Report: Murdered DNC Staffer Had Contact With WikiLeaks

The anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks is fairly aggressive about defending itself from “fake news” reporting by the liberal mainstream media.

So when FOX affiliate WTTG-TV broke the news that murdered Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich had been in contact with the organization, it posted a link to the article on its Twitter page, without comment. And while the liberal mainstream media effectively ignores the shocking development, the story was dominating social media on Tuesday.

The report states:

Rod Wheeler, a private investigator hired by the Rich family, suggests there is tangible evidence on Rich’s laptop that confirms he was communicating with WikiLeaks prior to his death.

Now, questions have been raised on why D.C. police, the lead agency on this murder investigation for the past 10 months, have insisted this was a robbery gone bad when there appears to be no evidence to suggest that.

Wheeler, a former D.C. police homicide detective, is running a parallel investigation into Rich’s murder. He said he believes there is a cover-up and the police department has been told to back down from the investigation.

“The police department nor the FBI have been forthcoming,” said Wheeler. “They haven’t been cooperating at all. I believe that the answer to solving his death lies on that computer, which I believe is either at the police department or either at the FBI. I have been told both.”

When we asked Wheeler if his sources have told him there is information that links Rich to Wikileaks, he said, “Absolutely. Yeah. That’s confirmed.”

Wheeler also told us, “I have a source inside the police department that has looked at me straight in the eye and said, ‘Rod, we were told to stand down on this case and I can’t share any information with you.’ Now, that is highly unusual for a murder investigation, especially from a police department. Again, I don’t think it comes from the chief’s office, but I do believe there is a correlation between the mayor’s office and the DNC and that is the information that will come out [Tuesday].”

The family has stated that the private investigator was being paid for “by a third party,” and said he was not authorized to speak with the media. Click here to read the entire report.

WikiLeaks offered a reward for information related to Rich’s death, but has been reluctant to say anything that would confirm whether or not the staffer had been its source for the controversial “Podesta Emails” dossier.

FOX News took the story even further, reporting:

An FBI forensic report of Rich’s computer—generated within 96 hours after Rich’s murder—showed he made contact with WikiLeaks through Gavin MacFadyen, a now-deceased American investigative reporter, documentary filmmaker, and director of WikiLeaks who was living in London at the time, the federal source told Fox News.

“I have seen and read the emails between Seth Rich and WikiLeaks,” the federal investigator told Fox News, confirming the MacFadyen connection. He said the emails are in possession of the FBI, while the stalled case is in the hands of the Washington Police Department.

The revelation is consistent with the findings of Wheeler, whose private investigation firm was hired by a third party on behalf of Rich’s family to probe the case.

According to the FOX News report, Rich sent 44,053 DNC emails and 17,761 attachments spanning from January 2015 through late May 2016 to MacFadyen. Assange’s mentor and fellow co-founder of WikiLeaks died of lung cancer on Oct. 22.

Click here for that full report.

In February, Republican lobbyist Jack Burkman wrote to Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform, asking that Congress investigate whether or not Russia was involved in Rich’s murder. Burman had offered a $130,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.