Matt Couch Press Release: Seth Rich Trial
It is with a heavy heart that I have to make this announcement in our Seth Rich investigation on Sunday evening February 9th, 2020.
The federal judge who is presiding over the lawsuit I am involved in (Rich v. Butowsky, et al 18-cv-00681) has ruled that I do not have source privilege, and thus must give up all of my recordings, video, and audio of sources in our Seth Rich murder investigation. This is extremely disheartening and damning to the First Amendment of the United States of America.
As many of you know I have been conducting a multiple year investigation into the unsolved murder of Seth Conrad Rich, a DNC Employee and Whistleblower who was murdered in the early morning hours on July 10th, 2016 in the District of Columbia.
During the investigation, I have been helped by patriots who have worked for free, pro bono, tirelessly digging and investigating into this murder. We have multiple audios of key sources in our Seth Rich murder investigation. We gave these people our word that we would protect them, and protect their identities. Now we have to give this information over to the plaintiff, the brother of Seth Rich who is suing us for “defamation.” We have fought this decision with everything we have, even pointing out to the Judge that at least one other news organization is raising nearly identical issues and that it would be highly prejudicial for a decision to be rendered against us before the judge makes his decision on the other news organization.
Unfortunately the Judge has rejected all our arguments and has given me until close of business on Monday to give up my source information, including sources that have absolutely nothing to do with this case, but may lead into this case. We have fought long and hard to protect those involved. We feel like we owe it to those of you who have followed us and supported us to offer you extreme transparency. Let it be known that we are against this decision and all that it stands for. It’s not right. It goes against EVERYTHING our founding fathers stood for. We will continue to fight for Justice, we will continue to fight for the truth. Eventually, we will appeal and we are confident that we will win. Just because we are not part of the coastal elites does not mean the First Amendment does not apply to us. In fact, independent journalists like ourselves are the ONLY reason that certain stories, like what really happened with Seth Rich, are not buried completely by powerful interests that want YOU kept in the dark. If it were not for independent journalists, Seth Rich would have been long forgotten. This is a fight for his memory. We believe he saw the corruption in the DNC — sound familiar? — and wanted to help the public learn the truth. They say we are hurting his memory, but we say we are honoring it. We call on the Department of Justice and the FBI to conduct a full, fair and impartial investigation into his murder and any links betwen him and Wikileaks.
The plaintiff’s attorneys are two of the most powerful Democrat law firms in America and include a former Associate White House Counsel for none other than Barack Obama. It makes you think. WHY would it be SO important to silence a conservative voice from Arkansas?
We are concerned for the safety and well being of our sources and have done everything we could to protect them. Please pray for our sources, they need you now more than ever. With your support, we know they will be safe and we will prevail.
https://thedcpatriot.com/major-announcement-source-privilege-first-amendment-rights-denied-to-matt-couch-the-fight-for-truth-continues/
video was posted to his twitter account.