The parents of slain DNC staffer Seth Rich, who are suing Fox News for its baseless and cruel scapegoating of their son for the sake of exonerating Russia’s leak to Wikileaks, discussed some disturbing details of their case on Good Morning America today.
Joel and Mary Rich have filed a federal lawsuit against Fox News over its false reporting about their son. Today, the Riches told ABC News’ Tom Llamas that Fox gained the family’s trust, only to use that trust to baselessly accuse Seth Rich of having been the leaker of embarrassing DNC emails to Wikileaks. Even though U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded the Russians did it.
Transcript excerpt below via Media Matters, with my emphases:
LLAMAS: Seth’s parents say there was never any evidence connecting their son to WikiLeaks.
MARY RICH: His computer didn’t have anything on it. He would never have done it.
LLAMAS:But they say that didn’t stop Fox News. In their lawsuit, the Riches claim a Fox investigative reporter and a Republican donor with ties to the network lied to the family to win their trust, promising to help solve their son’s murder, when actually, according to the lawsuit, they were planning to tie Seth to the DNC hack, painting their son as a criminal and a traitor to the United States. The story ran prominently on Fox News, including on Sean Hannity’s show.
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Roughly a week later, Fox retracting the story.
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MARY RICH: They never called us to check any facts. They took a rumor and ran with it.
LLAMAS: The Rich family says their son’s reputation is forever tarnished. They now hope to find justice in court.
After Llamas’ report, ABC’s Chief Legal Analyst Dan Abrams advised that the Riches’ lawsuit is “a tough case” to win.
But regardless of the legalities, Fox has some ‘splaining to do. Paul Farhi lays it out nicely:
Fox retracted the story about Rich six days after posting it on FoxNews.com but hasn’t said whether it was because the reporting was inaccurate — merely acknowledging that the story didn’t meet its “editorial standards.” The network also never issued an apology nor has it divulged whether it has disciplined any of the people involved in producing it or promoting it. That includes its “Fox & Friends” morning program and prime-time host Sean Hannity, who spent a week discussing it. The network promised to conduct an investigation last year but has not released any findings.
Whatever the legal outcome, Fox owes the family and the rest of us answers to all those questions. And a public apology.
Watch the Riches discuss how Fox compounded the family’s tragedy for the sake of Trump-friendly, fake news below, from ABC’s March 15, 2018 Good Morning America.
EXCLUSIVE: Parents of slain DNC staffer Seth Rich speak out about their lawsuit against Fox News over bogus story about their son. @TomLlamasABC has the story pic.twitter.com/HshSmyQ4C5
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 15, 2018