Hunter Biden files lawsuit against former Trump aide over controversial laptop.
Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, has filed a lawsuit against former Trump aide Garrett Ziegler for hacking and fraud related to the infamous laptop. This laptop was at the center of controversy during the 2020 presidential election when big tech platforms censored media coverage of its explosive contents.
The federal lawsuit (pdf) accuses Mr. Ziegler, a former aide in the Trump White House, of improperly accessing, tampering with, manipulating, altering, copying, and damaging computer data that he did not own, in violation of California laws against computer fraud.
Some of the contents found on the laptop, which is widely linked to Hunter Biden, included embarrassing photos of the president’s son, including one apparently showing him passed out with a crack pipe.
Mr. Ziegler allegedly played a role in publishing the emails and photographs from the laptop, which was reportedly left behind by Hunter Biden at a Delaware computer shop.
The lawsuit claims that Mr. Ziegler and 10 other unnamed defendants unlawfully obtained Hunter Biden’s data by hacking into his iPhone and accessing a copy of the laptop’s hard drive. They then posted thousands of emails, photos, videos, and recordings online.
Hunter Biden previously demanded that Mr. Ziegler and others stop publishing the data and return what belongs to him, but they have refused to do so.
The complaint acknowledges that the exact method used to obtain Hunter Biden’s data is unclear, but it states that the defendants accessed, tampered with, manipulated, altered, copied, and damaged his data without his consent.
Mr. Ziegler told Business Insider that the lawsuit is “not worth the paper it’s printed on” and denied any hacking, claiming they accessed Hunter Biden’s iPhone backup through a code found on the laptop.
“Everything was contained on the laptop,” Mr. Ziegler told the outlet.
Mr. Ziegler told Business Insider that he obtained the data from former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who received it from the owner of the laptop show.
The Laptop
John Paul Mac Isaac, the owner of the computer repair shop in Delaware, stated that Hunter Biden dropped off a laptop at his store on April 12, 2019.
Mr. Mac Isaac presented an invoice that listed Hunter Biden as the person to bill, along with an iCloud ID.
He eventually handed the laptop over to the FBI but kept a copy of the drive. He later passed the contents to Rudy Giuliani, who gave it to the New York Post.
The Post broke the story on October 14, 2020, just weeks before the presidential election. However, the article was suppressed by companies like Twitter, claiming it was based on hacked materials.
Efforts were made to discredit the Hunter Biden laptop story, including a letter from former intelligence community members suggesting it was a Russian disinformation campaign. However, subsequent reporting confirmed the authenticity of the laptop and disproved the disinformation claims.
Congressional testimony cited by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) shows that former CIA deputy director Michael Morell organized the letter at the urging of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was advising President Biden’s campaign at the time. Mr. Blinken denied any involvement in the letter.
IC Letter
Mr. Morell was among the 51 signatories of an open letter (pdf) that cast doubt on the New York Post’s report about the Hunter Biden laptop. The letter claimed it had the hallmarks of a Russian information operation.
Subsequent reporting confirmed that the laptop was not part of a Russian disinformation campaign but had been abandoned at a computer repair shop.
The letter, allegedly inspired by Mr. Blinken, was widely referenced by news outlets.
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