Parents of slain Jewish DNC staffer Seth Rich sue Fox News

The parents of murdered Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich are suing Fox News for knowingly spreading a false account of their son’s death in 2016.

Police say Rich was killed during a botched robbery, but conspiracy theorists have circulated rumors that he was killed because he was a source for Wikileaks.

Several days after Rich’s death, WikiLeaks released a collection of DNC emails that US intelligence officials now say was related to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

According to the lawsuit, Joel and Mary Rich say Fox News investigative reporter Malia Zimmerman and Fox News commentator Ed Butowsky reached out to them under false pretenses to support their story that their son leaked the emails.

“No parent should ever have to live through what we have been forced to endure,” the lawsuit says according to CNN. “The pain and anguish that comes from seeing your murdered son’s life and legacy treated as a mere political football is beyond comprehension.”

Fox removed the story from its website a week after it was published, admitting “it was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all of our reporting.” That forced Fox News’ most high-profile host, Sean Hannity, to back away from aggressively pushing the story on the air.