Special Counsel David Weiss said Wednesday that Hunter Biden’s attorneys are pushing a “conspiracy theory” by questioning the authenticity of his laptop.
Weiss confirmed in a filing that prosecutors intend to introduce the laptop, which former intelligence officials alleged had the hallmarks of a “Russian information operation” after the New York Post’s initial report on its contents, as evidence at trial, explaining it “contains significant evidence of the defendant’s guilt.” He said that Hunter Biden’s claims about the laptop’s authenticity are “a conspiracy theory with no supporting evidence.”
Hunter Biden’s legal team noted in a Monday filing that “various media outlets” who received copies of the data and hired forensic experts to determine if it was authentic “concluded it is not.” They said they should be able to object on the grounds that the evidence “may have been tampered with by someone other than Mr. Biden.” The Daily Caller News Foundation authenticated an email from the laptop in 2020.
“The defendant has had the laptop data in its raw, original form since September 2023, but has provided the government with no evidence of its manipulation or alteration,” Weiss’ team wrote. “He has not provided any evidence or information that shows that his laptop contains false information, and the government’s evidence shows the opposite – the defendant’s laptop is real (it will be introduced as a trial exhibit) and it contains significant evidence of the defendant’s guilt (see 1006 summary chart).”
Biden was indicted on three felony gun charges in September 2023. His trial is scheduled to begin June 3 in Wilmington, Delaware.
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 10:Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, flanked by Kevin Morris, left, and Abbe Lowell, right, attend a House Oversight Committee meeting on January 10, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Credit: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
“He has not shown any of the actual evidence in this case is unreliable or inauthentic, because there is none,” the filing states.
The filing walks through the chain of custody for the evidence, which it says was extracted by an FBI forensic specialist in 2019, rather than taken from the copy of the data the Delaware computer repair shop owner John Paul Mac Isaac handed over in 2020 that was obtained by the media. As to Hunter Biden’s attorneys citing the allegation that “a Russian businessman told a third-party that Biden’s devices were compromised” in 2014, Weiss said the objection is “without foundation.” (RELATED: Biden DHS Shuts Down ‘Experts’ Panel Featuring Signatories Of Infamous Hunter Biden Laptop Letter)
“This is yet another example of the defendant asking people to believe Russian intelligence when it suits his interests, but not to believe Russian intelligence when it doesn’t suit his interests,” Weiss stated. “None of this hearsay on hearsay is evidence, and none of it demonstrates that the actual trial evidence was altered.”
Many of the messages prosecutors intend to introduce as evidence also come from other sources, the filing notes, including iCloud data from his iPad and iPhone obtained directly from Apple.
In a Monday filing, prosecutors revealed messages they intend to introduce to prove their claim that Hunter Biden lied about his drug usage on a federal gun purchase form, such as an October 14, 2018 message where Hunter Biden states, “I was sleeping on a car smoking crack on 4th street and Rodney.”
Hunter Biden’s lawyer did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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