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The FBI not only has possession of a laptop computer owned by slain Democratic National Committee (DNC) staffer Seth Rich, but a report detailing forensic imaging of what’s being described as Rich’s work computer, the bureau revealed in a new filing.
The FBI’s records office located the report while searching for the work computer, Michael Seidel, chief of the office, said in a sworn declaration filed with a federal court in Texas on Dec. 9. He described the document as “a three (3) page forensic report detailing the actions performed by an outside entity to image the work laptop.”
The report was among four documents that had never been disclosed by the FBI in relation to Rich’s case.
Journalist Sy Hersh said in 2017 that he was told by a source about an FBI report on Seth Rich. He said, according to the source, that Seth Rich’s computer showed the DNC staffer had relayed DNC documents to WikiLeaks, a pro-transparency group. Hersh made the disclosure in a phone call with Ed Butowsky, an investor who has later retracted claims about Rich being a WikiLeaks source.
Rich was gunned down in the early morning hours on July 16, 2016, near his home in Washington. The killing of Rich, the DNC’s voter expansion data director, remains unsolved. Authorities have claimed that the killing was a robbery gone wrong. Julian Assange, the head of WikiLeaks, has suggested that Rich passed DNC files to the group, which released the DNC files in 2016. U.S. authorities have alleged that Russians hacked into the DNC systems, but those allegations were made before the FBI received images from the DNC’s server to determine their validity.
The Metropolitan Police Department, the lead investigating agency, has declined to say whether the FBI was helping with the probe into Rich’s death.
New Records
The new records were found after the records office contacted an unnamed FBI special agent during its search for Rich’s work computer, according to FBI Records Chief Seidel.
The other records are a letter from a third-party that accompanied the work computer and two FBI chain of custody forms.
None of the records were indexed to Rich inside of the bureau’s central records system and neither the forensic report nor the custody forms mention Rich’s name, according to the FBI. They were also not included in an electronic file created for Rich’s case.
The agent claimed that disclosure of the records would harm an FBI investigation into the allegations that Russians had hacked into U.S. systems.
Bureau officials had previously claimed in sworn statements that the FBI had searched for records on Rich but did not locate any.
The FBI now wants the court to agree to keep the new records shielded from Brian Huddleston, a Texas resident who filed a lawsuit against the bureau over its ignoring a Freedom of Information request for records on Rich.
In 2020, for the first time, the FBI admitted it had files from a computer belonging to Rich. Some of those files were then released to Huddleston and made public, including documents that appear to suggest that someone could have paid for his death.
The FBI has also already said it has images from a second computer owned by Rich, which the bureau described as Rich’s personal laptop. A federal judge in September ordered the bureau to hand the images over to Huddleston, finding that the bureau improperly withheld them.
FBI Argues Computer ‘Not an Actual Record’
The FBI has repeatedly sought, and obtained, delays to the production order and has still not produced the images.
The bureau had not explained whether it ever took possession of Rich’s personal laptop. A Department of Justice lawyer said at one point that the bureau was “working on getting the files from Seth Rich’s personal laptop into a format to be reviewed.” Seidel said in the new declaration that the FBI “does not have, nor has it ever had, physical possession of the actual personal laptop.”
The work laptop was conveyed to the FBI from a non-governmental third party, the FBI has said. The bureau is fighting against the release of both the images of Rich’s personal laptop and work laptop, which it says is being held in an FBI evidence room. Under the Freedom of Information Act, Seidel asserted that the computer “is not an actual record” but is “physical object/evidence” that is not subject to the law.
The law states that every U.S. agency shall make available “agency records.” But factors used to determine whether a record meets the definition shows that the computer is not, Seidel said. One factor is the extent to which personnel at the agency have read or relied upon the document, and the FBI has “found no indication” that the FBI relied on the content of the work computer, he added.
U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant, the Obama appointee who is overseeing the case, should order the computer and its associated records, including the newly discovered forensic report, shielded from Huddleston, U.S. lawyers said.
Ty Clevenger, the lawyer representing Huddleston, told The Epoch Times that he didn’t see a distinction between the physical work computer and the images from both computers. He said he would urge the judge to order the release of information from both computers.
Article cross-posted from our premium news partners at The Epoch Times.
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The FBI is such an unbelievably corrupt institution, full of lying and arrogant officials. It needs to be disbanded and replaced with an honest, transparent, and non-partisan law enforcement agency. Today’s FBI is like the KGB. Get rid of it!
The FBI is part of DOJ which is in turn part of the executive branch. It is difficult for me to believe that there will be any change under the present circumstances.
I suppose that it is possible for some change due to pressure exerted as result of the recent twitter activity…
Yes, the bottom line is that the FBI and CIA both need to be disbanded. I don’t think we need a federal police agency as we see what that’s led to, and when you go back in time & review the FBI, they seem to be corrupt for generations. Even including their actions during the JFK case. As for the CIA, their function should be performed within the Pentagon under direct civilian control. Intel Ops need to be far more transparent as they are being used against US now. Many Fed Govt agencies should be eliminated entirely like the Dept of Education, CDC, etc.
Right on the money!!! Go get ’em!!!
The FBI can be eliminated, and not be replaced at all… It hasn’t been here that long, and local and state officials handled all law enforcement, including any federal crimes… There is also a Federal Marshalls Service…
There was no FBI or equivalent, for the overwhelming majority of the history of the USA…
I read that the FBI just went to court to keep records on Seth Rich sealed from the public for 66 years. Don’t know what the outcome of that was. Here’s a link to the story: https://nationalfile.com/fbi-asks-judge-to-delay-seth-rich-laptop-release-for-66-years/
It seems pretty obvious to me that the FBI does know info about Seth Rich’s death or why he would be killed and they are trying to cover that up obviously for some powerful person(s).
Gee, now that the FBI has been exposed (AGAIN) will they be telling us why the DNC had him whacked? NOT holding my breath.
All the Trump worshipers need to remember that Trump did nothing about this. He was too incompetent to even fire Comey because he stupidly thought of himself as so great, that even democrats would love him. Worship is ALL Trump was after. If he had been a true man and smart, he would’ve gutted the FBI and had someone trustworthy investigate this. He could’ve done to the FBI, what Musk has done to Twitter. But he was just an old fool who had no clue how to play the game.
He had a lot on his plate. He chose his battles well, considering.
He expended his energies so as to benefit Americans, not himself.
There’s only so much time and political capital.
The proof is in the pudding. He did more to elevate America during his six-plus years of antagonistic onslaught than any modern President, including Reagan.
Silly people. Nothing will ever bring us the truth. The power is on their side. We ask nicely. We play by the rules. They don’t. The purpose of the law is Justice. Without Justice, the law is a failure, a joke. When the law becomes a tool for the corrupt government, it commands no respect, nor obedience.
That is why they are called a court of “law”, and not a court of “justice”.
SO, much treason to punish.
Never understood that at the Clinton inauguration FBI files were transferred to the WH!!!? Beginning of the end.
Time to End the FBI and make the entire contents of Seth’s laptop AND Hunter bidens, public.
If Trump was smart and had good advisors he would have pardoned Assange who would have ended the argument as to who gave Wikileaks the info from the DNC server.
The Russian collusion hoax would have ended right then and there.
…’if Trump was smart’… say no more.
Never forget
We have a hostile Media
I wouldn’t trust ANYTHING on Seth’s computer after the FBI has had it. They or the CIA could have planted anything at all on it. Hunter’s laptop is believable because an objective, third-party computer tech cloned the drive BEFORE giving it to the FBI, so they can’t doctor the data to falsify anything on it. They can (and probably have) on Seth’s computer. Why would anybody trust data the FBI claims had been on it?
I’m still scratchin my head why the FBI is involved in a robbery gone wrong that turned into murder ?
If the Seth Rich computer hard drive doesn’t meet the definition of a record, the FBI better start apologizing to all the pedophiles that have been prosecuted (successfully) where no records of their crime exists!
I’ve come to realize every enemy to my way of life and America are college graduates and wear ‘slinky’ clothes and can’t seem to comprehend cause and effect.
That’s sobering. They used to be the leaders, now they’re just nuts!