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[chadskin]

The Fox News Channel and a wealthy supporter of President Trump worked in concert under the watchful eye of the White House to concoct a story about the murder of a young Democratic National Committee aide, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The explosive claim is part of the lawsuit filed against Fox News by Rod Wheeler, a longtime paid commentator for the news network. The suit was obtained exclusively by NPR.

Wheeler alleges Fox News and the Trump supporter intended to deflect public attention from growing concern about the administration's ties to the Russian government. His suit charges that a Fox News reporter created quotations out of thin air and attributed them to him to propel her story.

The lawsuit focuses particular attention on the role of the Trump supporter, Ed Butowsky, in weaving the story. He is a wealthy Dallas investor and unpaid Fox commentator on financial matters, who has emerged as a reliable Republican surrogate in recent years. Butowsky offered to pay for Wheeler to investigate the death of the DNC aide, Seth Rich, on behalf of his grieving parents in Omaha.

On April 20, a month before the story ran, Butowsky and Wheeler — the investor and the investigator — met at the White House with then Press Secretary Sean Spicer to brief him on what they were uncovering.

The first page of the lawsuit quotes a voicemail and text from Butowsky boasting that President Trump himself had reviewed drafts of the Fox News story just before it went to air and was published.

Spicer now tells NPR that he took the meeting as a favor to Butowsky, a reliable Republican voice. Spicer says he was unaware of any contact involving the president. Butowsky now tells NPR he was kidding about Trump's involvement.

"Rod Wheeler unfortunately was used as a pawn by Ed Butowsky, Fox News and the Trump administration to try and steer away the attention that was being given about the Russian hacking of the DNC e-mails," said Douglas Wigdor, Wheeler's lawyer.

Background:

On May 16, the Fox News Channel broke what it called a bombshell story about an unsolved murder case: the fatal July 2016 shooting of 27-year-old Democratic Party staffer Seth Rich.

Fox News' story, which took flight online and ran in segments across major shows, breathed fresh life into the rumors. Fox reported that the leaks came from inside the party, and not from hackers linked to Russia — despite the conclusions of the nation's most senior intelligence officials. The network suggested Democrats might have been connected to Rich's death and that a cover-up had thwarted the official investigation.

More here: http://www.npr.org/2017/08/01/54078...s-and-trump-supporter-created-fake-news-story

Full complaint by Wheeler: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3904057-Wheeler-Filed-Complaint.html

 

[Skinny Pete]

Wow. Def makes sense considering FOX news is basically state run tv at this point.

 

[RPGCrazied]

Can this bring Hannity down already? He was the main one spouting out this crap on his show.

 

[Wilsongt]

When I saw "wealthy supporter" I immediately thought Robert and Rebecca Mercer.

I see that the wealthy supporter took Trump's advice and called Sean.

 

[Mask]

Wonder how long it'll be before trump himself starts bleating about this on twitter and inadvertently confirms it?

 

[Skinny Pete]

Can this bring Hannity down already? He was the main one spouting out this crap on his show.

We could only be so lucky. That man is a disgrace.

 

[Sephzilla]

This is going to be another long week for Trump, isn't it? lol

 

[Palette Swap]

So there was a conspiracy to prop up a conspiracy theory?
inception.gif

 

[TheCochese]

I was expecting something completely different from the thread title.

 

[HeisenbergLannister]

It's like a goddamn soap opera.

 

[Robdraggoo]

Oh, based on the title I thought the lawsuit was going after Obama's Whitehouse.

Any way. Take these fuckers to court and show all the trolls that thier bullshit conspiracy theories have consequences

 

[Baraka in the White House]

Hannity has pretty much turtled up in regards to this story now, though he was giddy as fuck to "report" on it for about a week there.

 

[PnCIa]

The_Donald and fox are working in perfect concert on this. T_D still has threads about this.

 

[JonnyDBrit]

So... Fox shot themselves in the foot by hiring someone who actually had a shred of decency?

 

[Saganator]

It's like everything the_donald freaks out about turns out to be total BS (which we already knew), but it's fun to see the proof. They'll just say this is fake news, though.

 

[Aurongel]

It actually explains why Fox was internally pushing this story so hard despite their journalism staff being upset over it. There were multiple stories around this about how the Seth Rich conspiracies were causing a lot of turmoil within their organization.

 

[BoogieWoogie]

This is fucking disgusting.

 

[Ether_Snake]

If the killer(s) was found maybe this would go away. Not surprised a conspiracy theory would be made out of this since no one has been arrested and the killing seemed random. This is going to remain something believed by people on both sides for a long time even with this news.

 

[Shadybiz]

Heard this on NPR this morning. This is just incredible.

 

[jstripes]

This is fucking disgusting.

This is Fox News.

They're the propaganda arm of the Republican party. This is not surprising at all.

 

[GrizzleBoy]

When ertain details about the russia investigation came to light this year, T_D, Fox News and its contributors literally teamed up to all of a sudden try to make Seth Rich the story instead.

To the point where the family had to tell Hannity to stop using Seth as their political tool and to stop pushing the conspiracy.

 

[Steejee]

I hope Fox gets taken to task *hard* over this.

 

[Deaf Spacker]

It's only Tuesday, poor Donald.

 

[kami_sama]

Get fucked, FOX.

 

[sturgboski]

Isn't Rod Wheeler the guy who got caught being full of shit on this and then after being exposed went back on Hannity and didn't downplay? Isn't he also the guy who made up the roving lesbian gang that kidnaps young girls and turns them lesbian and carry all pink guns that got OReilly in trouble?

I hate to be the nervous guy here but how credible is this guy and the lawsuit actually doing anything?

 

[JonnyDBrit]

Isn't Rod Wheeler the guy who got caught being full of shit on this and then after being exposed went back on Hannity and didn't downplay? Isn't he also the guy who made up the roving lesbian gang that kidnaps you girls and turns them lesbian and carry all pink guns that got OReilly in trouble?

I hate to be the nervous guy here but how credible is this guy and the lawsuit actually doing anything?

...welp, scratch 'shred of decency' as I suspected, amend to 'concerns about his career'.

 

[Horns]

Could you imagine the backlash if the black president colluded with the media to create a fake story? The sad thing is little will come of this. This is what the right wing media has done for years. The Planned Parenthood videos were shared with Congress weeks before the PR campaign in order to gain support. Members of Congress coordinated with Fox on Benghazi to make it seem much worse then it was. They made wild claims about Clinton and Obama on TV, leaked info to build hype, but the congressional reports lacked these claims. The sad bunch who believed it will not bat an eye if this is all true.

 

[TS-08]

Isn't Rod Wheeler the guy who got caught being full of shit on this and then after being exposed went back on Hannity and didn't downplay? Isn't he also the guy who made up the roving lesbian gang that kidnaps you girls and turns them lesbian and carry all pink guns that got OReilly in trouble?

I hate to be the nervous guy here but how credible is this guy and the lawsuit actually doing anything?

Parts of the allegations have already been corroborated by Spicer and Butowsky. There are apparently lots of texts and voice recordings.

Edit - that said, I'm not confident even all of that will mean this story makes a big impact.

 

[eshwaaz]

Isn't Rod Wheeler the guy who got caught being full of shit on this and then after being exposed went back on Hannity and didn't downplay? Isn't he also the guy who made up the roving lesbian gang that kidnaps you girls and turns them lesbian and carry all pink guns that got OReilly in trouble?

I hate to be the nervous guy here but how credible is this guy and the lawsuit actually doing anything?

A reasonable concern, but the fact that Butowsky claims that he "was kidding" about Trump's direct involvement confirms that a meeting took place at the very least.

 

[Barzul]

I wonder if Sean Hannity still believe's Seth Rich's murder was a DNC conspiracy?

 

[Gattsu25]

If the killer(s) was found maybe this would go away. Not surprised a conspiracy theory would be made out of this since no one has been arrested and the killing seemed random. This is going to remain something believed by people on both sides for a long time even with this news.

That wouldn't convince anyone that believed this conspiracy theory. These are the same people that thought that a pizzaria that DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A BASEMENT was running a child sex ring in it's nonexistent basement.

 

[Condom]

No.1 TV channel has news stories directly approved by the president. Yeah.

 

[Dubbedinenglish]

I'm sure this is only the tip of the iceberg.

 

[cubicle47b]

The hits just keep on coming. Jesus.

 

[gaugebozo]

A reasonable concern, but the fact that Butowsky claims that he "was kidding" about Trump's direct involvement confirms that a meeting took place at the very least.

It's pretty amazing that's his response. He could get out of it if he said he was just trying to be a bigshot. Instead he goes with the obvious lie.

 

[theclosetfan]

I knew this whole Seth Rich conspiracy story was rotten from the beginning. The way it was pushed by Fox and Hannity *just* as the Comey firing news hit was too blatant.

It's unbelievable the lengths these people will go to.

 

[SomTervo]

The first page of the lawsuit quotes a voicemail and text from Butowsky boasting that President Trump himself had reviewed drafts of the Fox News story just before it went to air and was published.

This is honestly the most astounding year in politics, ever, anywhere

 

[Wolfgunblood Garopa]

Conservatism is one big collective of corruption and propaganda- from the policy makers to the think tanks to the talking heads and reporters. This is the vast right wing conspiracy that Clinton was referring to.

 

[chadskin]

Here's the full 33-page lawsuit: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3904057-Wheeler-Filed-Complaint.html

 

[benicillin]

Wow wow wow.

 

[Euphoria14]

Here's the full 33-page lawsuit: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3904057-Wheeler-Filed-Complaint.html

Wow, they have the text in there lol.

 

[jiiikoo]

Hahah. The hits keep on coming. This is shaping up to be a fun week.

 

[Gattsu25]

Wow, they have the text in there lol.

Yup. That was my immediate reaction.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

This is honestly some of the most disappointing news of the entire presidency. It's one thing to think Fox is deliberately misleading people based on incompetence or bias, it's another thing entirely to know they are dipping into the Breitbart/InfoWars pool of just being state news for Trump/Bannon.

 

[Dr.Acula]

Could Donald "Obama was born in Kenya," J. "Ted Cruz's dad killed Kenney" Trump have been involved in a conspiracy theory aimed at undermining his rivals?

mildshock.jiff

edit: I know this story is about Fox doing it, but c'mon, it's Trump all the way down.

 

[DonShula]

The first page of the lawsuit quotes a voicemail and text from Butowsky boasting that President Trump himself had reviewed drafts of the Fox News story just before it went to air and was published.

As much as I'd love to read this as "Trump reviewed and approved of drafts," I don't think that's what's being alleged.

He (OK, his staff) probably reads a lot of stuff before it's published.

Edit: I just read the text in the lawsuit and have changed my mind. What I said didn't happen is EXACTLY what happened. He never fails to go lower than you expected.

 

[commish]

I know I've been saying this all along, but how on earth can Trump last 4 years with so much nonsense going on? Not only is he involved in so much dumb shit, but he involves himself with dumb people.

As much as I'd love to read this as "Trump reviewed and approved of drafts," I don't think that's what's being alleged.

He (OK, his staff) probably reads a lot of stuff before it's published.

Is that really the case? News folks send articles to the White House before publishing? I can't imagine that actually happens.

 

[theclosetfan]

Can this be tied into an obstruction of justice charge? Keep in mind that this story came out in coordination with the Comey firing. The primary objective was to paint Seth Rich as the DNC source, not the Russians.

 

[DonShula]

I know I've been saying this all along, but how on earth can Trump last 4 years with so much nonsense going on? Not only is he involved in so much dumb shit, but he involves himself with dumb people.



Is that really the case? News folks send articles to the White House before publishing? I can't imagine that actually happens.

I expect they review a lot of stuff when asked for comment. Of course on this article, there was zero reason to ask for comment. But it appears Trump was pushing for this one regardless.

 

[abundant]

I know I've been saying this all along, but how on earth can Trump last 4 years with so much nonsense going on? Not only is he involved in so much dumb shit, but he involves himself with dumb people.

This is why I wouldn't be shocked if Trump didn't run for a second term in 2020.