Clinton body count

The Clinton body count (formerly Clinton body bags[2]) is a conspiracy theory originally perpetrated by Larry Nichols and Pat Matrisciana who made the 1990 direct-to-video Bill and Hillary Clinton's Circle of Power,[3][4] followed by the 1994 direct-to-video The Clinton Chronicles.[5][2][6] The 1994 video was promoted and sold by Jerry Falwell.[6] Conspiracy-promoter Rob Smith has alleged without substantiation on Conservapedia that Danny Casolaro (1947–1991) initiated the conspiracy in this largely lost manuscript The Octopus.[7][8] The conspiracy alleges that Bill and Hillary Clinton are responsible for the deaths of around 140 people.

Bwah-ha-ha![1]

Some dare call it Conspiracy

What THEY don't want you to know!

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The conspiracy theory is based on finding various vaguely suspicious but unconnected deaths, and then bullshitting a great deal to make it seem like the Clintons were somehow responsible. Generally the Clintons are portrayed as leaders of a deep state group, or as pawns of the military-industrial complex. Any holes in the theory are explained away as a "coverup". The sub-conspiracies contained within this unified conspiracy theory include:

• 2012 Benghazi attack
• Vince Foster's death
• Deaths of FBI agents at the siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas (but none of the deaths of Branch Davidians)
• Whitewater
• Murder of Seth Rich
• Pizzagate
• QAnon

Needless to say the entire idea is the fabrications of straw-grasping conspiracy theorists, and has been thoroughly debunked.[2]

Premise

Origin and evolution

The basic premise is that Bill and Hillary Clinton have quietly bumped off dozens of people in order to hide their criminal conspiracy/ties to the NWO/ties to the global Satanic pedophile consortium. This conspiracy is old. It seems to have begun in 1993 with a list compiled by Linda Thompson, a pro-gun hack, which was titled "The Clinton Body Count: Coincidence or the Kiss of Death?"[2][9] Thompson admitted that she had no evidence whatsoever that the Clintons were guilty of any wrongdoing, but this didn't stop GOP Representative William Dannemeyer from making his own list and spreading it around.[2] The conspiracy theory reemerged during the 2008 election cycle.

The "Clinton body count" is laughably stupid no matter how one looks at it. To believe the claims, one must accept that the Clintons are hyper-competent criminal masterminds who were able to arrange dozens of murders and cover them up perfectly. One must accept that Bill Clinton was able to suppress any evidence, leaks, or whistleblowers despite having proven that he was unable to lie effectively about a simple blowjob.

Nonetheless, the conspiracy reared its ugly head and hit its peak during the absolute shitshow that was the 2016 U.S. presidential election, no doubt to the glee of the conspiracy-minded Donald Trump. This time, claims centered around the murder of Democratic Party campaigner Seth Rich in an apparent robbery gone bad. The story went national because it happened shortly after WikiLeaks dumped a large number of embarrassing emails from the Democratic National Committee, sparking rumors that Seth Rich had been assassinated in retaliation for his presumed involvement.[10] The conspiracy theory was successfully used by right-wing pundits and fake news sources to contribute to an atmosphere of distrust towards Hillary Clinton, and this almost certainly contributed to her election defeat.[11]

How to add to the conspiracy

• Find literally any recently deceased journalist, lawyer, or politician.
• Invent something to connect them to one or both the Clintons.
• Claim their death was "highly suspicious".
• Bullshit until everyone stops bothering to argue.
• Bask in your delusion of having "proved" that "the Clintons did it".

Specific individuals

Vince Foster

See the main article on this topic: Vince Foster

A central "starting point" for the conspiracy is the allegation that Vince Foster's suicide was murder and a coverup, often by sarcastically alleging he "committed suicide by shooting himself twice in the back of the head". This is a complete and total fabrication. The gun was fired two times, once when he shot himself in the mouth (specifically the posterior oropharynx) and once when police officers tested the ballistics of the gun in a crime lab.[12] The first appearance of these claims is not clear, but there's no legitimate source for them.

Seth Rich

See the main article on this topic: Murder of Seth Rich

Seth Rich was a campaign worker for the Democratic Party who was sadly murdered in a robbery gone wrong. Or is that just what they want you to think? After his murder, conspiracy theorists and right-wing pundits started propagating the baseless idea that Seth Rich was responsible for sharing internal Democratic Party documents with Wikileaks.[13] There is zero evidence to back up the claim, and they obviously started "asking questions" just to manufacture a supposed motive for the Clintons to bump Rich off.

Peddlers of the conspiracy include Sean Hannity, who persisted even after Fox News claimed to have pulled the story, and Julian Assange, who started using the conspiracy theory was a way to publicly distract from his organization's ties to Russia.[14] The Russian Embassy in London also got in on the action by tweeting a picture of Seth Rich and Hillary Clinton in the background, with text saying, "Who Killed Seth Rich?"[15]

Conspiracists like to say that Rich's murder was most likely a hit because his valuables were still on the scene. However, it's not unusual for would-be robbers to flee the scene after shooting someone for fear of being caught, and Rich was still conscious and breathing when authorities found him, rendering theories of a professional hit very unlikely.[16]

The conspiracy theory has caused anguish among Rich's family, and his parents wrote that "With every conspiratorial flare-up, we are forced to relive Seth’s murder and a small piece of us dies as more of Seth’s memory is torn away from us."[17]

Jeffrey Epstein

When billionaire scumbag Jeffrey Epstein was indicted in July 2019 for raping underage girls at his private island and possibly selling them out to his rich asshole friends, both the media and the public immediately focused on the fact that Epstein had been friends with both Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.[18] Surely that had no negative impact on political tensions in the United States. Epstein had also previously received a sweetheart plea deal from former Trump Labor Secretary Alex Acosta (then a federal prosecutor in Florida), the scandal from which later led to Acosta's resignation.[19] Bill Clinton, meanwhile, was revealed by flight logs to have ridden on Epstein's private plane, allegedly called the "Lolita Express."[20]

When Epstein was found dead in his cell by apparent suicide, various pundits and politicians noted that it was suspicious that a man who could have indicted other rich assholes in a pedophilia ring was suddenly silenced.[21] Online, the phrase "Epstein didn’t kill himself" became a meme.[22] Naturally, a dead guy with a salacious story around him was perfect fuel for the internet's conspiracy theorists, and they started acting as if Epstein had been found with Bill Clinton's fingerprints on his constricted throat, and with Bill Clinton's photo ID clutched in his dead hand.

In reality, his suicide seems to be a result of basic negligence. Epstein, who had previously tried to hang himself, was taken off suicide watch prematurely and left alone in his cell with no cellmate and no supervision.[23] It's apparent that the lower Manhattan federal prison in which Epstein was incarcerated had utterly failed to follow its own protocols.[24] Reports suggest that Epstein was having difficulties adjusting to prison life, as you might expect from a dickwad billionaire, and he was also among the demographic of inmates who are most likely to commit suicide (recently incarcerated prisoners awaiting trial).[25]

Conspiracy theories also ignore that Mr. Epstein was not the sole source of evidence that could, hypothetically, be used against those with purported motivation to kill him. His accusers are still alive and have a voice.[26] Moreover, evidence of other possible crimes (e.g., emails, phone records, financial statements, address books[27], etc.) would easily survive Mr. Epstein. Assuming that conspirators were powerful and clever enough to murder Mr. Epstein in a secure federal detention facility by himself, yet incapable of eliminating other witnesses and destroying other evidence, or too stupid to consider that killing Mr. Epstein might not be enough to cover their tracks, is beyond credulity.

Trump naturally joined in on the hysteria by retweeting a post suggesting that Epstein was murdered by the Clintons, even including #ClintonBodyCount.[28] Of course, the honorable and trustworthy Donald Trump would never peddle baseless conspiracies.^{Do You Believe That?}

Tim Bergling

Tim Bergling, the Swedish musician known under the nick name AVICII, born 1989, committed suicide in April 2018.

According to conspiracy theorists however, including those in YouTube comment sections, his death is related to his September 2015 music video “For A Better Day”, which shows fictional scenes of child trafficking, a topic related to the pizzagate theory. The video has been viewed 87 million times as of January 2020.[29]

Originally, the conspiracy had nothing to do with pizzagate, and was spread by a fake news website known as "Neon Nettle" that is known for posting false stories about pedophiles.[30] However, by 2020, the theory became inextricably linked to pizzagate, as evidenced by the comments on the "For a Better Day" video.

The conspiracists additionally believe Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington and Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, both of whom had committed suicide, to have been killed as a part of the conspiracy as well.[31] Why wouldn't any of their bandmates have ever brought this up if this was the case is unanswered by the theorists.

In reality, all three were known to have mental health issues.[32][33][34] Spreading these kinds of conspiracies is problematic, as asserting that there's no way these people could have killed themselves may cause people to take warning signs such as depression less seriously.

Proponents

Danny Casolaro

• Danny Casolaro, the originator of the conspiracy. When he died from suicide,[35] people claimed the "Clintons did it" too, because of course they did.
• Conservapedia[36]
• Patrick Matrisciana, maker of a documentary film called The Clinton Chronicles which The Washington Post described as "bizarre and unsubstantiated".[37]
• Victor Thorn (1962–2016), neo-Nazi/Nazi apologist, Holocaust denier, antisemite and conspiracy theorist.[38][39][40] He was the author of the book Hillary (And Bill) The Murder Volume, published by the conspiracy theory publisher American Free Press.[41] Thorn committed suicide, so by conspiracy logic he must have been murdered[42] (or "suicided" in conspiracy parlance.[36])

Supposed victims

As with most conspiracy theories, the narrative is always evolving, and new "victims" are added all the time. Most of these people had little or no fame particularly before their deaths (e.g. Foster). The lack of fame for most of these people probably fuels the conspiracy mindset into thinking that it is therefore easily covered up, although with the rise of QAnon and Pizzagate more famous people started showing up in the list as well. Several of these alleged victims survived the purported assassination attempts.[2][36] The sheer amount of conspiracy theories you'd have to believe in to think all of these people were killed by the Clintons is staggering, but that keeps the conspiracy going as any new deaths can easily be added to the narrative. The list:[9][41][36]

• Donald Joe Adams
• John Ashe (1954–2016)
• William S. Barkley (–1993) (Presidential helicopter crash in Quantico, Virginia)[43]
• Robert Bates
• Gandy Baugh (–1994)[2]
• Chester Bennington (1976–2017)
• Tim "Avicii" Bergling (1989–2018)
• Sabrina Bittencourt
• Ron Brown (1941–1996)[44][2]
• James Bunch
• Anthony Bourdain (1956–2018)
• Eric Butera
• Berta Cáceres (1971–2016)
• Danny Casolaro (1947–1991)
• Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) (No, seriously.[45])
• William Colby (1920–1996)
• Suzanne Coleman (–1992)[2]
• Gregory Collins (–1989)[2]
• Keith Coney (–1998)[2]
• Chris Cornell (1964–2017)
• John Crawford
• L.J. Davis (Lawrence James Davis) (1940–2011)[2][46]
• William Densberger (–1993), US Army helicopter crash in Germany[2]
• Steve Dickson (–1993)[2][47]
• David Drye
• Daniel Dutko
• Klaus Eberwein
• Dennis Eisman
• Jeffrey Epstein (1953–2019)[21]
• Emory Allen Evans (–1997)[2]
• Kathy Ferguson (–1994)[2]
• Vince Foster (1945–1993)[2]
• Eric S. Fox
• Hershell Friday (–1994)[2]
• Duane Garrett
• Carlos Ghigliotti
• Judi Gibbs
• Aaron Goodrich
• Paula Grober (–1992)[2]
• Larry Guerrin
• Brian Hanley (–1993) (Presidential helicopter crash)[43][2]
• Michael Hastings (1980–2013)
• Stanley Heard (–1993)[2]
• Don Henry (1970–1987)[2]
• Lance Herndon
• John Hillyer (or John Hillier)[2]
• Stanley Huggins (–1994)[2]
• Kevin Ives (1970–1987)[2]
• Niko Jerkuic
• Gary Johnson[note 1]
• John Jones
• John F. Kennedy Jr. (1960–1999)
• Robert Kelly (–1993), US Army helicopter crash in Germany[2][47]
• Shelly Kelly (–1996)
• Jordan Kettleson (or Jordan Ketelsen) (–1990)[2]
• Alan Krueger (1960–2019)
• Johnny Lawhorn Jr.
• Conway Charles LeBleu (–1993) (FBI agent at the Branch Davidian siege)[2]
• Shawn Lucas
• Todd Madison
• Mary Caitrin "Caity" Mahoney (or Mary Mohane) (–1997)[2]
• Florence Martin (–1994)[2]
• Todd McKeehan (–1993) (FBI agent at the Branch Davidian siege)
• Keith McKaskle (or Keith McMaskle) (–1988)[2]
• Charles Meissner (–1996)[2]
• James Milam[2]
• Charles Wilbourne Miller
• Ron Miller
• Carolyn Moffet
• Jenny Moore
• Larry Nichols (1950–)[2]
• Paul Olson
• Jerry Luther Parks (–1993)[2]
• Dennis Patrick[2]
• Job W. Price
• Montgomery Raiser
• C. Victor Raiser, II (–1992)[2]
• Scott J. Reynolds (–1993) (Presidential helicopter crash)[43]
• Jeff Rhodes (–1989)[2]
• Gary Rhodes (–1993), US Army helicopter crash in Germany[2][47]
• Seth Rich (1989–2016)
• Jarrett Robertson (or William Robertson) (–1993), US Army helicopter crash in Germany[2][47]
• Ronald Rogers (or Donald Rogers) (–1994)[2]
• Tim Sabel (–1993) (Presidential helicopter crash)[43]
• Captain Schic
• Barry Seal (1936–1986)
• Bill Shelton (–1994)[2]
• Peter W. Smith (1936–2017)
• Ian Stuart Spiro (1946–1992)
• Alan Standorf
• Roger Stone (1952–) (made the extremely dubious claim that he was poisoned by Polonium[48])
• Victor Thorn
• Paul Tully (or Paul Tulley) (–1992)[2]
• Jon Parnell Walker (–1993)[2]
• Calvin Walraven
• Russell Welch
• Paul Wilcher (–1993)[2]
• Jim Wilhite
• Edward Willey (–1993)[2]
• Gareth Williams (1978–2010)
• Robert Williams (–1993) (FBI agent at the Branch Davidian siege)[2]
• Steve Willis (–1993) (FBI agent at the Branch Davidian siege)[2]
• John Augustus Wilson (–1993)[2]
• Richard Winters
• Barbara Alice Wise (–1996)[2]
• Terrance Yeakey
• Christopher Mello
• RobSmith

• 1 person unnamed in the Quantico helicopter crash report[43]
• 5 random Navy aviators (1993)[49]
• 34 random Air Force personnel in Croatia (1996)
• And many more!

The high "body count" is used both to make the conspiracy sound more impressive, and by continually adding new "victims", to keep it going over a long period.

See also

• Bush body count
• Trump body count
• 2012 Benghazi attack
• Pizzagate
• QAnon
• Frazzledrip
• Donald Trump Bodycount EXPOSED!!! Not a conspiracy theory!
• Vast right-wing conspiracy

Notes

1. No, not that Gary Johnson

References

1. Bwah-Ha-Ha! What's with Hillary's laugh? by John Dickerson (Sept. 28 2007 5:29 PM) Slate.
2. Clinton Body Bags: Decades-old political rumor claims Bill Clinton quietly did away with several dozen people who possessed incriminating evidence about him. (24 January 1998) Snopes.
3. Bill and Hillary Clinton's Circle of Power (1990) Liberty Alliance.
4. Bill and Hillary Clinton's Circle of Power (1990) Liberty Alliance Amazon (archived from July 1, 2013).
5. The Clinton Chronicles (1994) IMDb.
6. Clinton Crazy by Philip Weiss (Feb. 23, 1997) The New York Times Magazine.
7. Difference between revisions of "Clinton body count" Conservapedia (archived from 25 Dec 2019 18:38:54 UTC).
8. Clinton body count Conservapedia (archived from November 27, 2019).
9. The Clinton Body Count: Coincidence or the Kiss of Death? by Linda D. Thompson (1993) AEN News via First Principles Archive (archived from August 11, 2019).
10. Seth Rich: How a young man's murder attracted conspiracy theories. BBC News.
11. How the Seth Rich conspiracy theory put Trump in the White House. Salon.
12. Whitewater: The Foster Report: V. Forensic Analyses (1998) The Washington Post.
13. The baseless claim that slain DNC staffer Seth Rich gave emails to WikiLeaks. Politifact.
14. The bonkers Seth Rich conspiracy theory, explained. Vox.
15. Russian Embassy In London Joins In Seth Rich Murder Speculation Newsweek.
16. Friends of Slain DNC Staffer Seth Rich Remember Him as 'Honest' and 'Self-Sacrificing'. People.
17. Seth Rich's Parents to Conspiracy Theorists: Stop Politicizing Our Son’s Murder. Time.
18. Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who was friends with Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, explained. Vox.
19. Acosta to Resign as Labor Secretary Over Jeffrey Epstein Plea Deal. New York Times.
20. Who were the rich and powerful people in Jeffrey Epstein's circle?. The Guardian.
21. Jeffrey Epstein: How conspiracy theories spread after financier's death. BBC News.
22. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/epstein-didnt-kill-himself
23. After His Suicide Watch Ended, Jeffrey Epstein Was Left to Look After Himself. The Daily Beast.
24. Before Jail Suicide, Jeffrey Epstein Was Left Alone and Not Closely Monitored. New York Times.
25. Op-Ed: Forget the conspiracy theories. Here’s why it’s likely Jeffrey Epstein killed himself. LA Times. Op-ed by Danny Cevallos.
26. Jeffrey Epstein’s Victims, Denied a Trial, Vent Their Fury: ‘He Is a Coward’. Ali Watkins et al. “New York Times.” Aug. 27, 2020 (updated Aug. 30, 2020).
27. Jeffrey Epstein Case: Over 1,000 Connected to Him in Address Book, Amy Julia Harris, New York Times (Sept. 4, 2019).
28. Democrats blast Trump's Epstein conspiracy theory retweet as Conway defends the president. The Hill.
29. Avicii - For A Better Day (music video)
30. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/dj-avicii-expose-pedophile-ring/
31. https://amp.marca.com/en/lifestyle/2020/06/03/5ed7fbf222601d18678b457a.html
32. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/avicii-suicide-father-klas-bergling-on-depression-tim-bergling-foundation/#:~:text=In%20a%20documentary%20filmed%20before,said%20Tim's%20father%2C%20Klas%20Bergling.
33. https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/23/us/talinda-bennington-suicide-town-hall-cnntv/index.html#:~:text=The%20musician%20was%20open%20about,emotional%20pain%2C%E2%80%9D%20Bennington%20described.
34. https://www.menshealth.com/trending-news/a19516660/chris-cornell-death-depression-suicide-interview/
35. "The Last Days of Danny Casolaro" by James Ridgeway & Doug Vaughan. (October 15, 1991) The Village Voice, p. 34 ff.
36. Clinton body count Conservapedia (archived from March 26, 2019).
37. A Core Collection of Clinton Enemies by Lois Romano (March 2, 1998) The Washington Post.
38. Facebook Trending Topic for Victor Thorn hides anti-Semitic past by Andrew Couts (2016-08-05 02:18 pm | Last updated 2017-02-24 05:45 pm) The Daily Dot.
39. Sunrise, Sunset: Five Leading Extremists Dead in 2016 (February 15, 2017) Southern Poverty Law Center.
40. The Holocaust Hoax Exposed: Debunking the 20^th Century's Biggest Lie by Victor Thorn (2012) Sisyphus Press. ISBN 1467506389.
41. Hillary (And Bill): The Murder Volume by Victor Thorn (2008) American Free Press. ISBN 0978573382.
42. Fourth Mysterious Death Connected to the DNC? by David Mikkelson (10 August 2016) Snopes.
43. 4 Marines Die in Crash Of Presidential Copter (May 20, 1993) AP via The New York Times.
44. See the Wikipedia article on 1996 Croatia USAF CT-43 crash.
45. https://www.metatube.com/en/videos/455629/THE-TRUTH-ABOUT-PIZZAGATE-AND-KURT-COBAIN-Anonymous/
46. L. J. Davis, Journalist and Novelist, Is Dead at 70 by Bruce Weber (April 9, 2011) The New York Times.
47. Federal Jury Awards $22.9 Million in U.S. Army Blackhawk Helicopter Crash, Announces Spohrer, Wilner, Maxwell & Matthews by Spohrer, Wilner, Maxwell & Matthews (Jun 09, 2000, 01:00 ET) PR Newswire (archived from June 12, 2016).
48. Trump confidant Roger Stone can't stop claiming he was poisoned by polonium by Cleve R. Wootson Jr. (April 7, 2018) The Washington Post.
49. 5 Missing as Plane Crashes Off Coast of Italy, Navy Says (March 27, 1993 12 AM) Los Angeles Times.