WASHINGTON – Any American who cares about the rule of law should be demanding the truth about the mysterious murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich, says Tim Canova, a Democratic law professor who is challenging former DNC chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz for her congressional seat in 2018.

Canova has been slammed by left-leaning media outlets for calling attention to the unusual circumstances surrounding the July 10, 2016, murder of Rich, the DNC voter-expansion data director who is rumored to have leaked DNC emails to WikiLeaks.

"There should be a thorough investigation of what happened," Canova told WND. "I know thousands of people are asking the same question – they just want to know what happened in this investigation. That's really all I am guilty of, making that plea for a thorough transparent investigation."

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He continued: "Whether we are talking about Seth Rich or anyone else, if you believe in the rule of law, you should want to apprehend people who commit these types of crimes, and I say that without speculating about who did it. I am grateful [WND] is looking into it."

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Canova's 2018 opponent, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., served as DNC chairwoman until emails were made public by WikiLeaks revealing that under her leadership the DNC collaborated to undermine Bernie Sanders' campaign.

Unsolved murder of Seth Rich

As WND has reported, Rich, 27, had accepted a position with Hillary Clinton's campaign just before his death. He was murdered in Washington, D.C., near his apartment in an affluent neighborhood. Rich was shot twice in the back with a handgun, and his wallet, credit cards, watch and phone were left in his possession. The Metropolitan Police Department has described the murder as a "botched robbery."

Private investigators have claimed there is evidence Rich was the source WikiLeaks used to obtain thousands of Democratic National Committee emails released on the eve of the party's presidential nominating convention last July. The emails, indicating the party was manipulating the primary race in favor of Hillary Clinton, led to the resignation of Wasserman Schultz. On July 22, just 12 days after Rich's death and days before the Democratic Party Convention in Philadelphia, WikiLeaks released 20,000 emails from DNC officials.

WND has launched a GoFundMe campaign to get to the bottom of the Seth Rich murder. Help us find out what really happened to the DNC staffer!

Also as WND has reported, former detective Rod Wheeler was initially hired by Rich's parents through a third party to find their son's killer. Wheeler alleges former interim DNC chairwoman Donna Brazille contacted the Metropolitan Police Department demanding to know why he was "snooping" after Wheeler began investigating Rich's murder. As a result, he said, law-enforcement authorities are now refusing to provide him with more details about the case.

Wheeler and another source also told WND that the family's spokesman, Brad Bauman – a Democratic political crisis consultant – was "assigned" to the family by the DNC. Bauman denies the DNC hired him to represent the Rich family, calling the claim "patently 100 percent false."

As WND reported, the total reward for solving Rich's murder currently stands at approximately a half-million dollars. However, the DNC has offered no reward for information leading to the arrest of the murderer of its own young staffer. Instead, the DNC honored its murdered employee by dedicating a bike rack outside its headquarters to Rich's memory.

Watch as WND asks locals for their thoughts on Seth Rich murder and investigation:

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Media, critics pounce with 'conspiracy' label

Establishment media have ignored recent revelations concerning Rich's case. The little coverage of the investigation has been devoted to dismissing speculation surrounding Rich's murder as "conspiracy." And Canova has been ridiculed for speaking out about the unsolved crime.

In a DailyKos article headlined, "Democrat pushing hateful Seth Rich conspiracy theory to run against Wasserman Schultz again," Jeff Singer wrote, "Rich's parents have repeatedly begged people to stop dragging their son through the mud to advance their own agenda, and we can only hope that Canova will listen and stop spreading these lies."

After weighing in on social media about the Seth Rich murder mystery, Canova quickly became the target of widespread criticism.

You realize Canova has continued to suggest DWS killed Seth Rich to cover up DNC leaks? We don't need more conspiracy theorists in office... — Zoey Jordan Salsbury (@zoeyjsalsbury) June 24, 2017

Canova needs to stop exploiting Seth Rich's death. — pro-gres-sive 🌹 (@ZippersNYC) June 24, 2017

"I Facebook live-streamed walking past his murder scene. I happened to be in Washington at the time," Canova told WND. "People objected. They thought I was trying to use his murder for political reasons, that I was disregarding the feelings of Seth Rich's family. So I took down the video. It's others, my opponents, who want to politicize the Seth Rich murder."

He continued: "I think the criminal justice system has to be able to work without political interference. I cross my fingers and hope that the Seth Rich family and others are pushing for a complete investigation."

Why do mainstream and left-leaning media outlets continue to berate those who suspect Rich's murder wasn't robbery related, labeling them as "conspiracy theorists"?

"The mainstream media, they are looking to divide the progressive left," Canova said. "They are looking to demonize and discredit. They try to discredit, and they engage in their own conspiracy theorizing. I'm very unconcerned with what the mainstream media are saying on any given day at this point. I am reaching the voters, where the voters live and where the voters work, and we are talking to the about real issues, the issues they care about.

"Ordinary people," he continued, "don't really give a damn about what the mainstream media are saying. There is a reason why the media are so low in digits in approval ratings. They are lower than Congress at this point."

WND has launched a GoFundMe campaign to get to the bottom of the Seth Rich murder. You can personally help us get to the truth of what really happened.

'My politics were very aligned with Sanders'

Canova told WND he has been a longtime supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

"In 2011, I was appointed by Sen. Bernie Sanders to a select advisory committee on reforming the Federal Reserve, so for years I had been doing a lot of work on the Federal Reserve and other financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund," he said. "My politics were very aligned with Sanders."

Sanders, then a presidential candidate, endorsed Canova, stating in May 2016 that "[Canova's] views are much closer to mine than to Wasserman Schultz's."

However, Sanders recently declined to endorse the law professor in his second Democratic bid for the Florida seat.

Sanders told the Miami Herald: "I have no idea about Tim Canova, I honestly don't. I know nothing about Tim Canova."

Leading conservatives, including Fox News host Sean Hannity and best-selling author Ann Coulter, argue that Democrats' ongoing probe of the Trump administration's alleged collusion with Russia, supposedly to rig the election by hacking DNC emails, will be derailed completely if Rich is proven to have leaked the DNC emails.

Canova concurs with that assessment, arguing that Democrats are hurting themselves by focusing on Russia.

"I am not one to think that the Russian focus is a productive one. I think it a very counterproductive one for the Democratic Party," he said. "A lot of folks want to see more hard evidence if that's what happened. Even taking their narrative as the truth, if the Russians can hack into our election systems, anyone can hack into our election system. And we need to focus a lot on election integrity."

He continued: "I don't have the time to focus on any of this Russia stuff. I am running for office, and I am focused on constituents, who are every day [working to] making ends meet, and worried out of their minds about their job prospects, the job prospects of their children, the health care for their aging parents. These are real issues that real people care about."

DNC and Wasserman Schultz sued for election 'rigging'

As WND reported, the DNC and Wasserman Schultz are currently facing a class-action lawsuit filed by attorneys Elizabeth and Jared Beck on behalf of Bernie Sanders supporters who claim they sought to rig the election.

On June 13, lawyers and plaintiffs suing the DNC told the U.S. District Court in Florida that they're being harassed with threatening messages and "freaky" encounters and they fear for their safety – particularly in the wake of the mysterious and unsolved murder of Rich – but the court denied their request for protection.

On June 1, the Becks filed a motion in court claiming they received a voice-modulated phone call from a number matching Debbie Wasserman Schultz' office.

One of the plaintiffs, Angela Monson, claimed in an affidavit to have awakened to her porch door open. She said both of her computers had been moved and showed evidence of tampering.

Similarly, Canova, who lost his 2016 Democratic primary bid against Wasserman Schultz, alleged June 17 in a now-deleted tweet that his computer was hacked and an electrical surge had fried both of his computers, after he announced an official rematch against her.

"Announced last night 8 p.m. run vs. @DWSTweets again," Canova wrote, implying the disgraced former DNC chair may have been linked to the alleged attack. "At 2 a.m. my computer was attacked & surge protector fried. Same happened last campaign."

Wasserman Schultz 'put finger on the scale ... to clear field for Hillary'

As a longtime Sanders supporter and an outspoken advocate of election integrity, Canova told WND he was infuriated by the foul play that took place within the Democratic Party during its primary.

"It became increasingly clear that as chair of the DNC, [Wasserman Schultz] was putting her fingers on the scale to try to undermine the Sanders campaign and to clear the field for Hillary Clinton," he said. "That aggravated me. I had already been a Bernie Sanders supporter from early on when he got in the race. As it became increasingly clear that Wasserman Schultz wasn't just [failing to represent] her constituents but was really doing an atrocious job as DNC chair, undermining democracy within the Democratic Party, it made the urgency of challenging her that much more acute."

Canova said Debbie Wasserman Schultz's record of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from corporations, while doing nothing to help her constituents, compelled his candidacy.

"During the course of her career, she had taken millions of dollars from big Wall Street banks, fossil fuels and other big corporate interests.

"She took money from private prison corporations, and was pushing for a private prison in our district. Their district has a lot of problems, especially economic problems. Low income, out of work, under employed – and it's never been on her agenda. It's been a very corporate agenda," he explained. "So we started to look around for someone who would challenge her. No one else would, and I did. I am continuing to for those reasons. I think our district needs representation."

Canova said he's disappointed not only in Wasserman Schultz, but in the entire Democratic establishment.

"When I ran against Wasserman Schultz, I was running against the entire establishment, the entire time," he said. "My beef is not just a personal one with Wasserman Schultz. My campaign is not just about replacing a single congresswoman but the party's politics. [I'm] hoping it's ... not too late to reform this party."

Canova said he believes he has a better chance of winning the primary in 2018 now that Hillary Clinton is not running as the party's nominee for president.

To ensure Democratic Party establishment doesn't rig the election against him, as it's accused of doing to Sanders, Canova said he plans to pay for a recount, "no matter the election outcome."

"Certainly, millions of Americans have concerns about the fairness of elections and the way the ballots are counted," he said. "Election integrity is an enormous issue for my campaign. Really, it should be an enormous issue nationwide right now."

Canova argued that Wasserman Schultz is viewed as a liability, even among party insiders, after being forced to resign as DNC chair.

"This time, I am in early," he said. "This time, she is not going to be in a Clinton White House or cabinet. And I am not so sure she can count on the same level of support even from the establishment. Nobody wants to be seen standing next to her and campaigning for her. It's a different race."