Below is my column in the New York Post on the letters sent by Hunter Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell calling for criminal investigations, the removal of tax exempt status, and other measures targeting critics and media. It also appears to confirm that the laptop is indeed Hunter’s. However, the next day, Lowell told NBC “These letters do not confirm Mac Isaac’s or others’ versions of a so-called laptop.” It is a curious position when asking for criminal investigations like asking police to look for people who may or may not have stolen a car that may or may not be yours. The defamation and privacy claims suggested in the letter are dubious and ill-defined. However, Hunter is apparently asking for money to pay for his high-priced legal team. It is not clear if these donations would also be used to fund his cruel and craven effort to prevent his daughter from using his surname. Nevertheless, Hunter is outraged that the computer that he abandoned has been used for what his lawyer calls “this failed dirty political trick.”
Here is the column:
Hunter Biden appears to have finally achieved clarity.
Months after The Post’s October 2020 reporting, Biden was warning reporters that his “alleged” laptop might be Russian disinformation — or it might be his. He seemed tortured by doubt in a 2021 CBS News interview: “For real, I don’t know. I don’t have any idea — I have no idea whether or not.”
It now appears he does know “for real.” His lawyers sent letters Wednesday requesting investigations into figures associated with former President Donald Trump who have used information from the laptop. The first son’s sudden shift to the offense follows a meeting of a Legion of Doom of Democratic operatives reportedly planning attacks on potential witnesses against Hunter.
At the same time, Biden agents are planning to create a large legal fund for the next stage. In a city where influence peddling is the leading industry, Hunter’s plight could easily become a cause célèbre. Indeed, there hasn’t been a greater sense of urgency or outpouring of humanity since the Kato Kaelin housing crisis.
The letters to federal and state prosecutors seem to confirm the plan for a scorched-earth strategy. The Biden lawyers accuse people using the laptop contents of possibly violating federal and state laws “in accessing, copying, manipulating, and/or disseminating Mr. Biden’s personal computer data.”
The Biden team is also threatening media that have covered the story, including Fox News, with defamation lawsuits. (For the record, I appear as a legal analyst on Fox News.) And it’s asking the IRS to consider removing the tax-exempt status of groups that used the material such as Marco Polo, a charitable organization run by Garrett Ziegler — in a letter copied to the agency’s criminal investigation unit chief.
The letters raise serious constitutional and political concerns. Critics using publicly available material are allowed to reach their own conclusions about the implications of these files.
The Biden team, for example, threatens a lawsuit against Fox News host Tucker Carlson while demanding a retraction of “false and defamatory statements.” It maintains Carlson falsely portrayed Hunter Biden as involved in a “money laundering scheme to finance President Biden’s lifestyle” by paying him $50,000 a month in rent. It claims the story was debunked.
But Hunter Biden is a public figure who must shoulder a high standard for defamation of “actual malice,” requiring that a false statement be made “with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.” Courts are highly protective of the exercise of opinion, particularly on subjects of great political significance like influence peddling.
The laptop’s legal status is also key. To all appearances, Hunter abandoned the laptop at John Paul Mac Isaac’s Wilmington, Del., computer repair shop. That’s different from the claims of Hunter’s sister, Ashley, who triggered a nationwide FBI investigation into the theft of her diary. While she left her diary at a third party’s home, she insists she did not abandon or forget it. Under standard terms of the agreement, an item left beyond a certain number of days at a business or rental housing becomes abandoned property. It can generally then be left on the curb, sold, or given away. In this case, Hunter signed an agreement that he would forfeit all claims of ownership if he failed to retrieve his property from the shop.
What’s most striking about the Hunter Biden claim is the delay. For more than two years, Hunter has refused to admit the laptop is genuine despite email recipients confirming the content of the communications. The laptop also shows Hunter engaged in potential crimes from drug use to prostitution offenses. Yet he insisted it might all be those pesky Russians again.
Now the laptop is his, and he is fighting mad. Indeed, he’s shocked that anyone would treat his property in this fashion — a property he left at a computer shop and failed to claim for years.
In the effort to target Marco Polo, the Biden team insists it “has operated as little more than a thinly disguised political operation to attack the Biden administration and the Biden family.” That sounds more vindictive than virtuous. Indeed, if the Biden administration started yanking the tax-exempt status of Biden critics, it would trigger an outcry over weaponizing the IRS. (A similar controversy during the Obama-Biden administration involving IRS official Lois Lerner led to a financial settlement with targeted conservative groups.)
Biden’s team seems at points as conflicted as its client. After denouncing the use of his personal property and files, it suggests they might not be his files at all. It claims that “downstream recipients of what has been purported to be Mr. Biden’s hard drive have reported anomalies in the data, suggesting manipulation of it.”
You certainly do not want to be downstream in any Hunter Biden scandal, but this raises questions as to whether these files are authentic while claiming ownership of them.
Notably, Biden has not brought a civil lawsuit for a privacy tort claim despite the bluster and bombast of these letters. The reason is simple: He does not have a privacy case against the media or critics.
Under the tort of “public disclosure of embarrassing private facts,” you can be sued for publishing even true statements that a reasonable person would find offensive. Showing Hunter’s selfie videos allegedly having sex with prostitutes would qualify as embarrassing to most people. But the tort has an exception for “newsworthy” stories or matters of great public interest. Biden may not be the energy or transportation expert his previous positions suggest, but he is most certainly newsworthy.
What is clear is that the letters mark a new chapter in this saga as his legal team attempts to move from the hunted to the Hunter.
Jonathan Turley is an attorney and a professor at George Washington University Law School.
Hello Ian Michael Gumby: Sorry, just now logging in this a.m. I’m not quite sure of the points you were making here, so please excuse me if my response is not responsive, but it is in good faith:
(1) Isaac’s ownership: As you know, in the name of client advocacy, lawyers will be lawyers (ha ha), so this matter will be depicted as tortuously (not tortiously) muddled. The contract with HB (Hunter) refers only to “equipment,” i.e., hardware (laptop) being abandoned after 90 days, and it could at least be argued that there remains an issue over whether it included intellectual property/intangible property such as content/data contained therein (with retained ownership and “expectation of privacy” attached as to Mac Isaac’s role). There also may be an issue over whether content/data was stored/created/retrieved by cloud or by private, password, etc. You know how lawyers are….
Moreover and arguendo, even if Mac Isaac can successfully claim ownership over both, such transferred title to him may not be effectively “cured” without court adjudication under Delaware Code Title 25, ss.4001-4003, especially 4003, “Procedure to Obtain Title” for abandoned property, which refers to, inter alia, adjudicatory review of efforts to find/contact Biden, protect his interests in the interim, etc.
(2) I didn’t think child pornography played any role in THIS part of the controversy. It is my understanding that the FBI already had an open investigation on HB following an IRS tax inquiry in 2018 and possible FARA violations, etc. regarding his foreign business. It is my understanding that both Isaac’s referral as well as FBI pursuit was centered on “money laundering.” Indeed, the FBI documents relating to the subpoena apparently used the classification code “272D,” which is defined as, “Money Laundering, Unknown SUA” (specified unlawful activity)/white collar crime.
(3) Sorry, don’t understand your comment about ECPA at all–indeed, I thought I was already talking about email/content, -not physical devices/equipment, so apologies,but I don’t quite understand your point?
Lin – if you buy a book, do you obtain the printed content inside?
Hello Edwardmahl: I’m not sure of your point or your use of the word “obtained?” If I buy a book, I have “obtained” a possessory interest in the physical book and I have “obtained” access interest in the book’s content. As you already know, copyright law limits/restrains my non-ownership interest in what I can do with the book’s content, e.g., copying or selling all or portions of the contents, etc., n’est ce pas? But how does that relate to HB?
Whatever the intention of your question, my reading is that Mac Isaac legitimately took over abandoned property. Whether he “perfected” ownership is somewhat moot, as long as he legitimately had access to the laptop’s content in the course of the bailment. Mere legal access, not ownership, is likely sufficient to contact authorities with concerns related to an ongoing investigation. But publishing it and/or passing it on to third persons outside of authorities would seem to be predicated upon “ownership.” Does abandonment of content create new ownership outside of an express contract? I dunno, just interested to note that the FBI interviewed Mac Isaac after 90 days, then waited until 180 days were up before issuing subpoena? Sorry if I am missing whatever might be directed to your intent in asking.
While we’re on the topic of selective, politically driven morality, here’s a good one:
“Sexual violence derives from unequal power relationships, and is one of the most common violations of people’s rights.”
-California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D).
Unless of course, you’re President Bill Clinton, the most powerful man in the world, convincing a 22-year old intern to give you oral sex. In which case it’s just a way of relieving some stress, of taking your mind of things for a while.
Convincing a 22yr old ADULT to get on her knees under a desk and do a duty. What moral respectful lady saves a CUM SOAKED DRESS in their closet as memorabilia? NO1!
Everyone keeps replying as she’s a VICTIM !
GET OVER YESTERYEAR AND MOVE ON JESUS. GET SOME HOBBIES THAT DON’T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH OTHER OLD WHITE HATEFUL RELIGIOUS RIGHTEOUS MORONS IT WILL HELP YOU CLEAR YOUR HEAD AND REALIZE YOUR NOT VICTIMS & YOU’LL PROBABLY BE LESS HATEFUL ONCE YOUR IN SUNSHINE AND HAPPINESS AROUND OTHER POSITIVE & INSPIRATIONAL PEOPLE ..
DIVERSIFY YOUR LIFE WITH WALLS OF MANY STYLES!
Must be nice to ring up your colleagues at the DOJ and FBI to deploy the infinite power of the state to crush your political enemies. Powerful Democrats like Joe and Hunter Biden are like forward air controllers calling in B-52 strikes on enemy positions. It’s just that they don’t operate on anywhere near the same level as Bill “care to make a tax deductible contribution to my foundation?” Clinton or even his wife “Russian reset” Hillary.
Hey Jim Baker, its Michael Sussman over at Perkins Coie here. Got a few minutes for lunch tomorrow? I’ve got some information you might be interested in. BTW, have you been thinking abut your next gig after you leave the FBI? Word around the water cooler is that they’re looking for some people to help out over at Twitter.
And to think that Obama and the media tried to pitch Merrick Garland as a moderate. A man who has proven to be even more deeply politicized than Obama’s loyal AG, Eric “Wingman” Holder.
Did this choad JUST write that Hunter Biden is a public figure? He is not. Just because the GOP has decided the way to attack his father is by smearing him, does NOT make a private citizen a “public figure,” and Turley knows that.
I can’t believe we have 2 years of this ahead of us
Through his own actions, he has involuntarily become a public figure.
Here’s another way of expressing it:
The noted Ukrainian natural gas expert, celebrated artist, and wealthy lothario Hunter Biden would have much rather stayed under the covers. He didn’t want to become a public figure. Except maybe when he was being photographed courtside at D1 basketball games hanging with his father and Barack.
Its just that Hunter and Joe got caught. They’ll do anything they can to get out of it. With the infinite power of the state behind them, they might get away with it.
Are you kidding? Hunter Biden is absolutely a public figure–he used Air Force 2 to engage in business deals, is well known across the nation, his dad was Vice President and he’s President, and he wrote a f-ing book for Christs sake! I’ll bet you $1,000,000 that he’s found to be a public figure.
First “China Flu, 2019.”
Now “China Balloon, 2023.”
How many atrocious crimes will these inhuman communists be allowed to perpetrate?
Walmart sends America’s money to China, Tesla brings it home, and Democrats pass it out to foreign, illegal, criminal invaders.
What’s the point?
Talk about a vicious cycle?
Please cite the fundamental law wherein the Constitution of the United States of America is proven to be in violation.
Site Malfunction Here
Some commentators assert that the hard drive of the Hunder Biden laptop was manipulated in some way. On that point, an interesting article ifrom 2022 is posted here: https://www.wtrf.com/news/hunter-bidens-laptop-data-turned-over-by-repair-shop-to-fbi-showed-no-tampering/ It states that:
“Data from a laptop that the lawyer for a Delaware computer repair shop owner says was left by Hunter Biden in 2019 – and which the shop owner later provided to the FBI under subpoena – shows no evidence of tampering or fabrication, according to an independent review commissioned by CBS News.
Brian Della Rocca, the lawyer for the shop owner, provided to CBS News what he called an “exact copy” of the laptop data provided to federal investigators nearly three years ago. Della Rocca said he considers it “clean” because it predates versions that were widely circulated by Republican operatives to attack then-candidate Joe Biden before the 2020 presidential election.
The independent analysis, by two cyber investigators from Minneapolis-based Computer Forensics Services, found no evidence that the user data had been modified, fabricated or tampered with. Nor did it find any new files originating after April 2019, when store records indicate Biden dropped it off for repair.”
The best defense is a good offense.
“’Dirty Political Trick’: Hunter Biden Calls for Criminal Investigations of Critics and Media”
– Professor Turley
_______________
THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS DOES NOT PROVIDE A RIGHT TO KILL
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS DOES NOT PROVIDE A RIGHT TO ELECTORAL CORRUPTION, SUBVERSION AND INSURRECTION
Hunter Biden has a point. Dirty Political Tricks that are demonstrably effective and provable must be prosecuted as capital electoral corruption, election fraud and vote tampering.
The deleterious effect of the MSM’s concealment of the facts in the 2020 election has been qualified to a number of votes that would have caused Real President Donald J. Trump to win.
For the MSM to overturn an election by falsification and fraud is capital treason.
The only dirty political trick in play here is that there is still no Special Counsel appointed to investigate l’affaire Biden.
Didn’t read today’s little piece of excrement because I already know that its just another “Hunter Biden Scandal” check off on Turley’s assignment list from his employer.
NUTCHACHACHA is necessarily boorish and profane, while emboldened by her state support in the form of financial assistance, educational assistance, social status assistance and employment assistance.
Theyz a ho lotta assistancin’ goin’ on around huh!
Nutty, may America terminate your direct payments and affirmative action yet or do you still need them to function as a real person?
George, Bringing up affirmative action every time Gigi makes a comment is offensive and wrong.
Thank you so much for reading and for presenting this invaluable opportunity, oh, and NUTCHACHACHA hasn’t answered the question yet.
Does she still need financial assistance or is she going to repay that debt and does she still need affirmative action etc.?
Affirmative action is unconstitutional which constitutes a high crime by the entirely absent and oblivious, nay, communist Supreme Court.
It doesn’t get any more offensive and wrong in America.
That you are a supporting communist does not edify and does not bear.
Equity is the absence of bias and favoritism – NUTCHACHACHA is the personification of bias and favoritism.
Not to put too fine a point on it.
Oh, and freedom of speech was created to insult the King, among others.
Most certainly the lowest of the low, the cretin, NUTCHACHACHA, is subject to offense and derision, what was her term, “excrement?”
Natacha repeatedly asserts, without evidence, that some mysterious unnamed person tells Turley what to write on his own blog. It’s patently absurd. A bald faced lie.
She’s not interested in truth. Like Sevelez, they both come here on an almost daily basis to attack Turley’s character. They attack him personally. They regularly accuse him of being “disingenuous”. That is another way of saying he is acting in bad faith. That his veracity can’t be trusted. All because they don’t like his opinion or analysis. Yet I’ve never seen you call either one of those people out for repeatedly insulting and disrespecting the blog owner. Or declare they are wrong when they do so.
You’re only selectively worried about unethical conduct. Why is that?
If this blog were my property and those two kept coming onto it for the sole purpose of attacking my character; undermining my integrity, and just making up lies as Natacha repeatedly does, they’d have been perma-banned years ago.
I am more than happy to work with you, JT, and others to improve the civility of this blog. In this particular case, I said enough is enough after letting George get away with it for a long time.
I see some comments ostensibly separating/distinguishing “abandoned” computer hardware from computer content (emails, photos, etc.) Didn’t the Electronic Communications Protection Act deem any email older than 180 days to be “abandoned?”
Only with respect to whether the government needs a warrant to access them vs. only needing a subpoena. It’s an outdated law and really should be amended.
Yes, I know that, thanks anyway. I was waiting for comment on my post before I added what I had noted to myself earlier: that the FBI appeared to have safely held off until at least 180 days were up, (April 2019 to October 2019), at which time it came out and interviewed Mac Isaac. In other words, Mac Isaac needed to wait only 30 days to claim abandonment of the hardware and contact authorities with his concern(s); the FBI waited >180 days before its December 2019 subpoena on John Paul for the computer and hard drive, etc. It also appears that Mac Isaac’s contacting authorities was within the law, as his access to CONTENT was seemingly authorized by Biden, who brought in a hard drive for Mac Isaac to transfer the content.
“Mac Isaac needed to wait only 30 days to claim abandonment”
His Terms actually said “Equipment left with the Mac Shop after 90 days of notification of completed service will be treated as abandoned …” Not sure where you got 30 days from.
BTW, lin, did you notice that your chosen math reference — https://www.cuemath.com/radius-formula/ — corrected their page after I contacted them about their error? Too bad that you were so resistant to correcting yours.
I cannot help but smile. Actually, I found a PhD in Geometry who confirmed that my comment, as stated and within the context that I used it (you love to reference context), was not incorrect (and neither was your reference to congruence-as stated and considering the context within which you applied that term). BTW, you don’t have a PhD in geometry, do you. (I don’t either.)
However, there was no way to find out who you are (Anonymous) to forward a response to.Then I forgot about it and haven’t thought about it since.
Indeed, the difference between you and me is that you cannot let go of little hurts–you return and return and return to get the last word in, as several commenters have noted.
I was willing to let it go and move on, -it was off-topic and this platform is not the right place for private off-topic debate. Unfortunately, you feel the need to again return to it (p.s., I used the site that you reference because, searching geometry sites, there is no purpose to state what I said, which employed the actual definition of equidistant, i.e., equal in distance. I would need to spend hours attempting to find a site that contained a general-comment application such as in my original comment.
Are you ready to let it go and move on? Thanks anyway.
P.S. that was a typo on my part, sorry. Mac Isaac actually waited 90 days (July 2019) before he and his father contacted authorities, so your point is moot, but thanks anyway for pointing it out.
“there is no purpose to state what I said”
LOL, I agree!
yea, it looks like you read that phrase out of context, LOL
@Lin,
That doesn’t make sense.
Issac took ownership well after Biden lost any rights to it.
He then contacted the FBI because of some of the content showed illegal activities. Some allege that there was child pr0nography [sic]
So the FBI could have taken possession of the data which was being given to them voluntarily.
The laptop and the data on the laptop became Mac Issac’s when Hunter abandoned the laptop.
ECPA has no meaning here. Not relevant. If you don’t understand why… think more about how an email account is different from a physical device and what is meant by ownership.
-G
lin says:
February 4, 2023 at 11:02 AM
Hello Ian Michael Gumby: Sorry, just now logging in this a.m. I’m not quite sure of the points you were making here, so please excuse me if my response is not responsive, but it is in good faith:
(1) Isaac’s ownership: As you know, in the name of client advocacy, lawyers will be lawyers (ha ha), so this matter will be depicted as tortuously (not tortiously) muddled. The contract with HB (Hunter) refers only to “equipment,” i.e., hardware (laptop) being abandoned after 90 days, and it could at least be argued that there remains an issue over whether it included intellectual property/intangible property such as content/data contained therein (with retained ownership and “expectation of privacy” attached as to Mac Isaac’s role). There also may be an issue over whether content/data was stored/created/retrieved by cloud or by private, password, etc. You know how lawyers are….
Moreover and arguendo, even if Mac Isaac can successfully claim ownership over both, such transferred title to him may not be effectively “cured” without court adjudication under Delaware Code Title 25, ss.4001-4003, especially 4003, “Procedure to Obtain Title” for abandoned property, which refers to, inter alia, adjudicatory review of efforts to find/contact Biden, protect his interests in the interim, etc.
(2) I didn’t think child pornography played any role in THIS part of the controversy. It is my understanding that the FBI already had an open investigation on HB following an IRS tax inquiry in 2018 and possible FARA violations, etc. regarding his foreign business. It is my understanding that both Isaac’s referral as well as FBI pursuit was centered on “money laundering.” Indeed, the FBI documents relating to the subpoena apparently used the classification code “272D,” which is defined as, “Money Laundering, Unknown SUA” (specified unlawful activity)/white collar crime.
(3) Sorry, don’t understand your comment about ECPA at all–indeed, I thought I was already talking about email/content, -not physical devices/equipment, so apologies,but I don’t quite understand your point?
I see some comments ostensibly separating/distinguishing “abandoned” computer hardware from…
Joseph Biden, his handlers, the MSM and their apologists / enablers have abandonment issues: they have abandoned truth, objective facts and transparency.
Fin.
Remarks by President Biden at a Democratic National Committee Fundraiser
The two years since we’ve been in power, we’ve reduced the national debt, so far, $1.7 trillion in two years. The — the debt — $1.7 trillion.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/01/31/remarks-by-president-biden-at-a-democratic-national-committee-fundraiser-6/
Reality:
On Jan. 20, 2021, the day Biden was inaugurated, the national debt was:
$27,751,896,236,414.70,
On Jan. 20, 2023, two years into Biden’s presidency, the national debt was
$31,454,980,005,742.40
according to Biden’s US Treasury Dept
https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/debt-to-the-penny/debt-to-the-penny
Mere trillions, no worries. Call me when it hits quadrillions 🤑🤑🤑