Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theorist Apologizes To Family Of Seth Rich
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Ari Feldman March 5, 2019
A pro-Trump conspiracy theorist who had amplified the conspiracy theories around the murder of Seth Rich, the Jewish Democratic National Committee staffer, apologized to Rich’s family, RollingStone.com reported.
On Monday, the website InfoWars.com, which is run by the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, retracted a column by one of its “correspondents,” Jeremy Corsi, and issued a formal apology to Rich’s family. Corsi’s column had claimed that Rich and his brother had helped leak emails from the DNC to Wikileaks, and was subsequently murdered by people loyal to Hillary Clinton.
The apology states that Corsi’s “allegations were not based upon any independent factual knowledge regarding Seth or Aaron Rich.” The article retracted was meant to defend pro-Trump operative Roger Stone against evidence that he knew in advance that Wikileaks had obtained the DNC emails.
The Rich family has successfully sued news organizations for defamation following their publication of conspiracy theories about Rich’s murder. The family sued Fox News in March 2018, and sued the Washington Times, the outlet that originally published the statement upon which Corsi’s conspiracy article was based. (The Times’ retracted that article in September 2018.)
In a statement, Aaron Rich said, “I acknowledge the apology of Dr. Jerome Corsi for his false accusations about me, my late brother and my family, and I look forward to my day in court against others who have made similar false statements.”
Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aefeldman
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
