Kim Dotcom wins over Trump's favourite broadcaster, angles for US trip with Russia probe 'evidence'

UPDATE: Sean Hannity has dropped his crusade for Kim Dotcom's theory about slain DNC operative Seth Rich. 

“Out of respect for the family’s wishes, for now, I am not discussing the matter at this time,” the Fox News broadcaster told his audience on Tuesday night US time.

It may have also been in the back of Mr Hannity's mind that advertisers had started to desert his show over the flaky conspiracy theory.

EARLIER: Accused pirate Kim Dotcom has won the ear of Donald Trump's favourite broadcaster – and it can only help his case.

The German claims he has evidence that it was a Democrat Party insider, not Russian hackers, who supplied Wikileaks with emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton. If true, the claim could help extricate US President Donald Trump from the FBI probe into his campaign's ties with Russia, recently taken over by special prosecutor Robert Mueller. 

It goes like this:

Sean Hannity has a show that screens every night on Fox News plus an audience of 13.5 million for his syndicated radio show.

Over the weekend, Mr Hannity latched on to new claims about the unsolved murder of Democratic National Committee IT staffer Seth Rich.

Mr Rich was shot in the back near his home in Washington DC last year.

DC police have yet to solve his murder. His family believe it was a robbery gone wrong.

Since his murder, there have been conspiracy theories that Mr Rich was killed because he was the source of DNC emails supplied to Wikileaks, not Russian operatives as FBI investigations have suggested. The proposition is that he was killed in a cover-up.

Rumours reignite
Last Monday, the rumour mill reignited after Rod Wheeler, a Washington private investigator who was hired by the Rich family to look into the death of their son, suggested in an interview with a Fox station in Washington DC there was “tangible evidence” the slain DNC operative had communicated with WikiLeaks before his death.

However, on Tuesday afternoon, the PI seemed to 'walk back' his story. CNN reported the detective saying he had “no evidence” that Mr Rich had contacted WikiLeaks and that he had “only learned about the possible existence of such evidence” through a reporter at Fox [UPDATE: The Fox affiliate retracted its story today, May 23 US time].

Then, in a third interview later the same day, Mr Wheeler said he could not say definitively either way if the evidence existed. He had heard about it secondhand.

In the middle of it all, the Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department issued a statement saying “the assertions put forward by Mr Wheeler [on Monday] are unfounded.” The DC police continue to believe it was a robbery.

Dotcom enters the frame
Enter Mr Dotcom, who over the weekend tweeted:

I knew Seth Rich. I know he was the @Wikileaks source. I was involved. https://t.co/MbGQteHhZM

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) May 20, 2017

To back up his claims, Dotcom linked to a May 2015 story in which he predicted Julian Assange would cause "roadblocks" for Hillary Clinton. Assuming it's true, Mr Dotcom has a line of communication with Wikileaks, does he have proof Mr Rich was the source of the DNC emails?

Surprisingly, Mr Hannity jumped into Twitter to ask Mr Dotcom just that, tweeting the accused German pirate "You are the evidence? Can you explain that in more detail?"

Mr Dotcom came back with the rather unpromising "I am the evidence."

He then said he would consult his lawyers on Monday before making a statement on Tuesday.

Longtime Dotcom followers weren't holding their breath for detailed evidence; his much-hyped "Big Reveal" rally on the eve of the 2014 election turned out to be a damp squib.

Nonetheless, Mr Hannity's curiosity was tweaked. He tweeted from his verified account:

Stay tuned. Public invitation Kim Dotcom to be a guest on radio and TV. #GameChanger Buckle up destroy Trump media. Sheep that u all are!!! https://t.co/3qLwXCGl6z

— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) May 20, 2017

Mr Dotcom won't appear on Mr Hannity's radio show tonight but (as detailed in preview audio posted to SoundCloud). But the US broadcaster does read a statement from Mr Dotcom (see transcript below), in which the accused pirate says he now knows a person called "Panda" who emailed him in late 2015 was Mr Rich. Mr Dotcom says he is willing to travel to the US to give his evidence, as long as Mr Mueller provides a guarantee of safe passage. His lawyers are trying to arrange it now.

True to form, there are no hard details. But there are enough scattered details to tantalise, and Mr Hannity – in the immortal words of Fox Mulder – wants to believe.

Likely to catch the president's eye
It's likely Mr Hannity will also address Mr Dotcom's theory on his Fox News show. And as Donald Trump is a keen Fox News viewer and someone who sorely wants an alternative theory to Russian collusion, it's not out of the question that he could adopt Dotcom's theory, too. And, certainly, having POTUS in his corner, certainly wouldn't hurt the Dotcom extradition case. 

There are stumbling blocks, however. Presumably Mr Mueller – an apolitical law-enforcement heavyweight respected by both parties – sighted significant evidence of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign. It seems unlikely he would have come out of retirement to lead the probe unless there was a serious case to investigate. And of course, collusion would go well beyond email hacking. There are already reports of bank records being subpoenaed.

It seems fair to ask – given his hatred for the Clintons – why Mr Dotcom did not release his evidence before the election. A visitor from Mars might wonder if the Seth Rich conspiracy theory only popped into his head last week as Mr Wheeler hit the airwaves last week with his new "evidence." 

By the way, Mr Hannity has made no mention of why Mr Dotcom's various past convictions, his copyright, racketeering and money laundering charges, or that the judge involved in his latest hearing said evidence suggested the Megaupload accused had been untruthful in his communications with copyright holders.  

On February 17, the High Court in Auckland upheld a District Court decision to extradite Kim Dotcom and his co-accused, citing an answerable case for fraud. Dotcom and co are now headed for the Court of Appeal.

By the time he appears, Mr Dotcom could have more friends in the White House. He certainly hopes so. He tweeted this afternoon:

Someone with the integrity, acumen & experience of @seanhannity belongs in the White House with @realDonaldTrump. Imagine that. #savehannity

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) May 23, 2017

The #SaveHannity hashtag is a reference to the broadcaster – who is third in his 10pm timeslot – to lift ratings.

Mr Hannity's embrace of his Seth Rich conspiracy theory – despite the Fox affiliate that dropped it reversing its story – has also led for a watchdog group to call for advertisers to boycott his show.

In one of his many Dotcom/Seth Rich tweets early today, Mr Hannity fanned controversy by saying he would make a statement about "my future at Fox."

Unfortunately for Mr Dotcom, the LA Times and other media have latched onto Mr Hannity's hint that he may jump ship. For the time being, that meme is drowning out the Dotcom narrative. Bad luck, Kim.

RAW DATA: Transcript: Sean Hannity reads statement from Kim Dotcom (from around 14min into the audio file above):

I know that Seth Rich was involved in the DNC leak. Seth Rich was a hero.

I know this because in late 2014 a person contacted me about starting a branch of the Internet Party in the United States – a party that he was supporting in New Zealand.

He called himself Panda. And I now know that Panda was Seth Rich.

Panda advised me he was working on voter analytic tools and other technologies that the Internet Party may find helpful.

I communicated with Panda on a number of topics, including corruption, the influence of corporate money in politics. He wanted to change that from the inside.

I was referring to what I knew when I did an interview with Bloomberg in May 2015. In that interview I hinted that Julian Assange and Wikileaks would release information about Hillary Clinton in the upcoming election. The Rich family has reached out to me to ask me to be sensitive to their loss in my public comments. That request is entirely reasonable.

I have consulted with my attorneys. I have accepted that my full statement should be provided to the authorities. I’m prepared to do that so there can be a full investigation.

My lawyers will speak with the authorities regarding the proper process.

If my evidence is required to be given in the United States, I would be prepared to do so if appropriate arrangements could be made. I would need a guarantee from the special counsel Mueller on behalf of the United States of safe passage from New Zealand to the US and back. In the coming days we will be communicating with the appropriate authorities to make the necessary arrangements. In the meantime, I’ll make no further comment.