Quasi-journalistic posts like the one pictured below have been gaining traction across social media. Containing some facts and some fiction, this post lists the deaths of four politically relevant individuals and insinuates a sinister connection to the Democratic National Committee. But do all of these deaths point to the left of the two-party regime? A closer look shows otherwise.
1. Seth Conrad Rich
An employee of the Democratic National Committee, was not on his way to meet with the FBI. He was shot twice in the back on his way home, a couple blocks from his house.
Though there had been a rise in robberies in the area, his attackers took nothing from him.
Hillary Clinton spoke on Rich’s murder, promoting her policy of government-centered gun control. "Surely we can agree that weapons of war have no place on the streets of America,” she said.
2. John Ashe
Former president of the United Nations General Assembly was not going to testify against the DNC or Hillary Clinton. In fact, the trial he was awaiting was his own. Ashe had been indicted for bribery and misreporting his use of over $1 million. The bribery case included a “conspiracy involving five others, including a billionaire Chinese businessman and a former deputy U.N. ambassador from the Dominican Republic, according to a criminal complaint.”
The Chinese businessman happens to be Ng Lap Seng, who was the alleged mysterious benefactor of the Clinton money scandal in 1997. Ng’s involvement with the current UN scandal suggests that the issue goes beyond Hillary Clinton, two-party politics, and even the White House.
The UN ambassador involved in the scandal, Francis Lorenzo, had already “pleaded guilty to bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery, money laundering, tax fraud and illegal bank accounts.” Lorenzo testified that Ashe was planning to use the bribe money to help fund a UN conference center in Macau, Ng Lap Seng’s home.
Although Ng pleaded not guilty, the three remaining conspirators have since changed their pleas to guilty. It was likely that Ashe would have pleaded guilty as well, further compromising Ng’s position.
Dan Thomas, UN spokesman, reported that Ashe died of a sudden heart attack. Later, a Westchester, New York, medical examiner found that Ashe’s neck had been crushed, saying he “died of injuries while lifting a barbell on a bench.”
3. Victor Thorn
He died on August 1 of a gunshot wound on a mountaintop near his home. It was his birthday. Thorn was, in fact, the author of several books detailing alleged scandals involving the Clintons, including Crowning Clinton: Why Hillary Shouldn’t Be In the White House.
Unfortunately, the media has been strangely silent on Thorn’s apparent suicide. Credible accounts are scarce. The initial report comes from American Free Press, a newspaper for which he wrote for over 10 years. Police are currently investigating Thorn’s death.
4. Shawn Lucas
He was not the lead attorney in the DNC fraud class action suit. He did, however, personally serve the lawsuit papers to Chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz at Washington, D.C.’s DNC headquarters in Ricardo Villaba’s viral video.
The DNC filed a motion to dismiss the suit due to improper service.
Lucas was found dead in his bathroom by his girlfriend on August 2 (not August 4, as the above viral post says). The authorities have not yet released information on the cause of death.
In conclusion, even if these four men were connected to the DNC, the issues involved in their deaths were much broader in scope than either side of the political machine. Public accountability, freedom of speech and international corruption are not bound by contrived partisan agendas.
