Rod Wheeler Retracts Seth Rich Murder Claim
Story on DNC staffer's murder dominated conservative media -- hours later it fell apart
So, um, was the lie earlier or now, I can't keep up...
Wheeler, who was under contract with the family of Seth Rich, a Democratic National Committee staffer who was fatally shot in July, told WTTG-TV evidence existed that proved Rich had been in contact with Wikileaks before his death.
snip
Fox News on Tuesday morning joined in the chorus, publishing a lead story on its website about the "DC MURDER MYSTERY." The story said Wheeler had made the claim Wikileaks had been in contact with Rich. It added that a federal investigator, who it said had spoken on the condition of anonymity, corroborated it.
But Tuesday afternoon, Wheeler told CNN he had no evidence to suggest Rich had contacted Wikileaks before his death.
Wheeler instead said he only learned about the possible existence of such evidence through the reporter he spoke to for the FoxNews.com story. He explained that the comments he made to WTTG-TV were intended to simply preview Fox News' Tuesday story. The WTTG-TV news director did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
This story does not comport with the videos posted earlier today and yesterday.
Comments
Maybe
Maybe someone made Wheeler an offer he couldn't refuse.
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
@Centaurea
What I was thinking... kinda looks possible, don't it?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
The thought occurred to me today
that Wikileaks would have a record of these emails. But for Assange to step forward with them, or corroborate their existence, would make him a material witness. Which would exert enormous pressure on Ecuador to extradite or expell him for a murder investigation. Who do tptb want more?
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
@earthling1
Good point - one which may very likely have occurred to The Dark Side.
Actually, NSA and any of 16 other (public/private) agencies spying on the public probably have them as well, but national security doesn't seem to actually matter unless it can be used against a whistle-blower revealing crimes among public officials, election-rigging political parties, or of the NSA and any of 16 other (public/private) agencies spying on the public.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Don't go
into a half assed situation unless you have protection.
Screams bullshit.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
@Centaurea That's a distinct
'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member
Could very well be — given cases like the Barry Jennings mystery
https://duckduckgo.com/?q="dylan+avery"+"private+investigator"+barry+jennings&t=ffsb&ia=web
Much ado
about likely nothing.
Hullabaloo about an unproven subject. While I have very little doubt about the nefarious ways and means of those few who cause harm, this was nothing but a false flag........for now.
Shit happens to good people also.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
that may be true, but here's my question:
how many people are slain annually in "botched" robberies in Washington D.C.?.
Bayesian statistical analysis allows us to estimate the likelihood of this being what the Metropolitan DC police are claiming it is. It appears that on average these days, DC has about 150 homicides per year. We could troll through the statistics to eliminate all of the things we are pretty confident this was not; however, technically, we should not eliminate those things, but rather attach a prior probability to them. For example, if 50% of all homicides are drug-related, we should assume, a priori that there's a 50% chance that this one was as well. BUT: We might want to adjust that for various other known or easily estimated factors, such as "How many victims of drug-related homicides are white professionals?"
The bottom line is that if we analyze homicides over the last 5 years in DC, we should be able to attach a likelihood to the event of a young white male professional being slain in a botched robbery. We might, for example, discover that not a single one of the 700+ murders (I haven't tried to look up the stat) in DC over that interval corresponded to the proffered scenario. We might even discover that murders in DC of young white male professionals are extremely rare, relative to the overall murder rate. If so, the prior probability of an event like "botched robbery" would drift down to a rather low number, and the prior probability of other explanations would correspondingly rise.
As it happens, I'm not an investigative journalist OR a professional statistician, so I'm in no position to offer actual estimates -- but somebody out there (as in: somebody at the DC Metropolitan police) certainly has both the data and the skills, but chooses not to share the analysis with us.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Of course, UR, your suggestions are entirely too sensible
Bayesian statistical analysis.
First: Explain that in under one hundred words.
You can analyze to your hearts content. The heart does not care.
You will never reach those who don't understand your premise.
Peace
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
@Pricknick I think most people
Proving it scientifically or legally is another matter, but if you're bringing up the heart, or what people believe--we have little to worry about there; most people who know about this shit already believe that someone connected with the Clintons murdered him.
The reason is that the Clintons have behaved too badly for too long, and there are too often dead bodies and other unsavory things that pop up in their environs; it's not something anybody would use for proof, but when ordinary little person homo sapiens sees that sort of thing happening, they tend not to wait for proof. That's both a sad thing and a useful one; sad, because often that leads to people being unjustly condemned in people's hearts and perceptions without proof; useful, because smoke often does indicate fire, and the little guy usually wants to steer away from both. That's why the little guy often forms his opinion without waiting for proof--because it's safer to do so.
I usually don't invoke evolution, but I'd say there might be an adaptive value to being the monkey that doesn't wait for proof but runs away when he sees smoke.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Wheeler comes off as sketchy
according to this article about Seth
He belongs to a mega Christian church that is against equal rights for LBGT, so I think we need to wait for a more reliable source.
http://www.inquisitr.com/4223039/family-of-seth-rich-denounces-rod-wheel...
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Two journalistic memes are involved here
The second rule is evaluate the source. This is not as reliable as rule one. Many sources are biased but some stories are not affected by that bias. The Seth Rich case is not about LGTB, it is about political murder. Granted the story of the Pink Pistol gang is utter nonsense, a fact which DOES seriously degrade Wheeler's credibility.
That Lesbian story turned
out to be true. We spent the better part of a year here battling the pink pistelero wielding Konichiwa bitches. Or not.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Personally, I find Assange's comments
and Wikileak's proffered reward sufficient without Wheeler.
my point too
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Hold On...
All Wheeler 'retracted' was a statement misattributed to him by the station that he had evidence Rich had been in touch with wikileaks. He says he found out about that from the Fox reporter.
It's worth noting the station has stated it has independent verification of the wikileaks claim from an anonymous 'Federal Investigator'.
It's also worth noting that Wheeler hasn't retracted any of his other statements regarding the laptop custody issue nor the allegations of a cover up by police.
So no, he did not 'retract the Seth Rich murder claim'. He simply cleared up a missatribution of a statement made by different source.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
Thanks.
I was hoping someone would point that out.
@Not Henry Kissinger Standard doubt creation:
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Why was he walking around at 4 am
In the morning? Good time to get robbed and shot if you ask me.
He wasn't robbed.
And he was a DNC insider. And he was shot.
@Song of the lark Interesting that you
Day after day, you think a mugger would choose to hunt around for a victim during the time of day that has least chance they will be able to actually find anybody to rob?
But, as Linda pointed out, in this case, though laden with wallet, cash, phone, keys, watch and gold necklace...not a thing was stolen. Though there is that pesky email of someone wanting to make an example of their leaker...that stands in writing. Think this might be a suitable example to deter further DNC leaks? Seems a good question that would be investigated in a murder of the likely leaker, where nothing was stolen and no other motive presents.
Time gap.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
His phone would likely reveal that
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
He was talking on the phone with his girlfriend when he was shot
His girlfriend presumably heard the murder occur. Who knows, maybe she also got an unrefusable offer. On the other hand a drunk person talking on the phone at 4:20 am, in a gentrifying neighborhood, would get the attention of anybody else who happens to be lurking.
Beware the bullshit factories.
@Song of the lark @Timmethy2.0 Yeah, but that
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
If it was a hit, it was very well done
I'm getting most of my info from the only article I've really read about it, but this article also points out that the bullets came from a cheap gun, not a professional hit person's gun, so that would have been a really well done detail if it was a hit.
edit: The part about the bullets coming from a cheap gun is no longer in the article, although I could have read that somewhere else and attributed it falsely to the above referenced article.
Beware the bullshit factories.
@Timmethy2.0 Well, if it was
Hard to make an example of somebody if people believe he really was shot because somebody wanted to lift his wallet.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal
Precisely my thinking. We already have prime examples of extreme 'messages' being sent by people at that level; we know they like extreme 'messages' and hold no compunction.
Al-Awlaki's teenage son serves as an example. No relevance or cause, his father already dead a week or so before, but kill him anyway. "I'll kill you, and your whole family!" "It's worth it!"
Besides, they are never held accountable and there are never consequences, and the blah, blah spiral of nonsense that ensues, ebbs sense away into memory holes and vast echo chambers of sycophants continue their rehearsed chants, where any deviation is brushed away as crazy talk.
@Song of the lark
Going by what I've read, apparently he was walking home from a local bar, through a nice, low-crime neighborhood.
Edit: haven't read much, or was too tired to recall anything about that time gap mentioned down here.
Great point made about the phone recording locations, which would be useful for once, if anyone, such as the police or FBI, appeared to be using/publicizing it.
In an article I vaguely recall reading through half-closed lids last night, there was a reference to a camera capturing two shadowy figures apparently following Seth just before he was shot. And I'll bet that someone will be discussing that just down from here.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
that video
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
@gulfgal98
Thanks!
And, it figures. The more I hear about this, the more density my suspicions develop. Going to need a wheelbarrow pretty soon...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
@Song of the lark It would have been a good
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I think the closest
we will ever come to knowing who leaked the DNC emails to Wikileaks is in Assange's statement posted below. He will never identify the source. This is as close as it comes to understanding what happened, and for me it's definitely good enough. No one else has credibility on this issue, and Assange has never lied to us, whereas the CIA and our intelligence community do so routinely with horrific consequences. Whistleblowing is the exposing of government wrong-doing. Nothing exposed by Manning, Snowden, or Assange has hurt national security. All of it has exposed crimes by government agencies and their contractors. Therein lies the motive to lie.
@Linda Wood
Really, I don't see how Julian could have put it more clearly without directly saying by name that the murder victim was the leaker which, as has been pointed out, might get Assange called into court and out where Hillary's question about 'why can't we couldn't just drone him?' might be more easily enacted - and there may be concerns about the leaker's family being placed at risk as well. It certainly appears quite possible that they're under threat.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
The stink of scandal will never leave Clinton Town
If I were an investor and they were a business, I'd take one look at their history and run the other way. Do not pour more money down their scandal hole, don't prop up a c-suite that most customers can't even relate to anymore.
Clinton dynasty PR is failing. Make it so.
https://issuu.com/edwardbernays/docs/resistance_and_persuasion
Peace
P.S. Thank you MsGrin! Sorry I forgot to say thanks for writing the essays, bringing the updates here to C99. I probably would not be following along otherwise. thx
@eyo
Must also add my thanks here to MsGrin!
I so often get sidetracked and forget to mention my appreciation for the informative and interesting essays posted here, in part, I suppose, because the general quality is so high that one just unconsciously assumes that the authors take that appreciation as a given.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Dan Rather and George W's National Guard record..
To this day, many people believe Rather's story was weak or non existent. It was not.
A false copy of accurate information regarding W's lackluster and truncated Guard service was created and then planted in the path of Rather's investigation. When Rather subsequently included that document in his report, it was challenged and revealed to be a "fake". In the public eye Rather's entire report was deemed "fake", Rather lost his job and the entire National Guard story was swept into the dustbin.
How quickly we forget how simple and effective a well placed bit of disinformation inoculates the public from seeing the truth and the man (or woman) behind the curtain.
IT'S A CONSPIRACY THEORY!!!!
“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024
^^^ This ^^^
@ovals49 It's encouraging how many
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Conspiracies happen. Just ask the late Abe Lincoln.
In these days when government officials testify to Congress under oath with the "least untruthful" lies, accepting at face value everything the government says is nucking futs. Period. (Some theories are nucking futs, too, though.) https://caucus99percent.com/content/theory-conspiracy-theory-or-healthy-...
BTW, the big media authority on Trump and Comey lately? Mr. Least Untruthful Testimony to Congress himself, Clapper.
The investigator was unequivocal in what he said.
Assange has inferred it several times. I don't believe the Clintons or the media. I certainly find it suspicious that the family has a DNC crisis mouthpiece speaking for it.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Predicted it yesterday.
Continuing to fight this one will turn into a meat grinder.
The MSM has decided it's a conspiracy theory and will defend Clinton to the death.
I just find it funny that the story about "The Story" has gotten far more attention than the actual story.
Original topic no longer being discussed, instead it's all about who told who and who said what.
MSM mission accomplished.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGNjxTnU9wA]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
@detroitmechworks Logically, that means
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Not unless you have a microphone as big as theirs...
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
@detroitmechworks that can be worth
We need a network of small, local media that are solidly progressive.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Like clockwork.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Please note the bullshit framing.
There is zero question that Rich was murdered. The incontrovertible evidence of his murder is his dead body with a fatal bullet wound that was not self-inflicted. So, no one needs to-- or should--retract, withdraw or contradict a claim that Rich was murdered. He was.
The only questions are who murdered him near his home at 4:30 am without taking his wallet, watch, phone, or anything else (that we know of) and why. As to those questions, there may or may not be clues or circumstantial evidence, but we know of no incontrovertible evidence.
So, did Wikileaks offer up a reward or not?
All this talk of Assange inferring Rich was a source. True or not?
I can fully understand the right winger putting up $130,000. But I don't understand the DC police offering $25,000. Thats a lot of taxpayer money for a murder/botched robbery that then languishes in a cold case file/under some rug.
Doesn't pass the smell test.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Wikileaks
$20,000 reward in this case. That is in addition to the $25,000 by the DC police and $105,000 by the guy who hired Wheeler on behalf of the Rich family. So the total reward money is $150,000.
Wikileaks put up aDo I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
@gulfgal98
I'm kinda wondering about this being bait, potentially in at least some cases. A promise of anonymity to any witnesses who makes contact, an arranged meeting in some dark alley away from prying eyes and - no more witness.
The one guy, the ex-homicude detective, is saying to any witnesses, tell either me or the police; the right-wing guy, I don't recall saying anything about the police.
But $130,000 from a right-wing guy for any witness to the year-old murder of a DNC employee from a Dem family being surrounded by Dem operatives, with the purported hostility between two quietly behind-the-scenes collaborating halves of the corporate Two-Faced Trade-Off party?
Interesting...
I wonder if any other murders have not been investigated yet in that area... (reads too many detective novels...)
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
@Ellen North I've wondered
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Wait - are you sure about this part?
Some of the earlier reports that I read suggested that Wheeler was being paid by a Republican lobbyist Jack Burkman. I don't think that is necessarily true. Burkman has just kicked in $100,000 to the reward fund to anybody that has a tip that would lead to the killer's conviction.
Newsweek - September 16, 2016 - Seth Rich’s Death: Why a GOP Lobbyist Will Pay $100,000 To Learn Who Killed the DNC Staffer
Now I know that people are going to laugh at the next source, but what I caught was just something posted in passing - not really related to the main story.
Wordnet Daily - May 17, 2017 - Private eye: DNC poking nose into Seth Rich murder
Obviously March of this year, as Seth Rich was still alive last March (of 2016)
Now go look at this Gofundme account set up by Seth's brother, Aaron. It was created on March 19, 2017.
Seems like that Gofundme Account is the "third party" that is paying for Wheeler's services.
@LoneStarMike
Has anyone/everyone seen this (best read in full at source, if at all possible) yet?
https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/propagandists-have-been-using-dishone...
Caitlin Johnstone might be one of the best things we have going for us...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
For Truth in Headlining ...
it should read "Rod Wheeler Retracts Seth Rich
Murder ClaimWikiLeaks Attribution".This is one of the rare instances in which using a word
incorrectly actually causes confusion. People have been using "infer," when I believe they mean "imply."
First, we do not know for certain that Assange knows who gave wikileaks the emails. He probably does, but he has not said that. If Assange knows who gave wikileaks the DNC emails, Assange has no need to infer anything about the identity of the leaker. He may or may not be implying something about that, but, AFAIK, he is not inferring a thing.
Some of us have been inferring things from the facts that (1) Assange did put up a reward for info about Rich's death and (2) Assange did re-tweet about Wheeler's story. Neither of those things, however, automatically mean that Rich was the leaker of the DNC emails. It could mean nothing more than Assange--or someone who may have put up the cash for the reward using Assange as a front man--really, really wants to know more about Rich's death. Or, it could mean that Assange, who can't identify a source, even a dead source, is trying to tell us something in the only way he can. We just don't know, one way or the other.
I have less than zero objection to theorizing. However, I think it is very important to know the difference between our own assumptions, which may or may not be correct, and evidence that can mean only one thing and lead to only one conclusion.
And, in this particular instance, it happens also to be less confusing to know the difference between infer and imply. If it weren't for the potential for clouding the issues, I would not have posted about it at all. (FWIW, I personally don't have a great opinion of people who correct grammar, spelling or usage publicly just for the sake of correcting.)
I have had concerns about
whether or not Assange actually knows the identity of any particular leaker to Wikileaks. But the fact that his associate has publicly said the following is interesting:
A couple of things are interesting to me: first, the statement that the source had legal access to the information; and second, that he personally flew to Washington, D.C., to meet one of the DNC leakers, and that neither of the leaks came from the Russians.
The legal access part could mean that at least one of the leakers was someone in law enforcement acting under a warrant. The second part, that there is more than one leaker, may mean that the DNC is or was infiltrated by people acting to sabotage the Democratic Party.
In any case, Seth Rich could have been investigating those possibilities, or he may have been working with the FBI in some way. This part of the same article also raises a big question about the FBI and this case:
Governments don’t hesitate to suppress “inconvenient” evidence
Consider two examples well-known in the Netherlands.
People take it for granted that both Dutch and Israeli governments have been lying about El Al flight 1862 (the Biljmermeer airplane crash) all along, from start to finish.
People also assume — to the point that reference to the “filmrolletje” is a standing joke — that the government is lying about the supposed destruction of a certain roll of film in 1995. The official story is that it was ruined beyond recovery in a botched attempt to develop it in a government darkroom using the wrong chemicals.
According to the Dutch soldier who took the photos — and turned the film over to the proper authorities, in hindsight a mistake fatal to the cause of truth — the film roll contained incontrovertible proof of the Serb massacre of civilians after the fall of Srebrenica. Making the existence of the photos even more inconvenient was the possibility that they also would have proved complicity on the part of the Dutch UN peacekeepers.
Although the Dutch Wikipedia article about the massacre contains a whole section about the allegedly ruined film roll, the English Wikipedia article lacks this section.