Attorneys for Hunter Biden admitted in a letter submitted Wednesday to the Department of Justice that data obtained from his laptop is authentic.
Biden’s attorneys admitted in the letter that data retrieved from the laptop by John Paul Mac Isaac, a computer store owner from Wilmington, Delaware, is authentic. They asserted that Mac Isaac unlawfully possessed the laptop, even though Mac Isaac has produced paperwork showing that Biden dropped the computer off at his repair shop and signed over custody.
“Mr. Mac Isaac has admitted to gaining access to our client’s personal computer data without Mr. Biden’s consent. Mr. Mac Isaac has admitted to copying that data without Mr. Biden’s consent, and Mr. Mac Isaac has admitted to distributing copies of that data to the political enemies of Mr. Biden’s father, without Mr. Biden’s consent. These unlawful actions caused the widespread publication, manipulation, and exploitation of Mr. Biden’s most personal information,” attorney Abbe Lowell alleged to Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew Olsen.
Several news outlets, starting with the Daily Caller News Foundation in October 2020, confirmed that emails and other documents originating from Biden’s laptop are authentic. However, Biden and his attorneys had never before admitted the files’ authenticity, and the White House has generally declined to address the issue. (RELATED: From ‘Russian Disinformation’ To ‘We Don’t Comment On The Laptop’: White House’s Messaging On Hunter Biden’s Laptop Quietly Shifts)
Lowell stopped short of acknowledging that the physical laptop belonged to Biden, referring only to the data obtained from it.
NEW: In a letter demanding probes of the dissemination of Hunter Biden’s files, his lawyer appears to admit the underlying data is real, but also casts doubt on the origin story, noting it “supposedly originated from a computer left at [John Paul Mac Isaac’s] repair shop in Del.” pic.twitter.com/umLjrWpAok
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) February 1, 2023
Mac Isaac “provided copies of Mr. Biden’s personal computer data to third parties,” the attorney wrote. He also referred to the “contents of the hard drive” and “cop[ies] of Mr. Biden’s personal data.”
The New York Post published a document in October 2020 purporting to show Hunter Biden granting Mac Isaac access to three MacBook Pros so that he could recover data from them. Biden’s attorney George Mesires later refused to confirm or deny whether or not the signature was legitimate or a forgery.
Lowell asserted in the Wednesday letter that Mac Isaac did not have permission to access files on the hard drive. Mac Isaac has said that Biden abandoned the computers, making them his. The attorney implicitly disputes the story, saying that the laptops were stolen property transported across state lines.
“Backing up Mr. Biden’s files for any repair did not require Mr. Mac Isaac to review the contents of any such files. Mr. Biden did not consent to Mr. Mac Isaac gaining access to the content of those files in April 2019 or at any other time,” Lowell wrote.
Shortly after the New York Post released emails from the laptops, 50 retired intelligence officials claimed in an open letter that the publication “ha[d] all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” Jen Psaki, later White House Press Secretary, was one of several prominent Democrats to promote the disinformation claim.
Lowell later claimed that his letter does not constitute an admission that the data obtained from the laptop is authentic.
“These letters do not confirm Mac Isaac’s or others’ versions of a so-called laptop,” he told Fox News. “They address their conduct of seeking, manipulating and disseminating what they allege to be Mr. Biden’s personal data, wherever they claim to have gotten it.”