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By Ari Feldman November 6, 2017

Donna Brazile, the former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, writes that she “feared for her life” after the killing of Seth Rich, the murdered DNC staffer, in June 2016. According to excerpts published by the Washington Post, Brazile began shutting the blinds of her office to thwart snipers and installed a security system in her private home.

Brazile also says she was worried that Russian spies had placed a bug in the DNC executive offices.

One of the central theories about Seth Rich’s killing — which remains unsolved — is that it was carried out on behalf of Hillary Clinton, on the basis that Rich had leaked the DNC’s emails to Wikileaks. Many conspiracy theorists believe that Clinton and former president Bill Clinton are responsible for a string of murders going back to the beginning of their political careers.

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Intelligence analysts agree almost unanimously, however, that Russia hacked the DNC’s servers and provided the emails to Wikileaks, perhaps through an intermediary.

After the excerpts from Brazile’s book were published, conservative media outlets latched onto the story. The Gateway Pundit — a blog that often features conspiracies — published a story called “Why Would Donna Brazile Be in Fear For Her Life if Seth Rich’s Death Was Just a Random Late Night Mugging?”

Roger Stone, a one-time campaign adviser to Donald Trump and a major conspiracist, spoke on the Alex Jones show about the repercussions of Brazile’s statement.

Conservative activists and pundits took to Twitter to trumpet Brazile’s words.

On Saturday, Clinton’s 2016 campaign staff posted open letter to Brazile on Medium accusing Brazile of believing Russian propaganda. The letter was signed by dozens of former Clinton staffers, including Huma Abedin and John Podesta.

It is “troubling and puzzling that she would seemingly buy into false Russian-fueled propaganda, spread by both the Russians and our opponent, about our candidate’s health,” the letter wrote.

On Sunday on ABC, Brazile fired back at the Clinton camp, telling them to “go to hell.”

“For those who are telling me to shut up — they told Hillary [Clinton] that a couple of months ago — you know what I tell them? ‘Go to hell,’” Brazile said. “I’m going to tell my story.”

Contact Ari Feldman at feldman@forward.com or on Twitter @aefeldman.

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