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Donald Trump pressured journalists to publish a false conspiracy theory about a murdered Democratic party aide to distract attention from Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, court documents claim.

The story, published by Fox News and later retracted, claimed Democratic National Committee employee Seth Rich had been the source of leaked emails later published by WikiLeaks.

A private investigator cited in the article has filed a lawsuit claiming that he was misquoted, and that he was told the President himself had pressed editors to publish the story immediately.

Rich was shot dead in what police believe was an attempted robbery in Washington DC in July 2016 - but his death spawned a rash of conspiracy theories claiming he was murdered because of involvement in the leaks.

US intelligence chiefs believe the emails were hacked from DNC staffers by Russian operatives and later handed to WikiLeaks.

(Image: The Washington Post)

Rod Wheeler, a former DC detective who was investigating Rich’s murder, says he was deliberately misquoted in an effort to ‘shift blame’ for the leaks away from Russia.

He claims Fox News contributor and Trump supporter Ed Butowsky sent him a text saying the President was eager for the report to be published.

"Not to add any more pressure but the president just read the article," the text message read. "He wants the article out immediately. It's now all up to you. But don't feel the pressure."

Rich’s parents have long complained that Trump supporters have used their son’s death for political purposes.

The release of the emails was damaging to the Hillary Clinton campaign, and are the subject of a string of congressional investigations into possible Kremlin interference in the election in support of Donald Trump.

Wheeler claims Butowsky conspired with Fox News reporter Maria Zimmerman to fabricate the story and invent quotes from him to back it up.

Wheeler was the only named source in the story, and was quoted twice.

The article claimed he had said: “'My investigation up to this point shows there was some degree of email exchange between Seth Rich and Wikileaks.”

A second quote read: “My investigation shows someone within the DC government, Democratic National Committee or Clinton team is blocking the murder investigation from going forward. That is unfortunate. Seth Rich's murder is unsolved as a result of that.”

(Image: REUTERS)

In his lawsuit, filed today, Wheeler denies making the statements, and says he has “suffered irreparable damage to his reputation and his career will likely never recover.”

The lawsuit also cites a voicemail message from Butowsky, in which he says: “A couple minutes ago I got a note that we have the full, uh, attention of the White House on this. And tomorrow let’s close this deal. Whatever we’ve got to do. But you can feel free to say that the White House is on to this now.”

Court documents claim that this was the point reporter Malia Zimmerman decided to add in the two quotes, attributed to Wheeler.

Butowski has branded the lawsuit "bulls**t", claims he did not share the story with the White House and that he has never spoken to Trump.

The lawsuit reads: “According to Butowsky, the statements were falsely attributed to Mr Wheeler because that is the way the President wanted the article.

“Zimmerman, Butowsky and Fox had created fake news to advance President Trump’s agenda.”

In a statement, the Rich family said: “While we can’t speak to the evidence that you now have, we are hopeful this brings an end to what has been the most emotionally difficult time in our lives, an end to conspiracy theories surrounding our beloved Seth.”

In a statement, FOX News Channel’s president of news Jay Wallace said: "The Accusation that FoxNews.com published Malia Zimmerman’s story to help detract from coverage of the Russia collusion issue is completely erroneous. The retraction of this story is still being investigated internally and we have no evidence that Rod Wheeler was misquoted by Zimmerman.”