Thread by @MattGertz

1. Monday marked the 700th day since Fox News retracted its Seth Rich conspiracy theory story and promised to conduct an internal investigation into what went wrong.

We're still waiting. mediamatters.org/blog/2019/04/2…

2. Fox's Rich internal probe has now gone on longer that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. No public updates have been given, and at this point it is unlikely that any ever will be.

3. The author of the story apparently still works at Fox, her editor was actually promoted, and of course there's been no accountability for Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich, Steve Doocy, or anyone else at Fox who pushed the conspiracy theory. No public apologies have been made.

4. Last week brought a new opportunity for Fox to response, as Mueller reported that WikiLeaks had waged a disinformation campaign aimed at suggesting Rich had been its source.

5. That campaign took place in part on Fox News, where Sean Hannity interviewed Julian Assange and floated the theory that a "disgruntled Democrat" had been his source.

6. After the interview, during which Assange repeatedly said the Russian government had not been his source, Hannity commented, "I believe ever word he says." He was still suggesting that Russian hackers were not the source as recently as April 11. mediamatters.org/video/2019/04/…

7. The network’s PR team is still refusing to answer questions about how its Rich reporting went wrong, and its reporters have not addressed the Mueller report’s revelations about Rich in detail on-air.

8. And Hannity himself has been lashing out at other media outlets while ignoring the fact that he was promoting lies.

9. At this point, I think we can conclude that Fox's internal probe is never coming, that it was a sham designed to get the heat off until the rest of the press lost interest.

10. Fox is a propaganda outlet. Its executives care about its brand, not about ethical standards or giving their audience the truth.

The pain of Rich’s family is simply the cost of doing business.