and ultimately making Pakistan the patsy. Time will tell, but don’t count on charges going farther than Imran Awan and possibly DWS. A few fingers may have to be sacrificed, but the head remains in tact, and in control.
In conclusion this is an interesting interview with retired Lt.Col. Anthony Shaffer:
Retired Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer said Thursday on Tucker Carlson Tonight that there is now evidence that then-Democratic National Chairwoman and current Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz used Imran Awan for “malevolent activities” and “manipulative things” against Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary race.
Shaffer talked about Awan’s other brothers who worked on Capitol Hill, family members fleeing the country to Pakistan, and that he got paid 3 times the average Congressional I.T. employee.
FOX News reported on bank fraud by one of the brothers, how he double-billed the House of Representatives, and the possibility of “putting sensitive House information on the ‘cloud’ and potentially exposing it to outside sources.”
Imran was arrested at Dulles airport trying to leave the country.
Least but not last: Here is some news that will not surprise us at all.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-28/imran-awan-subscribed-pedo-centric-youtube-channel-exposed-tosh0
YouTuber Tracy Beanz has discovered that the Pakistani DNC IT Staffer arrested Monday night for bank fraud while attempting to flee the country was subscribed to several pedo-centric YouTube channels – including one featured on Comedy Central’s Tosh.0 program.
Imran Awan, the long-time employee and friend of Debbie Wasserman Schultz – currently under investigation by the FBI and DC Capitol Police for a variety of alleged crimes unrelated to his Monday arrest (and whose lawyer oddly mentioned ‘pizzagate’ in a post-arrest statement), subscribed to YouTube channel “Seven Super Girls” – which has over 12 billion views, and features sexualized children performing ‘bits.’
Per The Free Thought Project
“At first glance, the Seven Super Girls YouTube homepage, arguably, looks like one’s favorite porn site. Each under-18 girl has her own subchannel. To the unwitting, however, the site may look like girls dressed like girls, engaging in activities which girls enjoy — going to camp, hanging with friends by the pool, and playing dress up.
But to a pedophile, the site is a smorgasbord of smut, carefully crafted to serve as eye candy for adults and teenagers to indulge in their child-sex fantasies. After we clicked on the entire list of videos and selected to sort by most popular, it became clear to us at The Free Thought Project, the videos are in no way innocent.
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