Seth Rich Hacked the DNC.

[CPUd]

How The Pro-Trump Media Responds To A Crisis In Just 4 Steps

Stay quiet, blame and discredit, change the news cycle, and then close the loop. Seventeen hours in the fever swamp.

Posted on May 16, 2017, at 1:30 p.m.
Charlie Warzel



This week has posed a new test for the pro-Trump media — a loose affiliation of news organizations, trolls, and independent journalists — who fight the moment-to-moment battle to defend the president and rally his supporters as he reels among self-imposed crises.

The latest came in the form of a bombshell report from the Washington Post that President Trump disclosed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador last week and, in doing so, may have jeopardized a source in the fight against ISIS.

The pro-Trump media operates as a mirror image of its mainstream counterpart with its own “alternative facts,” audience, and interpretation of truth. And perhaps never has this been clearer than in its response to Monday's news.

Below is a timeline and breakdown of how — in just 17 hours and 4 steps — the Upside Down media flipped the script on a particularly thorny news cycle.

Phase 1 - Quiet Period:

As the Washington Post scoop hit Twitter, the pro-Trump media's most active spaces — 4chan, Reddit, and Twitter — were unusually quiet while waiting to figure out how to respond to the story.

https://twitter.com/cwarzel/status/864241478012481544

https://twitter.com/cwarzel/status/864231652096126976

Phase 2: Blaming The Usual Suspects/Dismissal

It took about an hour or so for the first quick takes to appear. As is expected, they touched on familiar pro-Trump media talking points — reflexive plays to the base audience including:

Mainstream Media Malpractice Defense

https://twitter.com/stranahan/status/864235870643204097

Basically, an attempt to discredit the Washington Post and its reporting by suggesting that the decision to publish the sensitive information would tip the terrorist organizations and individuals involved.

The Washington Post story notes, however, that it did not publish sensitive details. "The Post is withholding most plot details, including the name of the city, at the urging of officials who warned that revealing them would jeopardize important intelligence capabilities," the story read.

Fake News Defense

https://twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/status/864247531039019008

https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/864267907303428096

The Gateway Pundit, a far-right/pro-Trump outlet, also attempted to attack the Post's credibility, suggesting yesterday's report was the 4th false story from the paper in a week.

Hit Piece/Distraction Defense

https://twitter.com/mitchellvii/status/864279595855622144

Gateway Pundit also chimed in — in a separate article — suggesting that the piece was part of a smear campaign.

https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy/status/864268441976483841


Anonymous Sourcing Defense

https://twitter.com/MZHemingway/status/864275813344178176


Another staple of the pro-Trump media is to call into question the anonymous sources, such as the ones cited in the Washington Post article. The suggestion: if the sources won't attach their name to the claim, then they have nothing to lose — and thus their credibility is suspect.

It's important to note that anonymous sources are a staple of investigative journalism on highly sensitive stories. While the use of anonymous sources are a contentious issue — Margaret Sullivan, the former public editor of the New York Times, used her column to attempt to get the Washington Post to crack down on its use of anonymous sources — they are used by reporters to unearth deeply sensitive or classified information that would otherwise not come to light.

Also, Jack Posobiec has often cited sources without naming them during his reporting on Twitter.

But the pro-Trump tactic of questioning the anonymous sources plays well with those outside of the media. A March poll by Morning Consult revealed that "half of Americans think it is inappropriate for journalists to cite anonymous sources in their reporting, and many think reporters are simply making up those sources."

https://twitter.com/ZacAlleman/status/864282767483215872


Early in the evening, White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster, spoke to the press and declared the Post story “as reported, is false.”

In the statement — which did not expressly deny that Trump disclosed classified information to Russia — McMaster noted that, "the President did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known." And said that, "two other senior officials who were present, including the secretary of state, remember it being the same way and have said so. Their on-the-record accounts should outweigh those of anonymous sources. And I was in the room. It didn’t happen."

This quickly became a pro-Trump media talking point.

https://twitter.com/mitchellvii/status/864278077748150274

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/864272015078952961

https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet/status/864259461279514625


Trump-as-Mastermind/12-Dimensional Chess Defense

https://twitter.com/LeviSmithUSA/status/864288366896066561


On 4chan, anonymous users floated the theory that Trump — ever the mastermind — was planting false information to identify leakers. The suggestion that Trump is continually far ahead of his critics and constantly out-foxing the mainstream media is a common defense of some in the pro-Trump media.

The Deep State Leaks Defense

In the early evening, Breitbart News published a pretty straightforward write-up of the days news with a sensational headline, blaming the leaks on the deep state to smear Trump. The body of the story hardly touches the deep state angle addressed in the headline. The story notes just below the headline that it "is 'unlikely' Trump broke any laws."

Still, the pro-Trump media had yet to rally around a single narrative.

https://twitter.com/mckaycoppins/status/864271341129695232

That is, until the Drudge Report weighed in.

https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy/status/864285999710564353


By late evening, the Drudge Report — which largely helps set the right-wing media agenda — settled on a narrative, focusing on the White House's inability to crack down on leaks (the story Breitbart wrote).

Drudge has been very critical of White House leaks recently and reportedly expressed his distaste to President Trump during a recent trip to the White House.

After Drudge, the leak angle gained traction. The pro-Trump conspiracy and news site, Infowars, spun the story slightly, suggesting that McMaster leaked the story to save his own job.

https://twitter.com/RealAlexJones/status/864285452378963968


Infowars' Alex Jones and Roger Stone argued that the leak "came out of the NSA and not the White House" and that since "McMaster's head is on the chopping block" he "leaked the information to make himself indispensable" to the news cycle — and thus un-fireable.

Across bigger conservative media outlets, the Washington Post story got very little real estate across homepages.

As CNN's Oliver Darcy noted, Fox News pushed the story down well below the splash.

https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy/status/864257177602711552



Phase 3: Changing The News Cycle

Just before 10:00 P.M., Fox 5 — a Washington D.C. affiliate — posted a report alleging that the murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich "was communicating with WikiLeaks prior to his death."

https://twitter.com/MarinaMarraco/status/864296359754698753


The story said that "Rod Wheeler, a private investigator hired by the Rich family, suggests there is tangible evidence on Rich's laptop." It's since been confirmed by BuzzFeed News that Rich's family did not hire Wheeler as an investigator (a third party did) and that Rich's family rejects the report.

The report was quickly seized upon by some of the biggest pro-Trump outlets, including Breitbart and Drudge.

A number in the pro-Trump media took the report and Drudge's link as confirmation of the long held conspiracy.

https://twitter.com/BrittPettibone/status/864342726916964352

Fox News also quickly picked up the story — Wheeler, the private investigator in the Rich case, is a Fox News contributor.

https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/864388701723533312

Fox News pundit and personality Sean Hannity also seized upon the story after his 10:00 P.M. show.

Hannity also retweeted a number of unverified links and emails allegedly connecting Rich to Wikileaks.

https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/864348023735730176

https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/864349181506224128

...

Phase 4: Close The Loop/ Merge The Dueling News Cycles.

https://twitter.com/Princ3ssEsquire/status/864330490169499648

https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet/status/864421984511422464

This is perhaps the thing that the pro-Trump media is best at. Here, Infowars' Paul Joseph Watson closes the conspiratorial loop and suggests that the initial Washington Post story was part of a nefarious plot to crowd out the news cycle and distract from the real news of the day — no matter that the Fox 5 report on Seth Rich came hours after the Washington Post scoop.

Here, the pro-Trump media continues to sow doubt and undermine the credibility of the Post and the mainstream media while flipping the script on those who believe that the Seth Rich story was timed to kill a news cycle that was hurting the Trump administration.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/how-the-pro-trump-media-responds-to-a-crisis-in-just-4-steps

 

[phill4paul]

https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/how-the-pro-trump-media-responds-to-a-crisis-in-just-4-steps

The pro-Trump media operates as a mirror image of its mainstream counterpart with its own “alternative facts,” audience, and interpretation of truth.

 

[AZJoe]

 

[AZJoe]

CPUD: How The Pro-Trump Media Responds To A Crisis In Just 4 Steps

Its a continuation of the Trump derangement syndrome. Allow emotions over Trump to blind reasoning skills. While there is plenty of good reason to criticize Trump, not everything is Trump. The deep state/intelligence shenanigans, the DNC corruption, the MSM hysterics and distractions , the Seth Rich murder - these evils deserve their own focus and are separate from Trump faults. The Cpud post falls into that obsession that everything must somehow be focused on Trump. No justice for Seth Rich because - well Trump.

Seth Rich was murdered execution style with two shots from behind. Media says robbery gone wrong despite there being no robbery. Nothing was taken. Not his cash. Not his wallet. Not his cell phone. Nothing.

Bodycam footage from three first appearing police officers with bodycams disappears.

Seth Rich's laptop is taken by investigators. Media says has nothing to do with his murder, yet his laptop continues to be withheld and its contents, still missing.

Guccifer 2.0 confirms Seth Rich was the DNC leaker.

Wikileaks founder Assange intimates that Seth Rich was the source of the DNC leaks and paid dearly for it.

Craig Murrary outright confirms Seth Rich is the source of the DNC leaks.

Wikileaks offers $20,000 reward for info. Others up the reward to a total of $130,000. DNC, however not only offers nothing for the investigation into its murdered staffer, but is notoriously silent on the murder the the DNC staffer.

A federal investigator confirms Seth Rich was the leaker and that over 40,000 emails and over 17,000 attachments between DNC leaders from January 2015 through May 2016 were transferred from Seth Rich to Macfadyen.

The private investigator, former homicide detective, investigating the murder confirms all evidence indicates Seth Rich was the leaker to Wikileaks, and that the law enforcement agencies are stonewalling and not cooperating.

Yet, for the Cpud theory, one must ignore all these facts, because well - Trump. Despite the fact that Seth Rich's murder, and DNC corruption, and its leaking to Wikileaks has nothing to do with Trump, it must still always be Trump. Everything must about Trump. No justice for Seth Rich. Disregard all the circumstances surrounding Seth Rich's murder.
Turn a blind eye to all the actual events, because it must be a secret organized vast "pro Trump media" organized conspiracy. Yeah that makes so much more sense. Somehow they secretly conspired so that the murderer would commit the crime execution style and steal nothing. They secretly got Guccifer 2.0, Murray and Assange to confirm Seth Rich was the leaker. They secretly got Wikileaks and other parties to cough up $130,000 as reward money for the solving of his murder. They secretly got the DNC to cough up not a cent and go silent as crickets with concern for the murder of its staffer. They secretly got the law enforcement to take his laptop and withhold it and its contents despite MSM publicizing that it has nothing to do with the murder. They secretly got a federal agent to confirm that Seth Rich transferred exactly 44,053 emails and 17,761 attachments to Wikileaks. The secretly got the private investigator to confirm Seth was the source of the leaks. That all makes so much more perfect sense in the the secret Cpud theory logic, because well "Trump."

 

[enhanced_deficit]

Let's wait till all the facts come out:

Federal investigator confirms WikiLeaks link to murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich

Carlos Garcia May 16, 2017 12:13 pm

Former Washington, D.C. Homicide Detective Rod Wheeler claimed that police told him they were ordered to cover up the real details surrounding the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich. (Image Source: Fox 5 D.C. screenshot)

A federal investigator confirmed to Fox News that a Democratic National Committee staffer who was murdered in 2016 had been in contact with WikiLeaks.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/...leaks-link-to-murdered-dnc-staffer-seth-rich/

 

[susano]

I've not read this thread but spent all day & night on twitter, yesterday, and dunno if you guys saw the post from /pol/ saying that HRC's comm director ordered the hit on Rich and goons from the SEIU carried out. Also another /pol/post saying Rich discovered HRC team set up alternate voting stations and replaced Bernie votes with HRC votes. I can locate these if anyone hasn't posted them here but would have to dig through my twitter.

 

[CPUd]

Family of Murder Victim Who's Subject of Idiotic Hillary Conspiracy Theory Demands Apology From Fox News

By Ben Mathis-Lilley


Seth Rich was a Democratic National Committee employee who was murdered in July 2016. His murder is unsolved; Washington police say there is evidence that he was killed in a botched robbery. Because Rich worked for the DNC, though, his death has been the subject of a baseless conspiracy theory which suggests he was murdered because he was going to, like, bring down Hillary Clinton. This week, said theory trickled its way upward from the sewers of the internet to Sean Hannity's highly rated Fox News show. Hannity's iteration of the story is based on a claim by "private investigator" Rod Wheeler, first made on Washington, D.C. Fox affiliate WTTG, that Rich was in touch with WikiLeaks before he died. Here's Hannity on Tuesday night:

Another massive, breaking news story: Explosive developments in the mysterious murder of former DNC staffer Seth Rich that could completely shatter the narrative that in fact WikiLeaks was working with the Russians or that there was collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians. Now, if true, this could become one of the biggest scandals in American history and could mean that Rich could have been murdered under very suspicious circumstances.

The rub here is that:

Rod Wheeler is a known weirdo who has in the past appeared on Fox News to claim that hundreds of lesbian gangs across the United States are recruiting children as young as 10 years old, coercing them into "doing sex acts," and providing them with pink-colored handguns with which to commit crimes.

Wheeler and Fox's evidence that Rich was in touch with WikiLeaks is extremely, extremely dubious and may not actually exist. In CNN's words: "Both Fox News and WTTG-TV published and aired reports, sourced to private investigator Rod Wheeler, that said evidence showed Rich had been in contact with Wikileaks before his death. Wheeler later told CNN he had no such evidence." A FoxNews.com article, meanwhile, cites a "federal source" describing an FBI examination of Rich's computer. The actual FBI says this examination never took place.

Seth Rich's family says that while they agreed to let a third party pay for Wheeler's "investigation" they did not hire him directly, have not authorized him to speak on their behalf, and do not believe he has uncovered any evidence relevant to their son's murder.

CNN reports that Rich's family has demanded an apology from Fox News and from the local Fox station that originally aired Wheeler's claims:

"The family is officially asking for a retraction and an apology from Fox News and from the Fox 5 DC affiliate for inaccurate reporting and damaging the legacy of their son ... They need to retract the story or issue an apology or the family will consider other options, including legal, to clear their son's name and get Fox to do what's right."

Will Fox News "do what's right"? My guess is probably not!

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/05/17/seth_rich_family_asks_fox_news_for_apology.html

 

[UWDude]

when fake news claims Seth rich's family is upset over this, what they mean is the supposed spokesman for Seth rich's family, a DNC crisis handler

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/05/tyler-durden/murdered-dnc-staffer-seth-rich/

But, as WikiLeaks noted, the family’s “spokesman” is none other than Democrat crisis PR consultant Brad Bauman.

 

[UWDude]

Rich had been at Lou’s City Bar a couple of miles from his home until about 1:15 a.m. He walked home, calling several people along the way. He called his father, Joel Rich, who he missed because he had gone tosleep. He talked with a fraternity brother and his girlfriend, Kelsey Mulka.

The last public place Seth Rich was at (Lou's City Bar) is owned by Joseph "Joe" Capone. Joseph Capone had a white house tour 5 days before Seth rich was killed, with curious start and end times.

In 2011, he had a visit that lasted over 12 hours.
http://white-house-logs.insidegov.com/d/a/Joseph-Capone

And let's not forget details like it was a "botched robbery" where no witnesses were there, yet, nothing was taken. How does this get botched? If nobody can see it, why would the robber flee after shooting?

HOWEVER, an ASSASSIN would be STUPID to take personal belongings of his mark, as that could trail back to him.

 

[UWDude]

Here is Seth Rich's parents, a few weeks ago, thanking the internet community for trying to solve his murder.
But now DNC PR man Brad Bauman says they think it is disgusting?

Who are you gonna believe, the actual parents, or some DNC sleazeball who lies for a living? (I mean Bauman, not CPUd, but I understand your confusion)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZVozOKgv-c

 

[susano]

Rich's family's reactions (or lack of them), whether they're being handled by a Democrap gatekeeper or not, are irrelevant, AFAIC. They're probably Dems and could never believe their precious party operatives could murder their son. Even with the facts that he was not robbed, the remarks from Assange, the reports of emails on his very missing computer containing contact with Wikileaks and the Wikileaks contact guy (now passed away) who said he met Rich in a park in DC, they don't say anything. This reminds me of the family of Christopher Stevens whose family was defensive of Obama & Clinton even after the outrageous lie about the Youtube video being responsible for the attack on the CIA Benghazi annex. In that case, I figure Stevens' family knew he was running weapons to jihadists in Syria and they approved, being good neolibs who believed "Assad must go", so wouldn't say shit to dis those carrying out the agenda.

 

[susano]

Here is Seth Rich's parents, a few weeks ago, thanking the internet community for trying to solve his murder.
But now DNC PR man Brad Bauman says they think it is disgusting?

Who are you gonna believe, the actual parents, or some DNC sleazeball who lies for a living? (I mean Bauman, not CPUd, but I understand your confusion)

Thanks for that. I had not seen it. Very sad

 

[susano]

Dunno if these have been posted but will insert them anyway.

Edit:

Are these tweets showing up because I can't see them?

 

[UWDude]

Dunno if these have been posted but will insert them anyway.

Edit:

Are these tweets showing up because I can't see them?

they arent showing up.

 

[UWDude]

Dunno if these have been posted but will insert them anyway.

Edit:

Are these tweets showing up because I can't see them?

just the tweet number, not the full link

 

[susano]

Thank you, UWDude.

 

[CPUd]

Rod Wheeler backtracks statements about Seth Rich investigation

POSTED:MAY 17 2017 06:57PM EDT
UPDATED:MAY 17 2017 10:28PM EDT


We want to update you on a story you first saw on FOX 5 DC. We want to make an important clarification on claims that were made by Rod Wheeler, the private investigator hired by Seth Rich's family, whose services are being paid for by a third party.

What he told FOX 5 DC on camera Monday regarding Seth Rich's murder investigation is in clear contrast to what he has said over the last 48 hours. Rod Wheeler has since backtracked.

In an interview Monday, Wheeler told FOX 5 DC he had sources at the FBI confirming there was evidence of communication between Seth Rich and WikiLeaks. This is the verbatim of that exchange:

FOX 5 DC: “You have sources at the FBI saying that there is information...”

WHEELER: "For sure..."

FOX 5 DC: “...that could link Seth Rich to WikiLeaks?"

WHEELER: "Absolutely. Yeah. That's confirmed."

In the past 48 hours, Rod Wheeler has told other media outlets he did not get his information from FBI sources, contradicting what he told us on Monday.

Since Rod Wheeler backtracked Tuesday, FOX 5 DC attempted incessantly to communicate with him, but he didn't return calls or emails.

On Wednesday, just before our newscast, Wheeler responded to our requests via a telephone conversation, where he now backtracks his position and Wheeler characterizes his on-the-record and on-camera statements as "miscommunication."

When asked if Wheeler is still working for Seth Rich's family, Wheeler told FOX 5 DC the contract still stands-- ties have not been severed.

We reached out once again to the Rich family, and through a spokesperson the Rich family tells FOX 5 DC, "The family has relayed their deep disappointment with Rod Wheeler's conduct over the last 48 hours, and is exploring legal avenues to the family."

http://www.fox5dc.com/news/255305734-story

 

[UWDude]

We reached out once again to the Rich family, and through a spokesperson the Rich family tells FOX 5 DC, "The family has relayed their deep disappointment with Rod Wheeler's conduct over the last 48 hours, and is exploring legal avenues to the family."

Why cant the family talk for themselves? Why do they need a spokesperson, Democrat crisis PR consultant Brad Bauman?

Normal to CPUd, of course (and Zippyjuan). But for anybody else reading.....

 

[susano]

What's that Clinton body count? I read somewhere that either Seth's parents or the PI got a call from the DNC concerning why they were talking to press or something like that. I wouldn't ever doubt that such a call might be threatening couched in concern and enough to intimidate. Anything coming or not coming from the PI or parents doesn't impact the facts that Seth was gunned down, not robbed and Julian Assange all but said, straight out, that Seth was their source.

The other day I was in the basement pulling out some old books and came across, of all things, The Clinton Chronicles. How timely.

 

[Champ]

Interesting that the moment this story started moving again, literally within the hour, we had a whole bunch of stories charging up the media machine and getting people to focus on the horrors that Trump has apparently brought us, with no evidence thus far, but a whole hell of a lot of accusations. Now it has ramped up to the point of calls for impeachment on the congress floor.

Weird, feels like we are getting close and the media/deep state are flailing wildly hoping something, anything, will stick. You don't have to be an avid fan or supporter of Trump to see this playing out, and I hope that those on this website that detest Trump, can still have the clarity of mind to see this. Again, this is ultimately not about Trump, this is about holding onto power in not just the US, but over the world, and slowly losing that grip or rather, the illusion of that dominance over the people. They aren't needed, they never were. The deep state, one of the prime enemies of liberty and torchbearers like Ron and Rand Paul, seems to be mortally wounded and dropping every bomb they have left, or they wouldn't be acting this desperate.