A video has surfaced of murdered Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich questioning ballot integrity during the Election Data Summit in 2015.
“Seth Rich, with the DNC,” he introduces himself, after clearing his throat. “I think some of you had spoken about provisional ballots and rejected ballots — I guess we have looked at, as an outside practitioner with a vested interest in training our voters, how do we get better access to data that tells us why ballots are rejected — why ballots are cast as provisional — so we can analyze that and develop better training guides?”
Rich had valid concerns. During the Democratic primaries the following year, New York voters reported two voter purges that barred 120,000 people from being able to vote. The scandal, months before Rich’s death, had lead to massive outcry from supporters of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who believed that the DNC was engaging in election fraud to nominate Hillary Clinton.
#ThursdayThoughts
Video of Seth Rich questioning ballot integrity.
Little did he know how dangerous it was.https://t.co/qWNbzoQmzS— Philip Schuyler (@FiveRights) June 8, 2017
Many have speculated that Rich was a supporter of Sanders, as he openly considered himself a progressive. Including in that group is Kim Dotcom, a tech mogul with close ties to WikiLeaks, who has asserted that the slain staffer was the source of the leaked DNC emails, and that he knew him.
As we have previously reported, Dotcom has offered to provide Congress with written testimony and proof that Rich was the source — if they will include his murder in their Russia investigation.
#SethRich is an American Hero.
We'll not stop until we find the political hitmen who murdered him for doing the right thing. @HillaryClinton pic.twitter.com/NiOLFH2tlO— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) May 19, 2017
Additionally, the tech entrepreneur provided three email addresses that he claims belonged to Rich: Seth.c.rich@gmail.com, Panda4Progress@gmail.com, and Pandas4Bernie@gmail.com. The addresses pointed to social media and Reddit accounts that appeared to back up the claims that he may have been a disgruntled Sanders supporter.
Rich was murdered early morning hours of July 10, 2016. The police initially ruled that it was a botched robbery — but his wallet, watch, and necklace were still on his person when he was discovered by police.
Twelve days after the murder, WikiLeaks began releasing documents that would reveal a plot within the Democratic Party to insure that Clinton would be nominated over the wildly popular Senator Sanders.
Assange has previously hinted that Rich may be the leaker, while repeatedly reminding the public that they never comment on their sources. WikiLeaks has also offered a $20,000 reward for information on his killer.
“Whistleblowers go to significant efforts to get us material and often significant risks. There was a 27-year old that works for the DNC who was shot in the back… murdered.. for unknown reasons as he was walking down the street in Washington,” Assange said during an interview with Dutch TV last year.
WikiLeaks has retweeted articles asserting that Rich was their source without providing additional comment.
