Jerome Corsi Backtracks on Seth Rich, Doubles Down on Birtherism
The conspiracy theorist says he hasn’t backed down completely about the slain DNC staffer. Meanwhile, he now also wants to see “official 1961 birth records from Kenya.”
Hours after retracting an Infowars article and apologizing to Seth Rich’s family for claiming the slain Democratic National Committee staffer and his brother leaked DNC emails to WikiLeaks during the 2016 election, far-right conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi said that he still believes the theft of the emails was an “inside job.”
After complaining that the House Judiciary Committee’s recent request for additional documents from more than 80 people related to the Russia probe was “harassment” on CNN late Monday, Corsi was asked by anchor Anderson Cooper about his tendency to peddle right-wing conspiracies, namely birtherism and 9/11 trutherism.
Larry Klayman, Corsi’s lawyer and fellow right-wing conspiracist, jumped in to defend his client’s repeated claims about former President Obama’s birth certificate.
“The birth certificate, there's been forensic analysis on that,” Klayman asserted. “He never said that Obama was born in another country. But the birth certificate appears to be fraudulent.”
Cooper noted that Klayman was obviously referring to former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s debunked ideas regarding the “forensic analysis,” prompting Klayman to state that he agreed with Arpaio before claiming the use of the word “African-American” in 1961 also served as evidence. The CNN anchor bluntly asked the attorney if he believed Obama was born in another country, resulting in Klayman getting extremely defensive.
“That's not what I said,” he exclaimed. “I said the birth certificate, there's forensic analysis and it's fraudulent. Don't beat up on my client because of that. That's inappropriate. Do some research.”
Corsi, meanwhile, said he doesn’t “readily” believe “government explanations” before adding that he wants to see the “official 1961 birth records from Kenya.” He also stated that those records would “settle it” and he’ll be happy to admit if he were wrong if he could just see them.
Moving on to the Seth Rich story, Corsi said he admitted to getting “one story” wrong on Rich, noting that he based it on a retracted article in the Washington Times (which he falsely called the Washington Post). Corsi, however, said he didn’t back off any of his other claims.
“Because they retracted their story I retracted my story,” Corsi declared. “I didn’t retract anything else I’ve written on Seth Rich. I didn’t retract my statements that I think the theft of the DNC emails was likely an inside job. In deference to the Seth Rich family, I retracted one article.”
Cooper asked why anyone should believe Corsi given his record on Obama’s birth certificate and Seth Rich, causing Klayman to blow up at the CNN host. Corsi, meanwhile, said he didn’t have a problem with Cooper pressing him on the Seth Rich matter.
“I don't object to you asking about it,” he stated. “I answered it. I apologized for one story.”