New tweets on Seth Rich murder describe ‘complete panic’ at DNC

by WorldTribune Staff, May 22, 2017

Fox News talk show host Sean Hannity said the Democratic Party is in “complete panic” over the investigation into the murder of Democratic National Committee (DNC) staffer Seth Rich.

Hannity’s tweets included an exchange with hacker Kim DotCom in which he said on May 20 that he was part of an operation along with Rich to send stolen DNC emails to WikiLeaks.

In an email published by Wikileaks, John Podesta said he wanted to “make an example of the leaker.”

[Update, May 23: Kim DotCom has released a statement which has been posted at the foot of this article.]

Over the weekend, media reports said the Democrats were backing away from plans to seek the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

Politico reported that John Podesta, “the sharp-tongued campaign chairman for Hillary Clinton whose 60,000 hacked emails are at the heart of that FBI investigation into the team of the man who defeated them” doesn’t expect impeachment proceedings anytime soon.

One of those emails conveys a threat by Podesta against campaign employees who leak secrets about the Hillary Clinton campaign and its leaders.

Kim DotCom tweeted: “I knew Seth Rich. I know he was the @Wikileaks source. I was involved.”

Related: Sean Hannity, only major journalist covering Seth Rich story, may be forced out at Fox, May 24, 2017

An anonymous May 20 post cited by Hannity and GatewayPundit reads:

“Anons, I work in D.C.

“I know for certain that the Seth Rich case has scared the shit out of certain high ranking current and former Democratic Party officials.

“This is the reason why they have backed away from impeachment talk. They know the smoking gun is out there, and they’re terrified you will find it, because when you do it will bring the entire DNC, along with a couple of very big name politicians.

“It appears that certain DNC thugs were not thorough enough when it came time to cover their tracks. (John) Podesta saying he wanted to ‘make an example of the leaker’ is a huge smoking gun.

“The behavior is near open panic. To even mention this name in D.C. Circles [sic] will bring you under automatic scrutiny. To even admit that you have knowledge of this story puts you in immediate danger.

“If there was no smoke there would be no fire. I have never, in my 20 years of working in D.C. Seen [sic] such a panicked reaction from anyone.

“I have strong reason to believe that the smoking gun in this case is out o [sic] the hands of the conspirators, and will be discovered by anon. I know for certain that Podesta is deeply concerned. He’s been receiving anonymous calls and emails from people saying they know the truth. Same with Hillary.

Meanwhile, Podesta in a May 22 interview with The Global Politico verbally opened fire President Donald Trump.

“The problem in the Trump White House is they have no one who really stands up to him,” Podesta said. “He’s impetuous, he’s impulsive, he fires things off and if anything, they enable him rather than trying to contain what are moves that in any other context would seem, you know, absolutely crazy. … If they’re going to try to right this place and be able to be effective, I think they need a much stronger team who can resist his impulses and tell him that he’s wrong.”


Podesta said GOP congressional leaders Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell have chosen to “Velcro their own political fate” to Trump’s and won’t pursue allegations against the president of their own party unless forced to do so by a 2018 midterm election debacle or further revelations. “It is clear to me that Republicans on Capitol Hill are not going to begin to turn on him at this point.”

Podesta added that, unlike Trump, “Nixon, for all his flaws… was a serious person”.

On whether Hillary Clinton’s new PAC means she’s running for president again, Podesta said “quite frankly, she’s done with that.”

Podesta, like Clinton, continues to insist that former FBI Director James Comey’s reopening of the Clinton email probe 11 days before the election likely cost her the presidency.

But he thinks Trump mistook their criticism of Comey for a blank check to fire the director amid the current Trump-related probe. “I still think what Jim Comey did last fall was wrong,” Podesta says, “but he shouldn’t have been fired, given the circumstances that he was leading this investigation.”


Statement by Kim Dotcom, May 23:

I know that Seth Rich was involved in the DNC leak.

I know this because in late 2014 a person contacted me about helping me to start a branch of the Internet Party in the United States. He called himself Panda. I now know that Panda was Seth Rich.

Panda advised me that he was working on voter analytics tools and other technologies that the Internet Party may find helpful.

I communicated with Panda on a number of topics including corruption and the influence of corporate money in politics.

I was referring to what I knew when I did an interview with Bloomberg in New Zealand in May 2015. In that interview I hinted that Julian Assange and Wikileaks would release information about Hillary Clinton in the upcoming election.

The Rich family has reached out to me to ask that I be sensitive to their loss in my public comments. That request is entirely reasonable.

I have consulted with my lawyers. I accept that my full statement should be provided to the authorities and I am prepared to do that so that there can be a full investigation. My lawyers will speak with the authorities regarding the proper process.

If my evidence is required to be given in the United States I would be prepared to do so if appropriate arrangements are made. I would need a guarantee from Special Counsel Mueller, on behalf of the United States, of safe passage from New Zealand to the United States and back. In the coming days we will be communicating with the appropriate authorities to make the necessary arrangements. In the meantime, I will make no further comment.