Conservative author Jerome Corsi, a target of special counsel Bob Mueller’s investigation, retracted an article pushing the baseless Seth Rich DNC murder conspiracy and issued an apology.
Corsi wrote last year that Rich, a Democratic National Committee staffer, was killed because he and his brother Aaron Rich leaked DNC emails during the 2016 election despite no evidence suggesting that to be the case.
“Dr. Corsi acknowledges that his allegations were not based upon any independent factual knowledge regarding Seth or Aaron Rich,” InfoWars, the conspiracy theory outlet founded by Alex Jones, said in a statement.
The website claimed the claims were based off a Washington Times column by retired Adm. James Lyons, which was also retracted last year.
“It was not Dr. Corsi’s intent to rely upon inaccurate information, or to cause any suffering to Mr. Rich’s family,” the statement said. “To that end, Dr. Corsi retracts the article and apologizes to the Rich family.”
Corsi also wrote an apology to Rich’s family on Twitter.
“As Christians gentleman [sic], I have sympathy for the suffering the Seth Rich family has gone through. I hope all will understand that. God Bless,” he wrote, while adding that he was “not being threatened” into making an apology.
Corsi insists DNC stole DNC emails despite retraction:
Hours after issuing the statement, Corsi appeared on CNN to insist that the hack and release of stolen DNC emails during the 2016 campaign was an inside job.
“Because they retracted their story I retracted my story,” Corsi said. “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.”
Corsi is under investigation over the email hack himself:
While Corsi insists that the DNC hack was an inside job, Corsi said he appeared in front of a grand jury in Mueller’s probe and told investigators that he had told longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had emails stolen from Hillary Clinton campaign chief John Podesta.
Corsi later turned over a computer to Mueller’s investigators and said he expected to be indicted for perjury in the investigation. He later claimed that he had rejected a plea deal in the case.
“Court documents showed that two months before WikiLeaks released emails stolen from the Clinton campaign, Corsi sent emails to Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone telling him of WikiLeaks’ intent to publish the emails. Corsi said the emails would be published in two ‘dumps.’ He provided the dates of the planned releases and said the emails would be ‘very damaging’ to Clinton’s campaign,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. “According to the court documents, Stone directed Corsi to contact Julian Assange of WikiLeaks ‘and get the pending (WikiLeaks) emails.’ The court document says Corsi passed Stone's request to an ‘overseas individual,’ whom Corsi identified as Ted Malloch. Malloch was also questioned by Mueller’s investigators.”
