HITTING BACK

Slain DNC Staffer Seth Rich’s Family Sues Fox News

Over the network’s retracted story fueled by a conspiracy theory.

The family of slain Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich is suing Fox News, one of its reporters, and a cable-network guest over a 2017 story that Fox News ran on its website. The article was later retracted because it was largely based on a conspiracy theory alleging that Rich, who was fatally shot in Washington, D.C., in 2016, could have been involved in a leak of hacked DNC emails. The lawsuit accuses reporter Malia Zimmerman and contributor Ed Butowsky of “aid[ing] and abett[ing] the intentional infliction of emotional distress” and trying to paint Rich as a “criminal and traitor to the United States.” In a statement, Fox News said: “We can’t comment on this pending litigation.”