Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Join the 2% of readers!SUPPORT OUR WORK!
Fast Forward

Newt Gingrich Spews Conspiracy Theories About Seth Rich Murder

Newt Gingrich parroted far right wing conspiracy theories about the unsolved murder of Democratic staffer Seth Rich — as allies of President Trump sought to use the puzzling case to shift attention from the burgeoning investigation of potential ties to Russia.

Without offering any evidence, the GOP mouthpiece told Fox News that Rich was “assassinated” after he became disillusioned with the Democrats and sent thousands of emails to Wikileaks.

“This young man … was assassinated at 4 in the morning, having given WikiLeaks something like 53,000 emails and 17,000 attachments,” Gingrich said. “Nobody’s investigating that, and what does that tell you about what’s going on?”

Gingrich’s broadside appears to be part of a wider GOP campaign to use the Rich murder to suggest that Trump’s campaign was in no way responsible for the Russian hack of the Democratic National Committee.

Special counsel Robert Mueller is now investigating whether Trump or any of his associates colluded with the Russians or obstructed other probes into those allegations.

“(Rich) was disgusted by the corruption of the Democratic National Committee,” Gingrich said. “He’s been killed, and apparently nothing serious has been done to investigative his murder.”

Rich’s parents have denounced the conspiracy theories surrounding his murder near his Washington D.C. home last July.

Are you one of our 2%?

Did you know that only 2% of Forward readers donate to support our nonprofit newsroom? That 2% make it possible for millions to read the Forward without a paywall or subscription — removing any barriers to the full and fair Jewish story.

But while the Forward is free to read, it isn’t free to produce. Big stories — like deep dives into the antisemitism data, political scoops or reporting trips to college campuses  —  take months of research and fact-checking. All while we keep you informed of what you need to know each day.

Don’t just read the Forward — invest in it. Support our work today!

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Forward Publisher & CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.