美国国家公共电台 NPR The Man Behind The Scenes In Fox News' Discredited Seth Rich Story

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

A new lawsuit 1 and reporting from NPR has cast fresh light on a Fox News story about the murder of a young Democratic aide named Seth Rich. His family denounced the story. And ultimately, Fox News retracted 2 it. There's a key player in how all of that unfolded, and he's been the focus of outrage 3. But he told a NPR media correspondent, David Folkenflik, that everyone's got it backwards 4.

DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE 5: Back in May, when Fox News ran a story linking the late Seth Rich to the leak of Democratic Party emails to WikiLeaks, Fox's Sean Hannity described a key player this way.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "HANNITY")

SEAN HANNITY: D.C. police are officially in charge of this case. But former D.C. homicide detective Rod Wheeler, who was hired by a third party to investigate the murder on behalf of the family, says...

FOLKENFLIK: The third party has a name. He's familiar to Fox viewers as a conservative financial analyst 6.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW)

GREGG JARRETT: Ed Butowsky is...

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW)

GERRI WILLIS: More on this Ed Butowsky...

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW)

STUART VARNEY: Ed Butowsky...

FOLKENFLIK: He's a 55-year-old former senior vice 7 president at Morgan Stanley who has his own investment advising firm that's based outside Dallas. At once ingratiating and blustery, Butowsky likes the limelight. Here he is in an online reality show.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE INVESTED LIFE")

ED BUTOWSKY: My name is Ed Butowsky. I am not a native Texan. I grew up in New York. I went to school at the University of Texas and also continued at Wharton.

FOLKENFLIK: Butowsky has pursued high-visibility clients. He was featured in a Sports Illustrated 8 cover story and an ESPN documentary about professional athletes going broke.

BUTOWSKY: I'm the kind of guy who likes to help people. And if I can help them out, I will.

FOLKENFLIK: Butowsky tells me that's why he got involved in the Seth Rich story - helping 9 the Rich family resolve the mystery of Seth's death, helping the investigator 10 Rod Wheeler get a paying gig and helping important information about the source of the leaked emails to come to light.

BUTOWSKY: It was like, wait a second. If this is the case, oh, my goodness, then people need to know.

FOLKENFLIK: Butowsky says his interest started when a friend told him last year that WikiLeaks founder 11 Julian Assange claimed that Rich, the murdered, 27-year-old Democratic aide, had actually been the source of the leaked emails. U.S. intelligence chiefs had already blamed the Russians for the hacking 12. Even so, Butowsky tracked down the Riches and shared his friend's information.

BUTOWSKY: I had no interest, didn't know anything. I thought - very privately 13, by the way - I was just helping somebody.

FOLKENFLIK: In January, Butowsky connected with the legendary 14 investigative reporter Seymour Hersh. Hersh told him an FBI source saw a report linking Rich's laptop to WikiLeaks. An FBI spokeswoman denies it has any role in the case. Butowsky told Hersh the report needed to become public.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING 15)

BUTOWSKY: The most important thing is this. Everyone - there's so many people throughout Trump 16's, you know, four years and maybe eight years - are always going to fall back on the idea that he's not legitimate 17 and the Russians got him elected. This changes all of that.

FOLKENFLIK: This is from a recording Butowsky made of the conversation with Hersh that he shared with others.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BUTOWSKY: I have a great history in getting things in the - getting things out there, where nobody knows that I'm the one who did it.

FOLKENFLIK: That conversation kicked off a flurry of activity. Butowsky says he forwarded the recording to Rich's parents. They agreed he could pick and pay for a private eye, whom he introduced to a Fox News reporter. Butowsky and the investigator briefed Trump's press secretary Sean Spicer at the White House about Rich.

And Butowsky participated in a rolling discussion with the investigator and the Fox reporter, as documented in a later lawsuit filed by the private eye, Rod Wheeler. Butowsky told Wheeler that Trump wanted the story on the air. Butowsky now says he was clearly joking. And Butowsky sounds baffled when I asked him about all this activity.

BUTOWSKY: As I look back, I didn't do anything, if you think about it. What did I do? Nothing.

FOLKENFLIK: Butowsky's accounts in other realms seemingly raise questions as well. Take that appearance on the web reality show.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE INVESTED LIFE")

BUTOWSKY: I went to school at the University of Texas and also continued at Wharton.

FOLKENFLIK: A picture flashes on screen of Butowsky in cap and gown. The University of Texas says it has no records of him graduating, just attending in the early 1980s. And the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School says he attended a noncredit executive education program in 1997. Butowsky tells me he's proud of that Wharton program.

Although his firm handles $244 million, Butowsky has had three federal tax liens 18 against him personally totaling about a half-million dollars, including this year. He says most of this was about a disputed interpretation 19 of the tax code. And as for his role in politics, Butowsky is not a major donor 20. And he says he's not a player.

BUTOWSKY: You know, the idea that I'm some political activist 21 is the strangest thing, as well.

FOLKENFLIK: Yet, at last summer's Republican National Convention, he sat right next to top Republican donors 22 Sheldon and Miriam Adelson in their suite 23. Butowsky makes a plea to me - see him as a human being. Appreciate the toll 24 the public backlash has taken on his family. I tell him I do. I also ask, what about the toll on the parents of Seth Rich?

I'm asking you to recognize in them the same sense of frustration 25 and anguish 26 that it sounds like you feel, as people have been...

And here, Butowsky shows no curiosity about the people he says he sought to help.

They feel unfairly maligned 27 that their son has been the source of speculation 28 that they reject. But also, they have been, you know, online, just viciously characterized.

BUTOWSKY: What have they said to them? Because I have no - I don't have a clue in the world what anyone has said to them or about them.

FOLKENFLIK: To this day, Butowsky says the story that Fox broadcast and retracted is true - every word. David Folkenflik, NPR News.

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