Mediaite’s Colby Hall Says Hannity Should Apologize for Promoting False Seth Rich Wikileaks Conspiracy

Mediaite’s founding editor Colby Hall called on Fox News host Sean Hannity to apologize for promoting a false conspiracy theory surrounding the tragic death of DNC staffer Seth Rich.

Hall’s comments were pegged to the recent revelation from last week’s release of the Mueller report that Julian Assange pushed the Seth Rich conspiracy to hide contacts with Russian hacking the DNC server, documents from which were released by Wikileaks in an effort to help elect President Donald Trump. In Hall’s esteem, this revelation made Hannity “look stupid.”

After airing a clip of Hannity promoting the now debunked theory, Hall pointed out that there are two explanations for why Hannity was complicit in this obfuscation effort: either the Fox News host was in on Assange’s conspiracy (which Hall didn’t think is the case), or he was “duped” by Assange into thinking it was possible.

In 2017, Hannity promoted the conspiracy that Seth Rich was murdered after leaking DNC server information to WikiLeaks. Police consistently denied any evidence to support that, stating they believed Rich was killed in a botched robbery. Hannity covered questions surrounding the murder on his top-rated cable news program, ensuring it became a reliable talking point for defenders of the Trump administration.

Hall continued to say that everyone makes mistakes, even journalists, but that in light of the Mueller report Hannity needs to do the right thing and apologize.

“What should happen as a follow-up is that Sean Hannity should apologize to his audience and to anyone else that he was dope enough to promote Julian Assange’s fake conspiracy.”

Hannity publicly announced that he would stop covering the Seth Rich story in 2017, but explained that the was doing it only out of respect of the grieving family — not because it was a widely debunked conspiracy. FoxNews.com retracted their online report that formed the basis of the theory. There is currently a lawsuit pending filed against Fox News by the Rich family over their false reporting.

But, as Hall points out, Hannity has yet to apologize.

Watch above via Law & Crime Network.

Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com