Republican Congressman Demands Full FBI Disclosure on Seth Rich’s Unsolved Killing

A Tennessee Republican has formally called on the FBI to hand over every record it holds regarding the 2016 death of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich.

Representative Tim Burchett announced on social media that he has asked FBI Director Kash Patel to release all files connected to the case. His office confirmed that an official letter was sent to Patel making the same request and stressing that the public has a right to know what the bureau possesses.

In the letter, Burchett wrote that he is seeking the complete release of FBI materials on Rich’s death, consistent with the current administration’s stated commitment to greater transparency.

The move has renewed focus on a case that has remained unresolved for nearly a decade. Rich, then 27, was shot and killed in the early morning hours of July 10, 2016, while walking home in Washington, D.C. Police have long described the incident as a botched robbery, yet no arrests have been made and the investigation has produced no conclusive answers.

The killing attracted intense national attention during the 2016 presidential campaign after speculation arose that Rich may have leaked internal Democratic National Committee emails to WikiLeaks. That theory has never been confirmed by authorities.

For years the FBI maintained it had no relevant records on the matter. Following Freedom of Information Act litigation, however, the bureau later admitted it holds more than 20,000 pages of potentially related material, Rich’s work laptop, and an image of his personal laptop. These revelations raised additional questions about why the agency had initially denied possessing any pertinent files.

Recent reports suggest that still more documents may have been located in secure storage areas at FBI headquarters. According to the attorney handling the FOIA requests, these records were reportedly found in containers marked for destruction inside a previously concealed room at the bureau’s headquarters—the same type of facility where other sensitive files from a different high-profile investigation were reportedly discovered. The FBI has not confirmed these latest findings.

Burchett’s request is framed around basic transparency. He argues that because the FBI has already acknowledged holding thousands of pages tied to the case, the American people should be allowed to review what the agency knows about the unsolved murder of a young DNC employee.

The demand arrives amid broader conservative pressure on the Trump administration to declassify and release records connected to politically charged investigations from past years. For now, the core issue raised by the congressman remains straightforward: an unsolved killing in the nation’s capital, thousands of pages of federal records, and a public still waiting for answers.