A new lawsuit claims President Donald Trump told Fox News to run a story designed to help distract from allegations of Russian ties.

The Daily Beast reports private investigator Rob Wheeler is suing Fox News Channel after the network claimed he was the source of a conspiracy theory that Seth Rich, a Democratic National Committee employee who was murdered in 2016, may have been killed in retaliation for leaking DNC emails to WikiLeaks. Wheeler quickly disputed the story, but Fox News didn't retract it until six days later while TV host Sean Hannity continued to promote it.

Wheeler, a former DC Metropolitan Police Department homicide detective and Fox News contributor, says the network fabricated two quotes from him that he never said.

Court papers also claim that Fox News sent an article draft to the White House for review, and allegedly took direct orders from Trump to connect the DNC to Rich's murder "to help lift the cloud of the Russia investigation." Trump's campaign is under investigation for possible collusion with Russia.

According to BuzzFeed, documents include a screenshot of a text message, sent by a conservative Dallas billionaire who allegedly hired Wheeler to investigate Rich's death, stating that the president had read the article before publication and "wants [it] out immediately."

Rich was shot and killed near his home in northwest Washington, D.C., on July 10, less than two weeks before 19,000 emails from Democratic Party officials appeared on WikiLeaks. The 27-year-old Nebraska native had been working for the DNC after previously helping with Democrats' campaigns, and the timing of his death raised questions with supporters of the Julian Assange website known for publishing worldwide political and business secrets.

Conspiracy theories returned in May when the network ran a speculative story with the P.I. as its only source. It spread like wildfire among Trump supporters who disagree with U.S. intelligence findings that Russian hackers were behind the DNC breach.

It's unclear what damages Wheeler is seeking.

Fox News removed the original story in May, saying it was "not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting." Hannity ceased promoting the story on the air, but told fans on Twitter that he was "not stopping, I am working harder" to get the "truth."

Rich's murder remains unsolved. Police told the Rich family he may have been the victim of an attempted robbery gone wrong, and continue to investigate.

Fox News released a statement Tuesday: "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. Additionally, FOX News vehemently denies the race discrimination claims in the lawsuit -- the dispute between Zimmerman and Rod Wheeler has nothing to do with race."