ROD WHEELER: Halfway through the investigation, and then up until the point in which this article was released by Fox, there were these quotes in there from me, supposedly saying that I knew for a fact that Seth Rich, the decedent, had been in contact with WikiLeaks, emailing them emails. That was not true.
ARI MELBER (HOST): Well, let's pause. Fox News was reporting you as the source linking the DNC staffer to this hacking.
WHEELER: Right, the reporter.
MELBER: You're saying at time, that was false?
WHEELER: Right. The reporter from Fox News, Malia Zimmerman, she wrote that story. I immediately challenged her, and I said “Malia, that's just simply not true. You and I both know this isn't true.” And she said well, her bosses told her to leave those quotes in there, and I said “Why would you leave something in an article that you know is not true?” And that's why we're here today.
MELBER: Why do you think, as you allege, they made up quotes from you?
WHEELER: Well, I think -- well, I know for fact that Ed Butowski, who was the individual that was funding my investigation, he had been in contact with people from the White House and he was the one that was pushing this Russian hacking narrative by the way, that I didn't know a whole lot about, because I wasn't, you know -- I wasn't trying to debunk a narrative or support a narrative. I was trying to find a murderer. I do know that, and Ed even admitted himself. And then I think the bottom line with all of this, Ari, is the fact that reporter, herself, from Fox News, she even admitted that she lied and put those quotes in there. I mean, she admitted that, but at the same time, to this day they have not retracted that.
[...]
It was rather obvious to me that they actually lured me into this investigation. They meaning Fox News reporter and Ed Butowsky to substantiate this Russian narrative thing or debunk that when in fact they told me that I was really getting involved just to solve a murder. All I want them to do is to correct the record. Just tell the truth.
