For several months, the consensus within the intelligence services and the mainstream media has been that Russia hacked the emails of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hilary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta during the 2016 presidential election.
Some critics of that view, however, suggested that the “Russian hack” may have been an inside job by a disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporter or a rogue campaign staffer, in part or in whole.
On Monday night, the local Washington, D.C. Fox affiliate reported that a private investigator working for the family of murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich believes that “there is tangible evidence on Rich’s laptop that confirms he was communicating with WikiLeaks prior to his death.” Wikileaks released the DNC and Podesta emails, and is widely believed to have connections with Russian intelligence, although the organization has denied that claim.
Rich was murdered in the early hours of July 20, 2016, and the case has never been solved. His shocking death “set off a flurry of international speculation and conspiracy theories” the Daily Mail reported last August, “including claims that Rich, who worked in the voter access department, leaked sensitive DNC documents to Wikileaks.” One of those “conspiracy theories” may now be more substantive than initially suspected, if the laptop claim is true.
