Matt Woolbright

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

Corpus Christi Republican Congressman Blake Farenthold considers the source behind the 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee's email server an unanswered question and believes a federal investigation is warranted.

Speaking on CNN Wednesday, the fourth-term congressman refuted a widely believed conclusion that the Russian government interfered with the U.S. presidential election to aid President Donald Trump's campaign and instead indicated a conspiracy theory about a slain Democratic National Committee staffer could be true.

"My fear is our constant focusing on the Russians is deflecting away for some other things that we need to be investigating," Farenthold said on the network. "There’s still some question as to whether the intrusion of the DNC server was an insider job or whether or not it was the Russians."

Later Wednesday, Farenthold elaborated on his opinion of how the investigation should be handled in a phone interview with the Caller-Times. The death should be investigated in the same manner Russian interference has been reviewed, he said.

"That should be a part of the ongoing investigation into alleged Russian interference in the election, because that’s an alternative theory that deserves being looked at," Farenthold said.

The "insider job" theory centers on the July murder of Seth Rich, who worked for the Democratic National Committee and was shot in the back. D.C. Police officials have said the homicide was likely a failed robbery attempt, but the case remains unsolved with no suspects or witnesses.

The conspiracy was born after Wikileaks founder Julian Assange made cryptic comments when asked if Rich was a source for the website before offering a $20,000 reward for information on his murder. Rich's mother also initially questioned the failed robbery conclusion because Rich's valuables were not taken. The family has since backed up the police theory on the case.

Fox News published a story on May 16 about developments in the case that would support the conspiracy theory, but the story was later retracted after it was determined to not meet the network's "high degree of editorial scrutiny."

While he has not formed an opinion on the nature of Rich's death, Farenthold said the theory that it was a retaliatory killing for leaking committee information is "as credible as the anonymous sources being cited in the (Former-FBI Director James) Comey and Russian stories against President Trump."

Farenthold said the Russian conclusion is premature until there's a review of Democratic committee's computer system by an independent investigator.

"We’re relying only on the report of somebody that the DNC contracted to examine their computer rather than having federal officials," Farenthold said. "To me, we need to let the feds look at it."

The lack of an outside review of that computer system taints evidence cited in arguments tying Russia to email hack, Farenthold said later Wednesday.