Seth Rich, the voter expansion data director for the Democratic National Committee, was involved in Jewish outreach. (Facebook)

(JTA) — The Trump White House was involved with concocting a Fox News article that linked the death of a Jewish Democratic National Committee aide with WikiLeaks, according to a lawsuit filed by a Fox News commentator.

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Fox News and Trump supporter Ed Butowsky met with Sean Spicer, then a White House spokesman, to inform him about the article involving the 2016 death of Seth Rich, Rod Wheeler alleges in the suit filed Tuesday, NPR reported. Wheeler said a Fox News reporter made up quotes attributed to him as part of the article.

In May, Fox published stories based on unfounded allegations that Rich was targeted because he was leaking information to WikiLeaks. The conservative news channel removed the articles a week after publication, claiming the initial story “was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting.”

Rich, a 27-year-old Nebraska native, was shot dead while walking home before dawn on July 10, 2016. Police have speculated that he was the victim of a robbery gone awry. Rich’s body was found about a block from his Washington, D.C., home with his wallet, watch and cellphone still in his possession.

The lawsuit alleges that Butowsky, a Republican surrogate who appeared on Fox News, bragged that President Donald Trump had looked at drafts of the article prior to its publication, but the Republican supporter told NPR his comments had been a joke. Spicer said he was not aware of Trump being involved with the story, according to NPR.

Fox News and Butowsky made up the article in order to shift public attention away from an FBI probe into the Trump administration’s ties to the Russian government, according to the suit.

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The president of Fox News, Jay Wallace, told NPR that there was no “concrete evidence” that the network’s reporter, Malia Zimmerman, attributed false quotes to Wheeler.

In August, WikiLeaks offered a $20,000 award for information leading to the conviction of Rich’s killer. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in an interview on Netherlands TV suggested that Rich may have been a source for the leaks clearinghouse, reigniting conspiracy theories.

Rich’s parents have criticized conservative news outlets for publishing the conspiracy theories, calling them”baseless” and “unspeakably cruel.”

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