Fox News retracts bogus Seth Rich story, while Sean Hannity doubles down and declares he is "not Fox News.com."

You might remember this conspiracy theory put out by Info Wars, the Russians, Sarah Palin, and Fox News suggesting that a young DNC staffer was murdered after sending incriminating materials about Hillary Clinton and the DNC to Wikileaks.

The story had earlier been debunked by Snopes, but for some reason the Right Wing resurrected it to distract from the ongoing Trump/Russia investigation.

Well yesterday Fox came to their senses and deleted their story and made this comment: 

On May 16, a story was posted on the Fox News website on the investigation into the 2016 murder of DNC Staffer Seth Rich. The article was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting. 

Upon appropriate review, the article was found not to meet those standards and has since been removed. We will continue to investigate this story and will provide updates as warranted. 

Just a rare moment of journalistic integrity on their part, and Seth Rich's parents were quick to thank them for it:   

Rich’s family said it was grateful for the story’s removal. 

“The family would like to thank Fox News for their retraction on a story that has caused deep pain and anguish to the family and has done harm to Seth Rich’s legacy,” the family said through a spokesman. “We are hopeful that in the future that Fox News will work with the family to ensure the highest degree of professionalism and scrutiny is followed so that only accurate facts are reported surrounding this case.”

The Daily Caller also removed their story:

Daily Caller has taken down its Seth Rich story:https://t.co/ibsAHQ4wOh pic.twitter.com/3OJVMXB5Lm

— Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) May 23, 2017

However the story is still being spread on Right Wing news sites, and Sean Hannity has broken ranks with Fox to join with them in that endeavor.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

Fox News’s Sean Hannity ripped his critics and the mainstream media on his nationally syndicated radio program Tuesday, saying, “I am not Fox.com or FoxNews.com, I retracted nothing.”

"For those accusing me of pushing a conspiracy theory, you are the biggest phony hypocrites in the entire world," Hannity said Tuesday. 

“This issue, it’s so big now that the entire Russia collusion narrative is hanging by a thread,” he said, referencing media coverage of the investigations into the Trump campaign and possible ties to Russia's meddling in the presidential election last year. “If in fact, take Seth out of it, there was a whistleblower within the DNC — a truth-teller that was actually the source for WikiLeaks, not Russia — working with the Trump campaign. These are questions that I have a moral obligation to ask, and I will do the mainstream media’s job like I have most of my career.”

"I will do the mainstream media's job like I have most of my career?" WTF?

Hannity's bizarre fixation on this story has reportedly upset others working at Fox News: 

Staffers at the conservative Fox News Channel are blasting host Sean Hannity and others at the network for their "disappointing" choice to push conspiracy theories about the murder of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich. 

"It hurts those of us who are legitimately focused on journalism," one employee told CNN. 

"We have a chance to turn the corner at Fox, and perpetuating this conspiracy theory damages our integrity," the employee continued.

This is odd, it is almost as if somebody is pushing Hannity to continue fanning this conspiracy theory who has more sway over him than his employers apparently do.

And as for his employment, I am beginning to think that Hannity's departure from Fox News is now imminent.