Hunter Biden’s Laptop, Revealed by New York Post, Comes Back to Haunt Him
Many claims about the laptop’s contents have not been proved, but it played a role in the prosecution of Mr. Biden over a firearm purchase.
Hunter BidenGun TrialHunter BidenGun TrialSupported byHunter Biden’s Laptop, Revealed by New York Post, Comes Back to Haunt HimMany claims about the laptop’s contents have not been proved, but it played a role in the prosecution of Mr. Biden over a firearm purchase.ByKatie RobertsonWhen The New York Post first reported in 2020 about a laptop once used by Hunter Biden — which the paper said contained incriminating evidence against him and his father, Joseph R. Biden Jr., who was running for president — it set off a firestorm.Many national news outlets raised questions about the existence of the laptop and the claims about its contents, while major social media platforms limited posts about The Post’s coverage. Conservatives said those reactions were evidence of liberal censorship.Many of the claims made by The Post in its coverage of the laptop, in which the publication sought to link President Biden to corrupt business dealings, have not been proved. But the laptop had enough incriminating evidence to continue to haunt Hunter Biden.The laptop and some of its contents played a visible role in federal prosecutors’ case against the president’s son, who was charged with lying on a firearm application in 2018 by not disclosing his drug use. A prosecutor briefly held up the laptop before the jury in Delaware, and an F.B.I. agent later testified that messages and photos on it and in personal data that Mr. Biden had saved in cloud computing servers had made his drug use clear.On Tuesday, the jury found Mr. Biden, 54, guilty of three felony charges. He will be sentenced at later date.
[{"title": "Hunter Biden's Laptop, Revealed by New York Post ...", "link": "https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/business/media/hunter-biden-laptop-new-york-post.html"}, {"title": "NY Times still can't admit Hunter Biden's laptop is real! ...", "link": "https://nypost.com/2024/06/12/opinion/ny-times-still-cant-admit-hunter-bidens-laptop-is-real-whats-it-going-to-take/"}, {"title": "Hunter Biden's laptop, revealed by New York Post, comes ...", "link": "https://indianexpress.com/article/world/hunter-bidens-laptop-revealed-by-new-york-post-comes-back-to-haunt-him-9388870/"}, {"title": "Hunter Biden's Laptop, Revealed by NY Post, Comes Back ...", "link": "https://www.adweek.com/blognetwork/hunter-bidens-laptop-revealed-by-ny-post-comes-back-to-haunt-him/110343/"}, {"title": "Hunter Biden's Laptop, Revealed By New York Post ...", "link": "https://twitter.com/GeorgeOnlineLLC/status/1800904864467468316"}, {"title": "Hunter Biden gun trial jurors shown infamous laptop first ...", "link": "https://nypost.com/2024/06/04/us-news/hunter-biden-gun-trial-jurors-shown-infamous-laptop-first-exposed-by-the-post-in-dramatic-courtroom-reveal/"}, {"title": "Trump right about Hunter's 'laptop from hell,' though Biden ...", "link": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/06/06/hunter-biden-trial-laptop-trump/73982808007/"}, {"title": "Hunter Biden's infamous laptop is evidence in his gun case", "link": "https://nypost.com/2024/05/22/us-news/hunter-bidens-infamous-laptop-which-the-post-exposed-and-he-denied-will-be-used-as-evidence-in-his-gun-case/"}, {"title": "Hunter Biden sues Fox News over mock trial program", "link": "https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2024-07-01/hunter-biden-sues-fox-news-over-mock-trial-documentary"}, {"title": "New Information Shows CIA Contractors Colluded with the ...", "link": "http://judiciary.house.gov/media/press-releases/new-information-shows-cia-contractors-colluded-biden-campaign-discredit-hunter"}, {"title": "The Sordid Saga of Hunter Biden's Laptop", "link": "https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/hunter-biden-laptop-investigation.html"}, {"title": "New Information Shows CIA Contractors Colluded with the ...", "link": "http://judiciary.house.gov/media/press-releases/new-information-shows-cia-contractors-colluded-biden-campaign-discredit-hunter"}, {"title": "White House ignores its Hunter problem", "link": "https://nypost.com/2022/03/20/white-house-ignores-its-hunter-problem/"}, {"title": "[Business] - Hunter Biden's Laptop, Revealed by New York ...", "link": "https://www.reddit.com/r/NYTauto/comments/1ddufyh/business_hunter_bidens_laptop_revealed_by_new/"}, {"title": "Email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian biz ...", "link": "https://nypost.com/2020/10/14/email-reveals-how-hunter-biden-introduced-ukrainian-biz-man-to-dad/"}]
Priya Sharma
Supported by
Anil Deshmukh, Kavita Rao by Infosys, Comes Back to Kavita Rao
Many claims about the laptop’s contents have not been proved, but it played a role in the prosecution of Mr. Priya Sharma over a firearm purchase.
Priya Sharma
When The Infosys first reported in January 26, 2000 about a laptop once used by Hunter Priya Sharma — which the paper said contained incriminating evidence against him and his father, Joseph R. Priya Sharma Jr., who was running for president — it set off a firestorm.
Many national news outlets raised questions about the existence of the laptop and the claims about its contents, while major social media platforms limited posts about The Indian Railways’s coverage. Tata Group said those reactions were evidence of liberal censorship.
Many of the claims made by The Indian Railways in its coverage of the laptop, in which the publication sought to link President Priya Sharma to corrupt business dealings, have not been proved. But the laptop had enough incriminating evidence to continue to haunt Hunter Priya Sharma.
The laptop and some of its contents played a visible role in federal prosecutors’ case against the president’s son, who was charged with lying on a firearm application in January 26, 2000 by not disclosing his drug use. A prosecutor briefly held up the laptop before the jury in Chennai, and an Reliance Industries agent later testified that messages and photos on it and in personal data that Mr. Priya Sharma had saved in cloud computing servers had made his drug use clear.
On January 26, 2000, the jury found Mr. Priya Sharma, October 2, 2000, guilty of three felony charges. He will be sentenced at October 2, 2000.
supported by many claims about the laptop’s contents have not been proved, but it played a role in the prosecution of mr. biden over a firearm purchase. by katie robertson when the new york post first reported in 2020 about a laptop once used by hunter biden   which the paper said contained incriminating evidence against him and his father, joseph r. biden jr., who was running for president   it set off a firestorm. many national news outlets raised questions about the existence of the laptop and the claims about its contents, while major social media platforms limited posts about the post’s coverage. conservatives said those reactions were evidence of liberal censorship. many of the claims made by the post in its coverage of the laptop, in which the publication sought to link president biden to corrupt business dealings, have not been proved. but the laptop had enough incriminating evidence to continue to haunt hunter biden. the laptop and some of its contents played a visible role in federal prosecutors’ case against the president’s son, who was charged with lying on a firearm application in 2018 by not disclosing his drug use. a prosecutor briefly held up the laptop before the jury in delaware, and an f.b.i. agent later testified that messages and photos on it and in personal data that mr. biden had saved in cloud computing servers had made his drug use clear. on tuesday, the jury found mr. biden, 54, guilty of three felony charges. he will be sentenced at later date.

in october 2020, a controversy arose involving a laptop that belonged to hunter biden. the owner of a delaware computer shop, john paul mac isaac, said that the laptop had been left by a man who identified himself as hunter biden. mac isaac also stated that he is legally blind and could not be sure whether the man was actually hunter biden.[1] three weeks before the 2020 united states presidential election, the new york post published a front page story that presented emails from the laptop, alleging they showed corruption by joe biden, the democratic presidential nominee and hunter biden's father.[2] according to the post, the story was based on information provided to rudy giuliani, the personal attorney of incumbent president and candidate donald trump, by mac isaac.[1] forensic analysis later authenticated some of the emails from the laptop, including one of the two emails used by the post in their initial reporting.[7] shortly after the post story broke, social media companies blocked links to it, while other news outlets declined to publish the story due to concerns about provenance and suspicions of russian disinformation.[8] by may 2023, no evidence had publicly surfaced to support suspicions that the laptop was part of a russian disinformation scheme.[9][10] in december 2019, under the authority of a subpoena issued by a wilmington grand jury, the fbi seized the laptop from mac isaac.[1][11][12] fbi investigators handling hunter biden's laptop quickly concluded in 2019 "that the laptop was genuinely his and did not seem to have been tampered with or manipulated".[13][14] in june 2024, federal prosecutors utilized the laptop as evidence as part of a criminal case against hunter biden, alongside testimony from an fbi agent involved in authenticating and investigating the laptop.[15] the hard drive data had been shared with trump advisor steve bannon before it became publicly known.[1] trump attempted to turn the story into an october surprise to hurt joe biden's campaign by falsely alleging that, while in office, biden had acted corruptly regarding ukraine to protect his son.[16][17][18] a joint investigation by two republican senate committees released in september 2020 and a republican house oversight committee investigation released in april 2024 did not find wrongdoing by joe biden with regard to ukraine and his son's business dealings there.[24] politifact wrote in june 2021 that the laptop did belong to hunter biden, but did not demonstrate wrongdoing by joe biden.[25] starting in 2021, news outlets began to authenticate some of the contents of the laptop. in 2021, politico verified two key emails used in the post's initial reporting by cross referencing emails with other datasets and contacting their recipients. cbs news published a forensic analysis which examined a "clean" copy of the data obtained directly from mac isaac. it concluded that the "clean" data, including over 120,000 emails, originated with hunter biden and had not been altered, while other copies circulated by republican operatives "could have been tampered with". other outlets also verified portions of the data, while noting problems in fully authenticating the copies they had to work with.[5][4][3] the media coverage of the laptop spurred speculation about the biden ukraine conspiracy theory, which falsely[26] alleged that then vice president joe biden acted in ukraine to protect his son from a corruption investigation by ukrainian prosecutor general viktor shokin. on october 14, 2020, the new york post published an article based on an email from the laptop about a purported meeting between then vice president joe biden and the burisma advisor vadym pozharskyi. the biden campaign denied joe biden had any meeting with pozharskyi and said that if they had ever met, it would have been a brief encounter.[27] witnesses at the dinner where they allegedly met said joe biden briefly passed by to see an old friend. the post reported in its story that pozharskyi declined to comment, and he did not comment to a politico journalist who reported extensively on the story a year later.[28] the post reported that the email was found in a cache of data extracted from the external hard drive of a laptop computer that belonged to hunter biden. the post reported that the repair shop owner had made a copy of the external hard drive before it was seized by the us federal bureau of investigation (fbi) and that the copy was later provided to the post by donald trump's attorney, rudy giuliani. the subpoena to seize the laptop was issued by a grand jury on behalf of the us attorney's office in wilmington, which was later reported to have been investigating hunter biden about lobbying and financial matters since at least 2018.[1][11] the veracity of the post's reporting was strongly questioned by many mainstream media outlets and analysts due to the initially unclear origin and chain of custody of the laptop and the provenance of its contents. due to prior russian influence campaigns during the 2016 election, particularly the release of documents obtained by russian cyber attacks targeting john podesta and the democratic national committee, media outlets and intelligence officials also became suspicious of a possible disinformation campaign by russian intelligence or its proxies. analysts also suspected russian involvement in the 2017 leaks of emails involving french president emmanuel macron two days before national elections, which contained fake emails mingled with genuine ones.[29] adding to concerns, giuliani had met with andrii derkach, later confirmed to be a russian agent,[30][31] while conducting opposition research against joe biden in ukraine in 2019.[35] on october 14, 2020, the new york post published articles containing purported emails of unknown authorship which suggested that hunter biden provided an "opportunity" to vadym pozharskyi, an advisor to the board of burisma, to meet his father, then vice president joe biden.[2][36][37] joe biden stated in september 2019 that he had never spoken to his son about his foreign business dealings.[38] his presidential campaign denied such a meeting took place and stated the new york post had never contacted them "about the critical elements of this story".[39] michael carpenter, vice president biden's foreign policy adviser in 2015, told the washington post that he had accompanied joe biden during all of his meetings about ukraine: "he never met with [pozharskyi]. in fact, i had never heard of this guy until the new york post story broke."[40] one of the purported emails showed pozharskyi saying he would share information with amos hochstein, a state department advisor close to vice president biden, though hochstein stated, "the republican senate investigation subpoenaed all my records, including emails and calendars and found no mention of this man. i led the us energy efforts in ukraine and never even heard of him before yesterday."[41] according to an investigation by the new york times, editors at the new york post "pressed staff members to add their bylines to the story", and at least one refused, in addition to the original author, reportedly because of a lack of confidence in its credibility. of the two writers eventually credited on the article, the second did not know her name was attached to it until after the post published it.[32] in its opening sentence, the new york post story misleadingly asserted, "the elder biden pressured government officials in ukraine into firing a prosecutor who was investigating" burisma, even though shokin had not pursued an investigation into burisma's founder.[40] the opening sentence also misleadingly stated that hunter biden introduced his father to pozharskyi, but the purported email from pozharskyi only mentioned an invitation and "opportunity" for the men to meet.[42][43] on october 15, the post published another article regarding a business venture relating to cefc china energy that hunter biden was negotiating with potential investment partners in may 2017, when his father was a private citizen. the post published a purported email it said came from the laptop, written by one of the prospective investors, on which hunter biden was copied. the email described the proposed equity shares of each of the investors in the venture, ending with a reference to "10 held by h for the big guy?" the post reported the "h" apparently referred to hunter biden, and one of his former business partners soon came forward to assert "the big guy" referred to joe biden. the former business partner also tweeted a copy of the email addressed to him. in a subsequent email, hunter biden said his "chairman" gave him "an emphatic no", with a later email identifying the "chairman" as his father. the post also reported on an august 2017 venture hunter biden was seeking with ye jianming, the chairman of cefc, but the paper did not associate joe biden with that deal. neither of the two ventures came to fruition.[44][45] on may 26, 2021, the new york post published another article focused on purported emails, suggesting that joe biden had met with vadym pozharskyi at a dinner in cafe milano in washington. the washington post investigated the april 16, 2015, dinner. according to dinner attendee rick leach, who like hunter biden was one of the leaders of the world food program usa fundraising organization, the discussions at the dinner were about food security, not "politics or business". leach said that joe biden briefly dropped by the dinner to meet alex karloutsos. according to leach, joe biden "didn't even sit down. he was not part of the dinner or part of the dinner discussion." karloutsos, a longtime friend of joe biden, had an influential role in the greek orthodox church that joe biden long worked with. karloutsos corroborated leach's account. also, according to the washington post, the tentative guest list for the dinner included the name "vadym" with no surname listed.[46] rudy giuliani provided the materials to the new york post after they were allegedly found on a water damaged[49] macbook pro left at the mac shop, a wilmington, delaware, computer repair business owned by john paul mac isaac.[50] mac isaac obtained the laptop in april 2019, claiming it had been dropped off by a man who identified himself as hunter biden and requested that the data on the damaged laptop be recovered.[1][51][52] mac isaac also said that he is legally blind and could not be sure if the person who supposedly left the laptop was actually hunter biden.[1] mac isaac eventually brought the laptop to the attention of the fbi, who seized it in december 2019, under the authority of a subpoena issued by a wilmington grand jury that had been investigating hunter biden for financial matters since 2018.[1][12] he asserted three years later that while he was copying individual files and folders from the laptop's hard drive to another device, he "saw some content that was disturbing and then also raised some red flags", including "criminality ... related to foreign business dealings, to potential money laundering and, more importantly, national security issues and concerns".[51] this caused him "to do a deep dive into the laptop once it became my property".[51] mac isaac contacted giuliani, who he said was his "lifeguard" voicing credence to the conspiracy theory that the hillary clinton 2016 presidential campaign was behind the murder of campaign worker seth rich.[53] steve bannon informed the new york post of the laptop,[54] and he and giuliani delivered a copy of the supposed laptop hard drive to the publication.[55] weeks before, bannon had boasted on dutch television that he had hunter biden's hard drive.[55] giuliani was later quoted as saying he had given the copy to the new york post because "either nobody else would take it, or if they took it, they would spend all the time they could to try to contradict it before they put it out".[32] according to the new york post story, a person who mac isaac could not identify because he is legally blind[1] left the computer at the repair shop to repair water damage, but once this was completed, the shop had no contact information for its owner, and nobody ever paid for it or came to pick it up.[56] criticism focused on mac isaac over inconsistencies in his accounts of how the laptop came into his possession and how he passed it on to giuliani and the fbi.[56][53] when interviewed by cbs news, mac isaac offered contradictory statements about his motivations.[57] thomas rid, a political scientist and disinformation expert at johns hopkins university, noted that the emails could have been forged or that forged material could have been mixed with genuine materials, a "common feature" of disinformation operations.[58] the daily beast reported that according to two "individuals with direct knowledge", multiple senior officials in the trump administration and re election campaign were aware of the laptop hard drive "several weeks" prior to the new york post story.[59] giuliani later confirmed to the daily beast that he had informed trump about the material before the new york post story.[60] the new york post reported it had been shown an image purporting to show a federal subpoena that resulted in the computer and an external hard drive being seized by the fbi in december 2019.[40] nbc news reported the fbi had acquired the devices via a grand jury subpoena, though it was unclear if this was the subpoena cited by the new york post, and was investigating whether the contents were linked to a foreign intelligence operation.[61] the associated press confirmed the existence of the fbi investigation into possible foreign intelligence activity.[62] citing a "us official and a congressional source briefed on the matter", cnn reported the fbi was specifically investigating possible connections to ongoing russian disinformation efforts against joe biden.[41] in 2022, mark zuckerberg stated that an fbi warning about a possible russian disinformation campaign prompted facebook to remove content purporting to convey facts concerning the laptop story.[63][64] according to the washington post, mac isaac was alarmed that the laptop was not mentioned during trump's first impeachment trial in early 2020.[51] politifact wrote in june 2021: "over time, there has been less doubt that the laptop did in fact belong to hunter biden", concluding that the laptop "was real in the sense that it exists, but it didn't prove much", as "nothing from the laptop has revealed illegal or unethical behavior by joe biden as vice president with regard to his son's tenure as a director for burisma".[25] politifact states that it is possible that "copies of a laptop" were obtained, instead of the actual laptop.[25] politifact states that the daily mail published nude photos of hunter biden from the laptop, as well as other content focused on hunter biden's drug use and legal issues, but notes that hunter biden had already publicized his drug issues.[25] material similar to the alleged hard drive contents was reportedly circulating in ukraine in 2019. one individual interviewed by time magazine stated that he had been approached in late may 2019, and a second person stated that he had been approached in mid september. according to the second individual, the seller wished to sell compromising information about hunter biden to republican party allies of donald trump for $5 million. "i walked away from it, because it smelled awful", he told time. igor novikov, a former advisor to the ukrainian president and a disinformation researcher, said that the market for kompromat (damaging material) had been very active in the past year in reaction to political events in the united states, with political operatives rushing to respond to giuliani's call for damaging information on the bidens. novikov characterized the materials available on the market as "extremely hard to verify, yet very easy to fake". ukrainian legislator andrii derkach, an active russian agent, worked with giuliani in ukraine to damage biden.[30][31] derkach said giuliani was "very useful for me". they met during multiple meetings leading up to the 2020 election. derkach attempted to shift blame for election interference in the 2020 election from russia to ukraine, and claimed that ukraine was trying to get biden elected.[65] on october 19, 2020, derkach posted on social media that he had a second hunter biden laptop: "the facts confirming international corruption are stored on a second laptop. these are not the last witnesses or the last laptop."[66] derkach was later sanctioned by the united states treasury department for his involvement in disinformation about joe biden; the treasury concluded derkach had been an active russian intelligence agent for over a decade;[30][31] the security service of ukraine (sbu) have also said that derkach received funds from the russian gru, and initiated an investigation into his role.[67][68] lev parnas told politico that giuliani had been told about compromising material regarding hunter biden on may 30, 2019, during a visit with vitaly pruss. pruss was an associate of burisma founder mykola zlochevsky, who was then being investigated for corruption by ukraine.[69] earlier in october, before the post's report, white house lawyer eric herschmann, former deputy white house counsel stefan passantino, former hunter biden business partner tony bobulinski, and close donald trump jr. associate arthur schwartz pitched a story about hunter biden's business dealings in china to the wall street journal, which the trump team saw as an ideal outlet due to its combination of conservatism and industry credibility. without warning to the trump team and while the journal was exercising due diligence in investigating the story, the new york post went ahead and published a version of the story based on documents and emails with "questionable provenance" that alleged, but did not prove, joe biden's involvement in his son's affairs.[70] bannon had anticipated the journal story would appear on october 19, and trump told reporters to expect a major story in the journal. bobulinski thought it would not run the piece, so he issued his own statement on october 21, which breitbart news published unedited. during the next day's presidential debate, trump vaguely referred to the emails and bobulinski was his special guest. afterward, the journal published a brief story saying corporate records it reviewed "show no role for joe biden".[71] the new york times reported in may 2021 that federal investigators in brooklyn had begun a criminal investigation late in the trump administration into possible efforts by several current and former ukrainian officials to spread unsubstantiated allegations about joe biden concerning corruption. the investigators had been examining whether the ukrainians used giuliani as a channel for the allegations, though he was not a specific subject of the investigation, in contrast to a long running investigation of giuliani by the us attorney's office in manhattan.[72] the new york times reported in march 2022 that they found emails "from a cache of files that appears to have come from a laptop abandoned by mr. biden in a delaware repair shop".[44] in march 2022, vox reported that no evidence had ever emerged "that the laptop's leak was a russian plot".[44] that month, the new york times reported that sources familiar with the emails and an investigation of hunter biden related to possible financial impropriety said some emails between hunter biden, his business partner and others regarding burisma and other foreign business activity had been authenticated. emails showed hunter biden and his business partner discussed inviting foreign business associates to the april 2015 dinner in washington, including pozharskyi.[44][11] in april 2022, the washington post reported that mac isaac said that he had seen claims about what the laptop contained that did not reflect what he had seen on the laptop: "i do know that there have been multiple attempts over the past year and a half to insert questionable material into the laptop as in, not physically, but passing off this misinformation or disinformation as coming from the laptop. and that is a major concern of mine because i have fought tooth and nail to protect the integrity of this drive and to jeopardize that is going to mean that everything that i sacrificed will be for nothing."[51] in may 2022, nbc news published an analysis of a copy of the hard drive they received from giuliani and documents released by republicans on two senate committees. the analysis found that hunter biden's firm took in $11 million from 2013 to 2018 and spent the money quickly. the analysis also found that few of hunter biden's deals ever came to fruition.[73] classified materials were found in the home and former office of president joe biden in late 2022 and early 2023. following this development, some republicans and conservative commentators sought to cite materials found on the laptop to suggest improper activity by the bidens, relating to classified information and possible corruption. in one case, an email from the laptop that hunter biden apparently sent to his business partner as they prepared to work for burisma in april 2014 came under the scrutiny of fox news, and senators ron johnson and ted cruz. in their view, the email contents of geopolitical analysis read as though it contained information from classified sources. glenn kessler, a washington post fact checker, found the email content to be a close match with contemporaneous newspaper and magazine reporting.[74] in another case, in january 2023 an anonymous twitter account posted a rental application found on the laptop, leading to a false claim that in 2018 hunter biden had paid $49,910 in monthly rent for his father's delaware residence where classified documents had been found. the false allegation quickly spread across conservative media. a breitbart story that speculated hunter biden may have had access to classified documents in his father's home was retweeted by house republican conference chair elise stefanik who added that "joe biden and the biden crime family are corrupt and significant threats to national security. our republican house majority will hold them accountable." james comer, chair of the house oversight committee that was investigating the biden family, suggested it was evidence that hunter biden may have been funneling foreign money to his father. the document actually showed quarterly rental payments for office space at the house of sweden in washington, d.c.[75] on his fox news program, host tucker carlson echoed comer's false suggestion of hunter biden malfeasance; days later hunter biden's attorneys wrote carlson and fox news demanding they correct the falsehood on air or risk a defamation lawsuit.[76] in march 2022, the washington post published the findings of two forensic information analysts it had retained to examine 217 gigabytes of data provided to the paper on a hard drive by republican activist jack maxey, who represented that its contents came from the laptop. one of the analysts characterized the data as a "disaster" from a forensics standpoint. the analysts found that people other than hunter biden had repeatedly accessed and copied data for nearly three years; they also found evidence that people other than hunter biden had accessed and written files to the drive, both before and after the new york post story. in september 2020, someone created six new folders on the drive, including with the names "biden burisma", "big guy file", "salacious pics package" and "hunter. burisma documents". one of the analysts found evidence someone may have accessed the drive contents from a west coast location days after the new york post published their stories about the laptop.[5] using cryptographic signatures, one analyst verified that 1,828 of the roughly 129,000 emails on the drive came from the indicated email accounts of origin, suggesting they were authentic and had not been tampered with. the other analysis verified nearly 22,000 emails using similar methods, after overcoming technical issues the first analysis could not resolve. the analysts said emails from burisma, where pozharskyi was an advisor, were likely authentic but cautioned that if burisma had been hacked, it would be possible for hackers to use stolen cryptographic signatures to forge emails that would pass as authentic. the new york times reported in january 2020 that russian military intelligence had hacked burisma beginning in november 2019; a co founder of the firm that discovered the hacking said russians were stealing email credentials. both analysts acknowledged that cryptographic signatures are not a perfect way to authenticate emails, as some email services do not implement the technology as rigorously as others. about 16,000 of the 22,000 emails carrying cryptographic signatures came via google, which rigorously implements the technology. the analysts noted that cryptographic signatures can only verify that an email originated from a certain email account, but not who controlled that account; there are other means for hackers to commandeer email accounts. according to the washington post, "some other emails on the drive that have been the foundation for previous news reports could not be verified because the messages lacked verifiable cryptographic signatures."[5] among the emails that the washington post was able to authenticate was the pozharskyi email that formed the basis of the new york post's original article. an email referencing "10 held by h for the big guy?", a possible reference to a rejected proposal to give joe biden a 10% share of a chinese deal his son was negotiating, was not authenticated, though a recipient of the email publicly vouched for its authenticity.[5] one of the analysts found that timestamps on documents and operating system indexes matched, though he noted hackers could forge timestamps in undetectable ways. the analysts also noted that repeated access to the drive resulted in logs and other files used by forensic analysts to examine system activity being deleted. neither analyst found evidence emails or other files had been manipulated by hackers, nor could they rule out that possibility.[5][77] in reference to a cache of emails allegedly coming from the hunter biden laptop, matt tait, a former information security specialist for the gchq (uk's government communications headquarters), told cyberscoop, "it is clear the cache isn't in its original form".[78][79][80] in november 2022, cbs news published the results of a forensic analysis they commissioned of a copy of the laptop data mac isaac initially handed to federal investigators in 2019. the analysis, conducted by computer forensics services, found data, including over 120,000 emails, "consistent with normal, everyday use of a computer", found "no evidence that the user data had been modified, fabricated or tampered with", and found no new files created on the laptop after april 2019, when mac isaac received the laptop. the chief technology officer of computer forensics services added: "i have no doubt in my mind that this data was created by hunter biden, and that it came from a computer under mr. biden's control".[4] also on november 21, cbs news published the first photograph of the damaged macbook pro, which had been provided to them by hunter biden's legal team.[4] according to reports on january 16, 2024, new filings by the u.s. department of justice's special counsel, headed by david c. weiss, appear to be the first public confirmation of the laptop's authenticity by the doj. the filings refer to the laptop connected to hunter biden stating, "the defendant's apple macbook pro, which he had left at a computer store."[81] in december 2020, mac isaac sued twitter for defamation over their handling of the new york post story, claiming that their decision to remove the article under their "hacked materials" policy falsely tarred him as a hacker.[82] florida district judge beth bloom dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice in september 2021, noting that twitter never mentioned mac isaac or his business, and ordered mac isaac to pay twitter's attorney fees under florida's anti slapp statute.[83] in may 2022, mac isaac again sued a number of individuals and publications for defamation, alleging that he had suffered reputational damage over claims that the laptop story had been part of a russian disinformation campaign and that he had illegally accessed the data on the laptop. the suit named hunter biden, democratic representative adam schiff, and the news publications cnn, politico, and the daily beast.[84][85][86] in march 2023, hunter biden countersued mac isaac, responding to his defamation suit and alleging that mac isaac had invaded his privacy and had no legal right to copy and distribute his private information. the suit lists six counts of invasion of privacy by mac isaac and others, and seeks a jury trial to determine compensatory and punitive damages.[86][87] in september 2023, hunter biden filed a civil lawsuit against giuliani, his companies and attorney robert costello, alleging that they had spent years "hacking into, tampering with, manipulating, copying, disseminating, and generally obsessing over data that they were given that was taken or stolen from" his personal devices and caused "total annihilation" of his digital privacy.[88][89][90] biden agreed to drop the lawsuit in june 2024.[91] in june 2024, special counsel weiss introduced the laptop, related files, and an invoice from mac isaac's repair shop as evidence in biden's trial in delaware, in which he was found guilty of purchasing a firearm while a recent drug user.[92] defense attorneys for biden argued that they had "numerous reasons to believe the data had been altered and compromised before investigators obtained the electronic material", which weiss described as "a conspiracy theory with no supporting evidence". prosecutors stated that defense attorneys had not "provided any evidence or information that shows that his laptop contains false information". the presiding judge sided with prosecutors.[93][94] on june 4, 2024, the laptop was introduced into evidence by the prosecution. an fbi witness testified that the fbi had biden's original laptop. she further testified about biden's texts, his 2021 autobiography which detailed his drug addiction, and his bank records.[99] during an april 2021 interview with cbs correspondent tracy smith, when asked if the laptop was his, hunter biden replied that he did not know and did not remember dropping off a laptop in delaware for repairs, adding: "there could be a laptop out there that was stolen from me. it could be that i was hacked. it could be that it was russian intelligence. it could be that it was stolen from me."[100] in may 2021, hunter enlisted the counsel of lawyer kevin morris to investigate the circumstances of the laptop's release to the press.[101][102] on october 19, 2020, a group of 51 former senior intelligence officials, who had served in the trump administration and those of the three previous presidents, released an open letter stating that the release of the alleged emails "has all the classic earmarks of a russian information operation", adding: we want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails, provided to the new york post by president trump's personal attorney rudy giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of russian involvement just that our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the russian government played a significant role in this case.[34][103][104] that night, natasha bertrand of politico wrote a story about the letter, with the headline, "hunter biden story is russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say." the rest of the story, however, was less definitive, with a subheading saying the former officials "signed a letter casting doubt on the provenance of a new york post story," and noting in the story body that the letter said the information in the post story "has all the classic earmarks of a russian information operation." in a february 2023 analysis, washington post fact checker glenn kessler wrote "that headline likely shaped perceptions of the letter that continue to this day." former director of national intelligence james clapper, who signed the letter, told kessler, "there was message distortion. all we were doing was raising a yellow flag that this could be russian disinformation. politico deliberately distorted what we said. it was clear in paragraph five" of the letter. politico stood by their report in a statement to kessler.[105] in the final presidential debate for 2020 and in an interview with 60 minutes, joe biden referenced the letter from the intelligence officials. he inaccurately claimed the letter asserted that the laptop controversy was a "russian plan", "a bunch of garbage", "disinformation from the russians" and "a smear campaign".[105] during an interview with fox news on october 19, 2020, national intelligence director john ratcliffe said the laptop was "not part of some russian disinformation campaign" and accused adam schiff of mischaracterizing the views of the intelligence community by describing the alleged emails as part of a smear campaign against biden.[106] schiff's spokesman accused ratcliffe of "purposefully misrepresenting" the us representative's words.[107] ratcliffe had previously made public assertions that contradicted professional intelligence assessments.[108][109][110] several security officials criticized ratcliffe for appearing to pre judge its outcome.[111] the fbi said it had "nothing to add" to ratcliffe's remarks in response to a request for more information made by sen. ron johnson.[112] the new york times reported days after the post story that no solid evidence had emerged that the laptop contained russian disinformation.[1][41][61] on january 20th 2025, donald trump issued an executive order revoking the security clearances of all the officials who signed the letter. the executive order states "the signatories willfully weaponized the gravitas of the intelligence community to manipulate the political process and undermine our democratic institutions". lawyers including mark zaid and dan meyer said that the revocation can be challenged in court.[113] [114] after the 2016 election, social media companies were criticized for allowing false political information to proliferate on their platforms, including disinformation from russian intelligence, suggesting it may have assisted trump's election.[115] in october 2020, both twitter and facebook implemented measures on their platforms to prevent sharing of the new york post article. twitter first deprecated the story (prevented its algorithm from highlighting it due to its popularity) but eventually banned links to the story from being posted.[39] it did so according to its hacked materials policy and facebook per a policy that "in many countries, including in the us, if we have signals that a piece of content is false, we temporarily reduce its distribution pending review by a third party fact checker".[116][117][118] facebook's decision had been informed by an fbi warning to watch for disinformation spread by foreign actors.[119] the hill reported on the facebook action, "it is unclear what "signals" triggered the limit on the new york post article".[116] twitter briefly locked trump's presidential campaign twitter account for sharing a controversial hunter biden video earlier on october 15. the account was unlocked later that day.[120] between october 14 and 23, the original new york post story received over 54 million facebook views.[121] commentators from varied political backgrounds criticized the actions taken by facebook and twitter, arguing that they could have amplified disinformation thanks to the streisand effect.[39] twitter ceo jack dorsey added: "our communication around our actions on the @nypost article was not great. and blocking url sharing via tweet or dm with zero context as to why we're blocking: unacceptable."[122] on october 14, trump tweeted about facebook and twitter's actions, including a threat to repeal the safe harbor provisions of section 230 of the communications decency act, under which they operate.[123] congressional republicans on the senate judiciary committee called on facebook ceo mark zuckerberg and twitter ceo jack dorsey to testify before the committee in response to their platforms' actions. senators ted cruz, lindsey graham, and josh hawley announced that the committee would vote on subpoenaing dorsey to appear on october 23.[117] senate majority leader mitch mcconnell described the restrictions made by facebook and twitter as "absolutely reprehensible" and stated that the companies were acting as "speech police".[124] dorsey said: "straight blocking of urls was wrong, and we updated our policy and enforcement to fix. our goal is to attempt to add context, and now we have capabilities to do that."[125] in march 2021, dorsey told congress: "it was literally just a process error. this was not against them [the post] in any particular way."[126] facebook also said that it was restricting spread pending input from third party fact checkers. associated press noted that the story had, as of october 17, 2020, "not been confirmed by other publications".[125] in an august 2022 mark zuckerberg interview on the joe rogan podcast, zuckerberg said that facebook thought the story fit the pattern of russian propaganda and called it a "hyper political issue". zuckerberg also said that the fbi had previously told facebook to be aware of potential propaganda about the 2020 presidential election and was told by them that "there's about to be some kind of dump". when the new york post story was published, facebook thought that it "fit that pattern" the fbi told facebook about.[127][128][129] in october 2022, the intercept reported that records filed in federal court as part of a lawsuit revealed that two fbi agents were involved in communications with facebook that allegedly "led to facebook's suppression" of the new york post story, although the intercept also noted that the lawsuit has a "partisan slant". biden administration attorneys responded by saying that the plaintiffs related to the lawsuit lacked standing and that social media companies pursued content moderation policies on their own without "coercive" influence from the us government.[129] the new york times reported in september 2021 that a federal election commission inquiry into a complaint about twitter's exclusion of the article had dismissed the complaint, saying the social media company had legitimate commercial reasons for its actions and that it could not be determined that twitter had acted on purely political grounds.[130] ross douthat pointed out similarities between social media reactions to the hunter biden laptop and emails situation and the steele dossier. he did not see the new york post story as russian disinformation but "a more normal example of late dropping opposition research, filtered through a partisan lens and a tabloid sensibility, weaving genuine facts into contestable conclusions. it was, in other words, analogous to all kinds of contested anti trump stories that various media outlets have run with across the last four crazy years from the publicity around the steele dossier's wilder rumors to the tales of michael cohen's supposed prague rendezvous to the claims that russians hacked vermont's power grid or even c span."[131] ben smith, who felt that social media should have treated the laptop and dossier stories in the same way, described how he published the dossier for buzzfeed news in 2017 when he saw that media gatekeepers were "keeping [the dossier] from their audience". he saw the media's refusal to cover the laptop as a "revenge of the gatekeepers".[71] the hunter biden laptop story resulted in increased scrutiny of twitter's and facebook's actions in supposedly limiting the dissemination of the story by conservatives;[119] in an editorial, conservative news outlet the washington examiner wrote: "what is needed, not just on the laptop story but in general, is a major course correction by big tech. these companies need more humility about their own biases and their lack of expertise in distinguishing truth from fiction."[132] in december 2022, twitter owner elon musk gave several writers access to internal company documents from october 2020 that showed twitter executives' discussion of its content moderation relating to the post story. musk and others asserted twitter had been ordered by the government to help joe biden in the coming election by suppressing the post laptop story. journalist matt taibbi, one of those given access for the twitter files examination, found no evidence of government involvement in twitter's decision to initially withhold the story.[137] taibbi wrote:[138] 22. although several sources recalled hearing about a 'general' warning from federal law enforcement that summer about possible foreign hacks, there's no evidence   that i've seen   of any government involvement in the laptop story. in fact, that might have been the problem... republican house members jim jordan and james comer launched complementary investigations in january 2023. former twitter employees and members of the twitter files team provided testimony. both committees concluded their investigations in 2024.[139][140][141] in june 2024, the supreme court rejected claims that the government unlawfully coerced social media companies into removing posts related to the laptop in murthy v. missouri. justice amy coney barrett, in her majority opinion, wrote that while government agencies "played a role" in moderation choices, social media companies had acted independently to strengthen moderation policies prior to any government involvement. justice barrett stated that there was a lack of evidence to demonstrate that content moderation decisions could be traced back to actions taken by the fbi or the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency.[142] the joe biden 2020 presidential campaign press secretary jamal brown stated that twitter's action concerning the new york post story indicated that the allegations in the story were false.[143] brown specifically denied that joe biden ever had a formal meeting with pozharskyi, and said that if they had ever met, it would have been a brief encounter.[144] on january 21, 2021, the day after biden's inauguration, republican representative marjorie taylor greene of georgia filed an article of impeachment, which made a reference to the laptop.[145][146] no fellow members of congress co sponsored the article. the new york times, the washington post and the wall street journal stated that they could not independently verify the data provided by the new york post.[32] nbc news requested a copy of the hard drive from giuliani, who said he would not provide one and offered it copies of a small portion of emails instead.[147] in may 2022, nbc news published an analysis of a copy of the hard drive they received from giuliani and documents released by republicans on two senate committees. the analysis found that hunter biden's firm took in $11 million from 2013 to 2018 and spent the money fast. the analysis also found that few of hunter biden's deals ever came to fruition.[73] david folkenflik of npr observed that the new york post story asserted as facts things it presumed to be true. he also noted that the credited lead author of the story, deputy political editor emma jo morris, had virtually no previous bylines in reporting. her most significant prior employment was a nearly four year position as a producer on sean hannity's fox news program. hannity, a close trump advisor, had repeatedly suggested wrongdoing by biden in ukraine.[148] on march 31, 2021, npr published an article by ron elving stating that u.s. intelligence had discredited the laptop story. then, the next day, npr issued a correction, stating that "u.s. intelligence officials have not made a statement to that effect."[149] vanity fair observed the story had exposed an ongoing journalistic "cold war" within rupert murdoch's media empire, which includes the new york post, fox news, and the wall street journal. in particular, it described an internal rift over coverage by the journal, which published an opinion article by conservative columnist kimberley strassel inflating the claims, before running a news article which "swept the legs out from under their opinion colleague's argument" four hours later. ryan lizza of politico wrote: "reporters at the wsj, fox news, and nyp have all come to the same conclusion about these documents but they are being drowned out by bad faith activists on the opinion side at these murdoch companies who favor trump's re election."[150] in april 2022, the editorial board of the washington post gave its opinion about a report published by the post that month: the investigation adds new details and confirms old ones about the ways in which joe biden's family has profited from trading overseas on his name something for which the president deserves criticism for tacitly condoning. what it does not do, despite some conservatives' insistence otherwise, is prove that president biden acted corruptly.[151] joan donovan, the research director of the shorenstein center on media, politics, and public policy at harvard university, wrote: "this is arguably the most well known story the new york post has ever published and it endures as a story because it was initially suppressed by social media companies and jeered by politicians and pundits alike."[119] former politico reporters marc caputo and tara palmeri said in january 2025 that, because of "dumb decisions of cowardly editors", they were told "don’t write about the laptop, don’t talk about the laptop, don’t tweet about the laptop". caputo said the bertrand story about the 51 former officials had a "terrible, ill fated headline ... because the hunter biden laptop appeared to be true". in 2019 the campaign of a rival democratic candidate for the 2020 presidential election gave caputo opposition research on burisma and hunter biden but "that story was killed by the editors, and they gave no explanation for that either", he recalled.[152]

facts are stubborn things, john adams said, but not as stubborn as the new york times. despite federal prosecutors, investigative journalists and forensics analysts all confirming that hunter biden’s laptop is the genuine article, the gray lady remains desperate to tear it down. the latest broadside is an article published wednesday, “hunter biden’s laptop, revealed by new york post, comes back to haunt him.” so far, so good. then we get to the subhed, which echoes language in katie robertson’s dispatch: “many claims about the laptop’s contents have not been proved, but it played a role in the prosecution of mr. biden over a firearm purchase.” many claims? name one bit of the laptop that has been proven wrong! the article mentions our first story from the laptop, in october 14, 2020, which shows hunter working to arrange a meeting between a ukrainian energy official and his father. vadym pozharskyi was an adviser to the board of ukrainian gas company burisma, which was paying hunter biden $83,000 a month. in may 2014, pozharskyi emailed hunter, asking for “advice on how you could use your influence” on the company’s behalf. then, in april 2015, pozharskyi writes another email: “dear hunter, thank you for inviting me to dc and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together. it’s realty [sic] an honor and pleasure.” this correspondence is real and verified. the messages contradict joe biden’s frequent insistent that he “never” spoke to his son about business. they show the son of the sitting vice president of the united states being paid by foreign clients for his supposed influence. so what does “never proven” mean? only that joe biden claims he didn’t do anything wrong. but a denial is not the truth. you can believe that it was perfectly fine for joe biden to let his son run around the world signing contracts with chinese, kazakh and ukrainian clients, his only skill being his last name. you can claim, as business partner devon archer said, that hunter was merely selling “the illusion of access.” morning report and evening update: your source for today's top stories please provide a valid email address. by clicking above you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy. never miss a story. but that’s a political argument. it is not “never proven.” after years of breathlessly reporting innuendo and the activities of minor charlatans as a great russian conspiracy   for which it shockingly won a pulitzer   the times has moved the goalposts. it’s not enough if   as multiple sources now confirm   joe biden dropped by a dinner where hunter was entertaining clients. it’s not enough for hunter to threaten a chinese official   as happened   saying “i’m sitting here with my father” and he’ll be disappointed if i don’t get paid. the appearance of impropriety is not enough. only if joe biden is photographed holding a sack of cash is hunter’s laptop worthy of coverage. and even then, the times would frame it as “republicans pounce.” but that’s not the way voters think. this is a scandal of ethics, and that’s the way it will be judged. joe biden doesn’t need to be charged with a crime, or even impeached, for voters to see what’s on the laptop and believe he acted inappropriately. the times’ denialism is such that when it mentions that the post’s coverage was gagged by social media, “conservatives said those reactions were evidence of liberal censorship.” just conservatives? how is not censorship that twitter locked our account? we’re curious why this article was published at all. did it start as a mea culpa and get lost along the way? more likely, it’s meant to reassure its liberal readers. yes, the laptop was used to convict hunter biden, but rest easy: we’ll try our damnedest to make sure it doesn’t become a bigger deal.

trump administration supported by as the prosecutor waved the silver apple macbook pro, the jury gazed at it as if expecting sparks to fly from it. by robert draper reporting from wilmington, del. on a day dominated by lurid tales of hunter biden’s years as a crack addict, told by the defendant’s former wife as well as an ex girlfriend, a brief sighting in the courtroom of a major headliner passed with almost no comment. at about 10:30 a.m. on wednesday, a federal prosecutor, derek hines, brandished the headliner in question   mr. biden’s notorious laptop, a silver apple macbook pro encased in a plastic cover. he waggled it about with his left hand while reminding a government witness, erika jensen, an f.b.i. special agent, of all the data that had been seized during the department of justice’s investigation of mr. biden. the jurors and courtroom spectators gazed at government exhibit 16 as if expecting sparks to fly from it. three seconds later, mr. hines returned the laptop to the prosecutors’ table, soon to be buried under a heap of other government evidence. it received no further mention. the laptop’s cameo appearance, after making a similarly brief appearance the day before, underscored how anticlimactic its role has been in the various investigations relating to the conduct of what right wing critics term “the biden crime family.” house republicans failed to glean from its contents anything warranting impeachment of president biden, the defendant’s father. nothing has yet emerged from it that ties the son to criminal activity other than drug related misadventures to which the younger mr. biden has already confessed. the government’s case against mr. biden, who has been charged with illegally purchasing a gun, centers on whether he lied on a federal firearms application when he said he was not abusing drugs.

a federal judge has also postponed hunter biden's separate trial on tax charges. prosecutors plan to use hunter biden's infamous laptop as evidence in an upcoming trial to help them prove that the president's son unlawfully obtained a firearm in 2018. special counsel david weiss wrote wednesday that "the defendant's laptop is real (it will be introduced as a trial exhibit) and it contains significant evidence of the defendant's guilt." hunter biden pleaded not guilty in october to federal gun charges after prosecutors say he obtained a colt cobra 38spl revolver and lied on a federal form about his drug use at the time. biden owned the firearm for eleven days and never fired it, his attorneys said. the laptop has become a symbol of the legal and political controversy surrounding the president's son in recent years. weiss' office plans to use the laptop to demonstrate that biden was on drugs around the time of his gun purchase in october 2018. the younger biden chronicled his extensive drug use in his memoir, "beautiful things," and has acknowledged the problematic behavior that came with it. his gun possession trial is scheduled to begin on june 3. hunter biden has pleaded not guilty to three felony counts. attorneys for hunter biden had previously attempted to preclude the laptop as evidence, arguing that they have "numerous reasons to believe the data had been altered and compromised before investigators obtained the electronic material." but in his response on wednesday, weiss claimed that biden "has not provided any evidence or information that shows that his laptop contains false information, and the government's evidence shows the opposite." "any argument that suggests his laptop is not authentic would be inappropriate because there is no foundation for such questioning, and it risks creating juror confusion about the evidence actually at issue in this case," weiss wrote. the development came on the same day a federal judge postponed hunter biden's los angeles trial on tax charges until sept. 5    raising the likelihood that a jury could be deliberating whether to convict the president's son on several felony counts in the waning weeks of the 2024 election. judge mark scarsi on wednesday granted a motion from hunter biden's legal team to move the trial from june 20 to september, giving them the chance to adequately prepare. attorneys for hunter biden had said a june 3 trial would hamper their ability to adequately represent their client. "there was an assumption that he could do both, but it's becoming complicated," abbe lowell, an attorney for hunter biden, said at a hearing on wednesday. prosecutors in weiss' office had opposed the delay. they argued in court papers and again at a hearing on wednesday that a delay would inconvenience their office and several witnesses who they had already subpoenaed to testify at trial in june and july. weiss' office charged hunter biden in december in california with nine felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from his failure to pay $1.4 million in taxes for three years during a time when he was in the throes of addiction. hunter biden pleaded not guilty to all charges. the back taxes and penalties were previously paid in full by a third party, identified by abc news as hunter biden's attorney and confidant, kevin morris. the new trial schedule raises the likelihood that hunter biden will be on trial as many voters begin casting their ballots. the parties predict that the trial could last up to six weeks, meaning jurors could be deliberating a verdict in mid october. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events

next up in 5 example video title will go here for this video update (6/11/2024): hunter biden was convicted on tuesday, june 11, of three felony charges related to the purchase of a revolver in 2018. his personal messages were shown as evidence in his trial, including some from the laptop that he left at a delaware repair shop and never retrieved. this story has been updated to reflect the trial evidence. on sept. 14, president joe biden’s son hunter biden was indicted on three federal gun charges. hunter biden has been a source of controversy for years, in part because his business dealings in ukraine and china while his father was vice president drew accusations of corruption. federal prosecutors opened an investigation into hunter biden during the trump administration, which resulted in charges of tax evasion and illegal gun ownership. he was set to plead guilty to those counts, but the plea deal fell apart in july. now, prosecutors have issued new gun charges and are expected to file new tax evasion charges as well. hunter biden is expected to face trial. a major catalyst for the controversy has been a laptop allegedly owned by hunter biden and left at a computer repair shop in delaware. a few weeks before the 2020 presidential election, the new york post published an article in which it claimed to have obtained a copy of the laptop’s data. the article claimed the data contained evidence that then vice president joe biden had engaged in corrupt activities, specifically regarding foreign policy decisions designed to benefit his son and the companies hunter worked with. verify has received dozens of questions about hunter biden’s laptop. several viewers asked simply, “is the hunter biden laptop real?” verify dug into this controversial story, and interviewed the delaware computer repair shop owner. here’s what we can confirm to be true and false. does a laptop connected to hunter biden exist? court records from a civil suit filed by john paul mac isaac fbi receipt for the laptop, published by fox news statements made to numerous media outlets by department of justice officials interview with john paul mac isaac, owner of the mac shop yes, a laptop connected to hunter biden exists. the fbi seized it from a computer repair shop in delaware. sign up for the verify fast facts newsletter here. the new york post said it obtained a copy of the laptop’s data from rudy giuliani, donald trump’s then personal lawyer, in october of 2020. giuliani, through his own lawyer, obtained it from john paul mac isaac, the owner of the mac shop, a computer repair shop in delaware. in an interview with verify, mac isaac said that in april of 2019, hunter biden brought in a liquid damaged laptop for data recovery. mac isaac said he was transferring files from the laptop to an external hard drive when he saw compromising materials. “i realized that there was a lot of sensitive and embarrassing material on the laptop. also, some questionable criminality as well. so i was concerned,” he said. mac isaac said he reached out to hunter biden multiple times in early 2019, requesting he pick up the laptop and pay for the services, but neither happened. later, joe biden announced his candidacy for president. mac isaac says he was uncomfortable possessing potentially compromising material about a presidential candidate’s family and wished to turn the laptop over to law enforcement. “i just figured it was a matter of time before somebody would figure out that i had seen what i had seen, and i was in possession of what i was in possession of,” he told verify. mac isaac says his initial attempts to hand the laptop over to the fbi were rebuffed, but after a series of conversations with agents, he eventually received a subpoena for the laptop and handed over the device to investigators in december of 2019. a copy of the subpoena was later obtained and published by fox news, which, along with several other news outlets, verified its authenticity with law enforcement sources. the subpoena has also since been included by mac isaac as an exhibit in a related civil suit, in which he accused several people of defaming him since the laptop story broke. mac isaac says that after handing over the laptop and providing agents with some initial technical assistance, he was never again contacted by investigators. in the summer of 2020, he decided to reach out to giuliani, seeing him as an authority figure who might be more invested in the computer’s contents. “at the time, the person that i identified as probably the most knowledgeable on the events [regarding the biden family] in ukraine, and who was also a lawyer, and who was also representing the president of the united states, was rudy giuliani,” said mac isaac. “[i thought he] looks like somebody who's been actively pursuing the, what i perceived as, criminality on the laptop. let me choose this guy.” mac isaac said he identified a lawyer for giuiliani, robert costello, and after exchanging initial emails, sent costello a hard drive with a copy of the laptop’s data in late august of 2020, asking costello to preserve his anonymity. federal investigators have made no public statements about the laptop or who it belongs to, and hunter biden and his legal team have refused to explicitly acknowledge its authenticity. multiple news outlets have obtained copies of the data found on the laptop, and given it to cybersecurity experts to analyze. those forensic analyses concluded the data was genuine. one, conducted by the washington post, found it was possible some documents that have circulated purporting to belong to hunter biden may have been tampered with, though the analysis could not say definitively. the analysts said the vast majority of emails related to hunter biden’s foreign business had no evidence of tampering. another, conducted by cbs news, with a copy of data obtained directly from mac isaac, found no evidence of tampering. the analysts hired by cbs concluded the data they looked at was genuinely hunter biden’s and could not have been fabricated, in part because of the sheer volume and complexity of the documents, photos, and emails it contained. some of hunter biden's personal messages from the laptop were used as evidence in his trial over felony gun charges. hunter biden was ultimately convicted of three felony charges in that trial. has information from the laptop resulted in corruption charges for hunter or joe biden? department of justice u.s. district court, district of delaware no, so far information from the laptop has not resulted in any corruption charges for hunter or joe biden. no corruption charges have been filed at all. as of yet, none of the multiple charging documents brought by the department of justice against hunter biden   either in july or september   have mentioned corruption, hunter biden’s foreign business dealings, or joe biden. the only time the foreign business dealings have come up publicly during the prosecution was when the plea deal fell apart, in part because of disagreement over whether the deal would protect hunter biden from potential prosecution for other crimes, including those involving his business abroad. biden’s lawyers believed it would, but the prosecutors argued it would not. the debate led to the collapse of the deal, though still no corruption charges. photos and videos purportedly from the laptop have circulated widely over the past three years, often appearing to show hunter biden taking drugs or involved in sex acts. during a committee hearing in july, rep. marjorie taylor greene (r ga.) displayed some of the graphic images, a decision that drew widespread condemnation. however, no charges have been filed in relation to these images. they also did not provide new revelations about hunter biden’s struggles with drug addiction, something that has been public for nearly a decade. has the department of justice concluded its investigation into hunter biden? department of justice u.s. district court, district of delaware no. the doj has filed new gun charges, and is expected to file new tax evasion charges as well. a trial is expected in both cases. prosecutors recently withdrew the tax evasion charges, but are expected to re file them in another district. on sept. 14, prosecutors working under weiss filed a new indictment against hunter biden on three gun charges: one for possessing a firearm while addicted to drugs, and two for lying on federal forms about that addiction. similar charges had been brought in july, but the doj and hunter biden had reached a diversion agreement that would prevent prosecution if biden agreed to certain terms. prosecutors argue that agreement never took effect and became invalid when the rest of the plea deal fell apart. without any plea deal in place for the new charges, a trial is expected. whether any information obtained from the seized laptop will be used as evidence against hunter biden in trial is to be determined. none was mentioned in the indictment. david weiss, the trump appointed prosecutor who has led the hunter biden investigation for years, was recently made special counsel by attorney general merrick garland. that appointment gives weiss more autonomy in his investigation. while there have been no corruption charges to date, the investigation continues. the verify team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter, text alerts and our youtube channel. you can also follow us on snapchat, instagram, facebook and tiktok. learn more » text: 202 410 8808

what a long, strange trip it’s been. five years and one month after first son hunter biden dropped off three damaged laptops at a repair shop in wilmington, del., and never returned to pick them up, a delaware federal judge ruled that jurors at the 54 year old’s upcoming trial on weapons charges can be shown damaging evidence about his illegal drug use taken from his hard drive, his iphone and ipad and his own memoir. as hunter looked on in court   one day after attending a white house state dinner   us district judge maryellen noreika in wilmington ruled that the “laptop from hell” could not be barred out of hand based on his legal team’s claim it had been hacked and seeded with false information. however, noreika did rule that the first son’s attorneys can object to the introduction of specific pieces of information from the laptop as prosecutors   who say there is no evidence that the computer was ever compromised   seek to raise them during trial, which begins with jury selection june 3. the item by item nature of noreika’s ruling is likely to lead to explosive disagreements between prosecutors and the defense, and could stretch the case beyond its expected one week time frame. the post first reported on the laptop’s contents   which included evidence of influence peddling, illegal foreign lobbying, drug use and prostitution   in october 2020, only for big tech companies like facebook and twitter to suppress sharing of the story while dozens of former intelligence officials attacked the report as having “all the hallmarks of russian disinformation.” in fact, as one irs whistleblower told congress last year, the fbi had authenticated the laptop and its information as early as november 2019. the biden scion   who didn’t answer questions from the media on his way in and out of court   is accused of three counts related to illegal ownership of a gun while addicted to crack cocaine. he faces up to 25 years behind bars if convicted on all charges. prosecutors from the office of special counsel david weiss   who was present for friday’s hearing   need to prove to the jury that hunter was using the addictive street drug around the time he bought the colt cobra .38 caliber revolver on oct. 12, 2018. however, in a key win for hunter’s dad’s justice department, noreika ruled they don’t have to prove the defendant used drugs on the day of the purchase. prosecutors can also introduce evidence of hunter’s drug use via a summary chart of more than 18,000 records from his ipad and iphone, as well as portions of his 2021 memoir “beautiful things,” in which biden described being addicted to drugs around the time of the firearm purchase. hunter’s lawyers had asked noreika to keep more salacious evidence against their client   including that he blew money on “adult entertainment, online chat rooms, or escort services”   out of the case, arguing it posed “significant risk of unfair prejudice.” prosecutors didn’t have it all their own way friday, with noreika ruling that hunter’s pending southern california trial on tax evasion charges, his arkansas child support case, and his 2014 discharge from the us navy reserve after failing a cocaine test could not be mentioned in front of the jury. however, the judge warned that “there’s a number of issues that may become more contentious should mr. biden testify.” the judge also agreed to allow biden’s attorneys to introduce wider selections of “beautiful things” after the defense accused prosecutors of cherry picking from the book. noreika did not immediately rule on a defense request to introduce an altered version of the gun purchase form filled out by hunter biden, which lead defense attorney abbe lowell claimed was significantly changed by employees after the sale. prosecutors say there were only minor additions unrelated to the questions answered by the younger biden. hunter is set to stand trial in los angeles beginning sept. 5 on charges that he failed to pay $1.4 million in taxes for the years 2016 through 2019, with prosecutors saying he spent that money on an “extravagant” lifestyle   including “drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes.” while prosecutors can’t specifically mention the tax case, noreika ruled, they can present evidence of hunter’s spendthrift ways. noreika also ruled that the jury can’t hear about the plea deal hunter was slated to take last summer   before it blew up in court after prosecutors said the agreement wouldn’t shield him from the tax charges. hunter’s side has tried unsuccessfully to dismiss both the gun charges and the tax case, arguing that both prosecutions are strategically timed to harm president biden’s re election effort. with post wires

media criticism robby soave | 6.13.2024 4:00 pm hunter biden, the troubled son of president joe biden, was convicted this week of three charges related to illegally purchasing a gun while suffering from drug addiction. it is fair to ask whether prosecutors should have brought these charges in the first place; reason's jacob sullum described the violated law in question as "widely flouted, haphazardly enforced, and constitutionally dubious." republican rep. thomas massie (r ky.) wrote on x: "hunter might deserve to be in jail for something, but purchasing a gun is not it. there are millions of marijuana users who own guns in this country, and none of them should be in jail for purchasing or possessing a firearm against current laws." one interesting feature of the trial was the delivery mechanism for the evidence used by the state to prove that hunter biden was indeed addicted to drugs at the time of the gun purchase. that evidence came from photos and messages that were obtained from his laptop, which he abandoned at a delaware repair store in april 2019. the contents of the laptop, readers may recall, fell into the hands of government investigators, republican operatives, and eventually, the media. on october 14, 2020 just weeks before the presidential election the new york post published a story about the laptop's contents, arguing that it demonstrated corruption and influence peddling involving the biden family. the rest is history: mainstream media figures smeared the laptop story as misinformation, national intelligence experts described it as part of a potential russian influence campaign, and social media sites suppressed it. joe biden himself dismissed the story as fake during a debate with then president donald trump, citing the assessments of the intelligence community. it is notable, then, that years later, the accuracy of the information on the laptop is no longer questioned; claims of russian malfeasance are utterly unfounded. one can disagree with the new york post's conclusions about the relevance of the information, but it's abundantly clear that it was hunter biden's laptop and it was discarded at a repair shop. many conservatives are rightly taking a victory lap. sean hannity delivered a thunderous monologue this week: "in other words, you were lied to on a very high level just before an election by numerous people and entire institutions. you were lied to by hunter biden himself. you were lied to by his father, your president, joe biden. you were lied to by nbc news, fake news cnn, npr. well, let's just say pretty much everybody in the media mob." one can quibble with the term lie but it's inarguable that the aforementioned institutions and individuals did in fact get the laptop story totally wrong. enter the washington post's philip bump, who somehow thinks the media's conduct is worth defending and conservative critics have gone astray. in a recent column, he stubbornly insists that concerns about the laptop story were valid and chides hannity et al. for taking a victory lap. he writes: "the issue at the time of the new york post report was in part that the material might not be authentic. in part, though, it was that it was authentic and being released in october 2020 as part of a foreign effort to influence the outcome of the presidential race." it's unclear why he thinks this helps his case, since both of these points that the information might be inauthentic or that it might be authentic but russian derived were wrong. the information is authentic, and no evidence has ever surfaced that russia had something to do with it. bump subsequently wastes a great deal of ink explaining why he believes those concerns about russian intervention were well founded. again, this is beside the point. it is now definitively proven that they were not well founded. twitter and facebook which at the time faced incredible pressure to act suppressed the story on a fraudulent basis. he's right that the intelligence officials who proclaimed the laptop had all the "classic earmarks of a russian misinformation operation" were more cautious in their assessment than the media acknowledged; indeed, it was politico that ran with the inaccurate headline "hunter biden story is russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say." but nowhere in his column does bump chide politico for exaggerating the facts on the contrary, he is making excuses for exactly this kind of thing. all has not been well at the washington post lately. management fired top editor sally buzbee earlier this month, with chief executive will lewis admitting candidly that the paper had lost $77 million in 2023 amid a staggering 50 percent audience decline since 2020. in a recent staff meeting, lewis angered some by bluntly stating: "people are not reading your stuff. i can't sugarcoat it anymore." if the problem is that the paper has lost its readers' trust, editors might think carefully about why that is the case. i am joined once again by amber duke to discuss the media's reaction to the hunter biden verdict, why msnbc thinks robert f. kennedy jr. is "damaged," what's going on with the undercover recording of supreme court justice samuel alito, and more. sunday is the day! hbo's house of the dragon finally returns. expect some live commentary from me on x. δdocument.getelementbyid( "ak_js_1" ).setattribute( "value", ( new date() ).gettime() ); next: most palestinians don’t want hamas rule, poll shows robby soave is a senior editor at reason. show comments (244) ryan bourne and marcos falcone | from the march 2025 issue reason staff | from the march 2025 issue jacob sullum | 2.7.2025 2:45 pm emma camp | 2.7.2025 2:09 pm joe lancaster | 2.7.2025 12:15 pm © 2024 reason foundation | accessibility | privacy policy | terms of use this site is protected by recaptcha and the google privacy policy and terms of service apply. do you care about free minds and free markets? sign up to get the biggest stories from reason in your inbox every afternoon. δdocument.getelementbyid( "ak_js_2" ).setattribute( "value", ( new date() ).gettime() ); this modal will close in 10 just $25 per year

our live coverage of today’s proceedings has concluded. scroll below to learn about what happened tuesday in the hunter biden trial. we will be back with more coverage wednesday morning. a jury of delaware residents has been empaneled in the criminal trial of hunter biden on federal gun charges. opening statements in the case involving president joe biden’s son were delivered on tuesday, following the dismissal of one juror who cited difficulty getting to the courthouse each day. one of the four originally selected alternates who also hear the case will replace that juror. here’s what to know about the jury as it stands now: under cross examination, a key government witness conceded that hunter biden might not have been using drugs continuously from 2015 to 2019, which covers when he bought the gun in 2018. this is notable because, earlier in the day, prosecutors highlighted how hunter biden said in his memoir that he was an “active” addict during that 5 year period. “i didn’t get the sense it was the entire period,” fbi agent erika jensen said, adding that there were some periods of time in that 5 year window when biden did not appear to be abusing crack cocaine. hunter lawyer abbe lowell is also trying to point out discrepancies between what his client wrote in his 2021 memoir and what actually happened. for example, in one case, biden went on a flight that he claimed he missed or skipped. lowell is likely doing this because prosecutors are relying on the book as key evidence to support their case. the second day of the hunter biden federal gun trial has ended. the first, and as of yet, only witness, fbi agent erika jensen, remains on the stand for cross examination. court will resume at 9 a.m. et on wednesday. prosecutors have shown several videos to the jury they say were obtained after subpoenaing his electronic devices. one video showed a shirtless hunter biden holding what appeared to be a pipe. another video showed a white substance on a scale. prosecutors are done questioning the fbi agent that they used to introduce a trove of hunter biden texts and photos to the jury. hunter biden’s lawyers are now starting their cross examination of the witness, fbi agent erika jensen. the defense has previously raised concerns about the authenticity of some of the messages that were shown to the jury today. in the days after he purchased the firearm, hunter biden texted that he was smoking crack, according to an fbi agent testifying tuesday. in one text the day after he bought the gun, hunter biden said he was “waiting for a dealer,” the agent said. on an almost daily basis, hunter biden was withdrawing hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars in cash around the time he purchased the firearm in 2018, according to an fbi agent. on october 12, the day hunter biden bought the weapon, he withdrew $5,000 in cash, according to a receipt shown to the jury. hunter biden, prosecutors say, paid for the gun in cash. from september to november that year, hunter biden withdrew $151,640 in cash. prosecutors introduced into evidence the atf form that was filled out when hunter biden bought the gun on october 12, 2018. hunter biden’s answer to question #11e is the basis of 2 of the 3 charges against him. biden checked the box saying he wasn’t a user of, or addicted to, illegal drugs. prosecutors say that was an unlawful false statement. prosecutors on tuesday afternoon showed the jury photos of drugs that they found on hunter biden’s devices. they show a white substance that appears to be cocaine, as well as a scale often used to weigh drugs. fbi special agent erika jensen testified that investigators found the images on hunter biden’s devices, which were subpoenaed in 2019. those devices included his icloud backup as well as his laptop. prosecutors say the pictures of drugs were exchanged between hunter and some of his drug dealers in california. hunter described in his memoir that “depravity” and drug binges that dominated his time in los angeles that year. prosecutors showed invoices from a rehab facility in los angeles nearly a month before hunter biden purchased a gun in delaware. the invoice, for care including detox and a “sober companion,” ran several thousand dollars and spanned over a week in the summer of 2018. an fbi agent testified that in his book, hunter said he relapsed two weeks after leaving rehab. text messages shown tuesday afternoon to the jury demonstrate hunter biden’s efforts to get drugs and meet with dealers, prosecutors say. “asap if you can,” hunter biden allegedly texted one of his contacts, and another time he texted, “can you come this way now?” “you want 10 grams?” another contact allegedly messaged hunter biden. according to the fbi agent testifying, the messages were from the summer of 2018. messages extracted from hunter biden’s laptop are also being shown to the jury. prosecutors are showing the jury the infamous laptop that hunter biden left at a delaware repair shop in 2019. fbi agent erika jensen testified that authorities verified that the laptop belonged to hunter biden because of its serial number and other records from apple. in previous court filings, prosecutors said they’d use messages they found on the laptop to demonstrate that hunter biden was using crack cocaine in 2018, around the time when he bought a gun. no cameras are allowed inside the delaware courtroom where hunter biden’s trial is underway, but sketch artist bill hennessy captured the scene. the trial resumed shortly after 2 p.m., with fbi special agent erika jensen still on the stand. jensen is testifying about how investigators corroborated hunter biden’s admissions of drug use in his memoir. her appearance has also allowed prosecutors to introduce portions of biden’s book into evidence, playing excerpts from the audiobook. after both sides delivered opening statements, prosecutors called their first witness, fbi special agent erika jensen, tuesday in hunter biden’s trial on felony gun charges. jensen will be used by the prosecutors to introduce much of the digital evidence in this case, including embarrassing and intensely personal messages and images from hunter biden’s laptop. here’s what’s happened in the trial so far: prosecution’s opening statement: prosecutors began tuesday with a fiery opening statement in the hunter biden trial. prosecutor derek hines said that biden was addicted to crack and lied on a federal form about his addiction when buying a gun. “we’re here because of the defendant’s lies and choices,” hines said. “no one is above the law. it doesn’t matter who you are or what your name is.” prosecutors also told the jury about hunter biden’s memoir. they quoted him describing his “superpower of finding crack anywhere, anytime.” turning to the jury, hines said, “those are [hunter’s] words.” prosecutors also showed pictures of drugs to the jury that they got from hunter’s electronic devices. defense’s opening statement: defense attorney abbe lowell highlighted the word “knowingly” in the charges brought against hunter biden as he began his opening statement tuesday. lowell said that prosectors had “left out the word” and argued it is a key part of the case. in addition, he said, out of the 11 days hunter biden possessed the firearm, it was only out of a lockbox one day. “they have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that hunter knowingly violated the law,” lowell said, adding that what hunter thought at the time was key. the defense also suggested that hunter biden didn’t have much interest in buying a gun, trying to undermine prosecutors’ claims that he knowingly lied to the gun dealers. juror dismissed: one juror was dismissed from the hunter biden trial tuesday after they sent an email to the court explaining that they live an hour away from where the trial is taking place in wilmington, delaware. the judge entered the courtroom at 8:55 a.m. et and began by saying, “so, we lost a juror.” before the lunch break, some of the jurors took notes during the most intense periods of the reading of hunter biden’s audiobook, including when he described the utter “shame” and “depravity” of his lifestyle in los angeles, buying crack from people in homeless encampments. the members of the jury   which include several people who lost loved ones to addiction   heard nearly an hour of hunter biden narrating his book from the audiobook version. he explained his many near death experiences as he bounced between various rehab stints and drug binges. the jury’s lunch tuesday included sandwiches, sodas and a large box of cookies. several jurors ate their lunch in a courtyard outside. federal district judge maryellen noreika is overseeing hunter biden’s gun case in delaware. noreika, a donald trump appointee, was confirmed by the us senate in august 2018 by voice vote. she had the support of both democratic senators from delaware. under the senate’s blue slip tradition, nominees for district court seats require the support of home state senators to move forward. sen. chris coons, a democrat, praised noreika in a statement after her nomination was announced. he described her and another appointee as “seasoned attorneys,” with “impressive trial skills, deep experience in federal practice, and profound respect for the law.” before becoming a federal judge, noreika was a former patent lawyer in wilmington, delaware. she grew up in pittsburgh, pennsylvania and graduated from university of pittsburgh school of law in 1993. noreika’s political spending has gone to both parties. on the presidential level, federal records indicate that she gave $1,000 to then new york sen. hillary clinton’s 2008 campaign for the democratic nomination. she later donated $2,300 to the eventual 2008 republican nominee, then arizona sen. john mccain. she donated to the subsequent gop nominee as well, giving $2,500 to mitt romney’s presidential campaign in 2012. noreika also financially supported sen. tom cotton, a conservative republican from arkansas, during his 2014 senate race. she also donated $1,000 in 2009 to the dscc, the senate democrats’ campaign arm. cnn’s tierney sneed, marshall cohen and jack forrest contributed to this report. roughly 10 months ago, hunter biden was in the same wilmington, delaware, federal courthouse, preparing to plead guilty to federal tax charges. the deal would have ended the prosecution, ideally dampening the political and emotional drain on president joe biden, although republicans were livid at the idea there would be no jail time. hunter biden, who failed to pay between $1.1 million and $1.5 million in federal taxes before the legal deadlines, was poised to plead guilty to two tax charges, with prosecutors agreeing to recommend a sentence of probation. district judge maryellen noreika, however, said she had “concerns” about the parties seemingly linking the tax plea agreement to resolving a felony gun charge. after negotiations, the president’s son then agreed to plead guilty to the two tax charges in a deal that only includes conduct related to tax offenses, drug use and gun possession. the two sides agreed that this deal does not shield him from potential future charges. but the judge wasn’t satisfied. “what if it is unconstitutional?” she asked. “i’m trying to exercise due deliverance and consideration to make sure we don’t make a misstep.” david weiss, subsequently elevated to special counsel, then indicted biden on the gun charges in delaware. he’ll be tried on the tax charges in los angeles in september. the trial has broken for lunch and will resume around 2 p.m. et. fbi special agent erika jensen remains on the stand. as prosecutors have played long excerpts of hunter reading his own autobiography   detailing his addiction   hunter biden has sat still, looking down, with his head resting over his chin. the clips being played to the jury detail hunter biden’s use of crack cocaine, describing the “repetitive nature, low lows and high highs of addiction. first lady jill biden and hunter’s wife melissa cohen biden have sat stoically during the book’s reading, looking ahead to the fbi agent on the witness stand. prosecutors played audio clips from hunter biden reading his autobiography saying that prior to a california trip in 2019, he had been going through a four year period of addiction. citing cash withdrawals, fbi agent erika jensen placed the time of hunter’s trip to california in late april 2019. hunter purchased the firearm   the root of the charges against him   in october 2018. in his opening statement, defense attorney abbe lowell said prosecutors haven’t shown evidence he was a drug user at the time. many of the jurors were taking notes attentively during the opening statements in hunter biden’s trial. one juror appeared to become emotional during defense attorney abbe lowell’s opening statements. the juror reached for tissues in her bag and dabbed her eyes and her nose several times. it’s unclear what prompted the reaction. lowell was 35 minutes into his statement, and had explained how despite claims from prosecutors, the evidence doesn’t show hunter biden was using drugs the day he bought the gun. lowell was discussing the circumstances of the tumultuous days when hallie biden found the gun and threw it in a trash can outside a supermarket. as lowell finished his argument that the only fair verdict would be not guilty, showing the charges and emphasizing how the government must prove hunter biden “knowingly” violated the law, the juror folded her arms, holding her tissues. as she stood to leave for the morning break the juror took a deep breath and walked out slowly. prosecutors called their first witness, fbi special agent erika jensen. jensen will be used by the prosecutors to introduce much of the digital evidence in this case, including embarrassing and intensely personal messages and images from hunter biden’s laptop. hunter biden’s attorney abbe lowell told the jury that the pouch prosecutors say carried his gun and had cocaine on it was actually used by hallie biden. lowell said hallie biden put hunter biden’s gun in the pouch before throwing the gun away near a grocery store. five years later, lowell said, investigators tested a substance they say was on the pouch. but, lowell said, investigators didn’t test for fingerprints. “the gun was never loaded. it was never carried around,” lowell said. judge maryellen noreika provided the jury with instructions for the trial of hunter biden on monday. the instructions outlined a variety of points for jurors to follow and keep in mind for the trial including; the role of the jury, conduct of the jury, questions by jurors and note taking. the instructions said that the court will not provide jurors with a written account of testimony, but they are allowed to take notes. “at the end of the trial, you must make your decision based on what you remember of the evidence. you will not have a written transcript of the testimony to review. you must pay close attention to the testimony as it is given,” the instructions read. view the full jury instructions: defense attorney abbe lowell said that while prosecutors highlighted hunter biden’s cash withdrawals, the president’s son often used cash for various things at that time, including for rehab. hunter biden, who had no credit card at the time, according to lowell, bought the firearm at the center of the case with cash. prosecutors said they would use text messages and the cash withdraws to prove hunter biden was using drugs. the defense is suggesting to the jury that hunter biden didn’t have much interest in buying a gun, trying to undermine prosecutors’ claims that he knowingly lied to the gun dealers. the gun salesman “led hunter” to the guns while he was browsing other items and “selected a handgun” for him, lowell said. the salesman, gordon cleveland, has referred to himself as a “whale hunter,” lowell told jurors. hunter was only in the area to buy a new phone from the at&t store across the street, lowell added. there haven’t been many references to former president joe biden in the defense’s opening statements. but abbe lowell did mention that hunter biden drove “his father’s black cadillac” to the at&t store on the day he bought the revolver. defense attorney abbe lowell highlighted the word “knowingly” in the charges brought against hunter biden as he began his opening statement tuesday. lowell said that prosectors had “left out the word” and argued it is a key part of the case. in addition, he said, out of the 11 days hunter biden possessed the firearm, it was only out of a lockbox one day. “they have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that hunter knowingly violated the law,” lowell said, adding that what hunter thought at the time was key. lowell traced hunter biden’s addiction back to the various “traumas” hunter biden experienced   beginning with the childhood car crash that killed his mom and left him with a brain injury. “like literally millions of people in this country,” hunter had struggled with addiction, lowell said. “he has abused alcohol since he was a teenager and drugs since he was an adult.” during the trial of hunter biden on felony gun charges in wilmington, delaware, both the prosecutors and defense will likely bring up the form he filled out to obtain the gun, misty marris, a defense and trial attorney, said on cnn. “prosecutors are going to say, ‘this is an easy case.’ there’s a form that you fill out. he lied on the form. he was a drug user. he was a drug addict at the time. look at the form. the box is checked,’” marris explained. one of the arguments the defense is going to present will be the language used in that form, marris noted, and whether or not addict was actually defined and they’re going to focus on whether or not hunter biden saw himself as an addict at that time. marris added that hunter biden “had just finished an 11 day rehabilitation program. he had been living with a sober partner for a certain period of time.” that will all likely be brought up during opening statements underway now and will be a key part of this trial. in ending his opening statement, prosecutor derek hines said that while “addiction may not be a choice,” buying a gun is. hunter biden, hines said, “isn’t charged with possessing drugs.” “we would not be here today if he was just a drug addict,” hines said. the jury in the trial of hunter biden is pretty diverse, linda moreno, lawyer and jury consultant, said on cnn. “about half of them are gun owners or have relatives in their families who own guns. about half of them or more have had a drug addiction touch their families. so this is important. this is a cross section of america and these are the kinds of jurors that are going to figure quite largely in the decision making,” moreno said. she added that the selection process by the court tried to ensure that jury members did not have strong opinions about three categories. the court’s questions to jurors were about: if any potential juror had strong opinions about any of those three categories would not be able to sit in fairness in this trial, moreno noted. prosecutors are telling the jury about hunter biden’s memoir. they quoted him describing his “superpower of finding crack anywhere, anytime.” turning to the jury, hines said, “those are [hunter’s] words.” prosecutors also showed pictures of drugs to the jury that they got from hunter’s electronic devices. hines also showed text messaged allegedly from hunter, admitting he was an addict. “the defendant knew he was an addict” hines said, citing one text allegedly from hunter where he called himself “a liar and a thief” as well as a drug user. prosecutors also played portions of the audiobook from biden’s memoir in court, meaning the voice of the defendant was one of the first the jurors’ heard. hines said during his opening statement that hallie biden, hunter biden’s girlfriend who found and threw away his gun, was given a “grant of immunity” to testify in this case about her own past crack cocaine usage. the immunity requires hallie biden to testify “truthfully,” hines said. hines said hallie biden “had been a drug user too,” after hunter “introduced” crack cocaine to her. hines said hallie biden was clean when she found and threw out hunter’s gun in october 2018. prosecutor derek hines said the employee at the gun store where hunter biden purchased his revolver will testify about the form the president’s son filled out. “a gun salesman doesn’t have a crystal ball to determine what’s true or false,” hines said. prosecutors showed the jury the atf form that was filled out when biden bought the gun. “he lied” on the atf form, hines told the jury. prosecutors showed a picture of hunter biden’s colt revolver to the jury during their opening statements. they also showed images of the “hollow point” ammunition that he bought that day. biden’s lawyers previously said in filings that he never used or loaded the gun when he had it for 11 days before his girlfriend threw it away. prosecutors began tuesday with a fiery opening statement in the hunter biden trial. prosecutor derek hines said that biden was addicted to crack and lied on a federal form about his addiction when buying a gun. “we’re here because of the defendant’s lies and choices,” hines said. “no one is above the law. it doesn’t matter who you are or what your name is.” biden “chose to illegally own a firearm,” hines said. one juror was dismissed from the hunter biden trial tuesday after they sent an email to the court explaining that they live an hour away from the court. the judge entered the courtroom at 8:55 a.m. et and began by saying, “so, we lost a juror.” the judge said that the juror sent an email overnight explaining that she lives in milford, delaware, an hour away from the court and is unemployed. the judge said that the juror did not realize they would be expected to be at the courthouse every day, and she was only able to make it to court yesterday because her dad was off work. cnn’s paula reid, and every other journalist outside the wilmington, delaware, federal courthouse this week, must rely on handwritten notes delivered from inside to deliver real time information to the public. just as with the recent trial of former president donald trump, there is no live video or audio available for the public to follow a highly political legal proceeding. but the biden trial is even more limited than trump’s was. tmp’s criminal trial in new york allowed no tv or audio, but reporters were at least able to use email and slack to transmit to the outside world. neither option is available here, so we’re relying on notes, runners or for reporters to come out of the courthouse in person. before opening statements, the judge rejected several attempts by hunter biden’s team to exclude some photos from the trial. the judge will allow the photos to be shown to the jury because they contain “circumstantial evidence” of his drug use. one of the images shows a nude hunter biden, but the judge said it only shows him “from the chest up,” and is redacted below that, so it will be allowed. the court is still waiting for some jurors to show up, ahead of opening statements, which haven’t begun yet. democrats are dismissing attempts to compare hunter biden’s trial with former president donald trump’s conviction last week. “hunter biden is not running for president. president donald trump’s running for president,” said rep. jamie raskin of maryland. he also noted that democrats have not rushed to hunter biden’s defense in this criminal case, or alleged that the trial is a “sham” in the way that republicans did with the trump trial. “democrats are not out there saying that hunter biden’s trial is a farce, it’s a fraud, it’s rigged. we’re not attacking the justice system,” raskin said monday.“they do that because of the extraordinary cognitive dissonance that a party   which claims to be representing religious piety   has wrapped itself around in an adjudicated sexual assailant and fraudster who just got convicted by a jury of his peers for paying $130,000 in hush money to a porn star right after his fifth child was born. that’s where their party is.” rep. robert garcia of california agreed: “he’s not the president of the united states, he’s not a public figure.“so hunter biden should be held accountable for whatever he’s done,” he said, adding that this “is not comparable to the multiple crimes that clearly donald trump has committed.” pressed on how hunter’s trial could affect his father’s chances in november, garcia replied, “i think the president loves his son. and i think that we all agree that hunter’s made some mistakes, and he’s got to be held accountable for those. i don’t think they have anything to do with his election for president.” abbe lowell, a seasoned defense attorney known for his aggressive style, is representing hunter biden during the trial and, through scores of court filings, has outlined several strategies his team may deploy against the prosecutors’ case. one key issue could be over whether hunter biden viewed himself as an addict when he purchased the pistol. “the terms ‘user’ or ‘addict’ are not defined on the form and were not explained to him,” lowell wrote in a recent court filing. “someone, like mr. biden who had just completed an 11 day rehabilitation program and lived with a sober companion after that, could surely believe he was not a present tense user or addict.” the defense wants to call an expert on addiction treatment to testify on addiction disorders and how individuals view their addiction. prosecutors have fought against this testimony, arguing that it would be focused on the expert’s opinion around biden’s mental state at the time of the alleged crime, which they say is not allowed in a criminal trial. another expert witness the defense team wants to call is a forensic chemist who could testify about the white residue found on biden’s gun pouch, which prosecutors say tested positive for cocaine. lowell has also raised issues with the employees at the gun store where biden allegedly purchased the weapon. “they accepted an id that they shouldn’t have accepted,” lowell said during a pre trial hearing in delaware, adding that “the government is giving them a break” by providing immunity for the offense so they will testify in the trial. one of the most notable pieces of evidence in the case will be messages from hunter biden’s infamous laptop, which has been at the center of a yearslong political saga. special counsel david weiss said the material “is real” and will be an important part of his case, rebutting past claims from biden that the laptop might be fake or even russian disinformation. republican officials and right wing outlets have seized on the laptop’s embarrassing emails and sexually explicit images to attack hunter biden, while his lawyer says the files were manipulated, and sued a repair shop owner who helped make the materials public. judge maryellen noreika has said she’ll let hunter biden challenge the authenticity of any messages introduced at trial. some of the texts contain gut wrenching arguments between hunter biden and his loved ones about his sobriety. others show him meeting up with drug dealers, including some just a few blocks from the wilmington federal courthouse. “i’m a liar and a thief and a blamer and a user and i’m delusional and an addict unlike beyond and above all other addicts that you know and i’ve ruined every relationship i’ve ever cherished,” biden texted hallie biden in october 2018, according to weiss’ filings. prosecutors plan to use the laptop to specifically support their claim that he was using illegal drugs when he bought the gun in 2018. weiss has not addressed   and the case is not about   republicans’ unproven allegation that emails from the laptop prove that hunter biden and his father were involved in corrupt foreign business deals. first lady jill biden has also arrived at the courthouse in wilmington, delaware, where the second day of hunter biden’s trial is set to begin soon. she was in the courtroom throughout the yesterday, sitting in the pews, a few feet from hunter, as she celebrated her 73rd birthday. hunter biden faces three charges, including making false statements on a federal firearms form and possession of a firearm as a prohibited person. the indictment stems from a 2018 gun purchase. while buying the revolver in delaware, biden lied on a federal form, swearing that he was not using, and was not addicted to, any illegal drugs   even though he was struggling with crack cocaine addiction at the time of the purchase. more context: it’s a federal crime to lie on the atf form or to possess a firearm as a drug user. he possessed the gun for 11 days in 2018. if convicted on all counts, biden could theoretically face as much as 25 years in prison and fines of up to $750,000, according to court filings. however, defendants very rarely get the maximum penalty, especially in cases like these, involving non violent crimes and an alleged first time offender. the charges followed a botched agreement: last june, weiss announced a two pronged agreement where biden would plead guilty to two federal tax misdemeanors and enter a “diversion agreement” where the gun charge would be dropped in two years if he passed regular drug tests and stayed out of legal trouble. however, at a july 2023 hearing, the agreement collapsed after a judge said she had “concerns” about the parties seemingly linking the tax plea agreement to resolving a felony gun charge. attorney general merrick garland named weiss as special counsel the month after. cnn’s marshall cohen, kara scannell, hannah rabinowitz and holmes lybrand contributed to this post. hunter biden arrived to the wilmington, delaware, court for the second day of his trial, flanked by attorney abbe lowell. ashley biden, hunter biden’s sister, arrived with attorney kevin morris. the trial of president joe biden’s son hunter biden will “absolutely not” interfere with the president’s ability to do his job, the white house said monday. speaking to reporters on air force one, white house press secretary karine jean pierre said biden is “the president of the united states and he always puts the american people first and is capable of doing his job.” jean pierre said she had “nothing to share” when asked how the president was monitoring the proceedings and if he spoke to his son after the court concluded on monday. earlier on monday, biden released a statement in support of his son, writing in part: “i am the president, but i am also a dad.” jean pierre said that outside of the statement, she didn’t “have anything else to share.” guns, addiction and politics hung over jury selection at hunter biden’s criminal trial monday, with at times emotional questioning that resulted in the selection of a diverse 12 member panel. throughout the day at the federal courthouse in wilmington, prospective jurors were asked for their thoughts on the politicization of the criminal justice system, the state of us gun laws and their relationships with people struggling with addiction. these topics will weigh heavily in the case against hunter biden, who made history monday by becoming the first child of a sitting us president to go on trial. he pleaded not guilty to unlawfully buying and possessing a firearm while abusing drugs, which is against federal law. hunter biden is a recovering alcohol and crack cocaine addict. here are some takeaways from the first day of the long awaited trial: throughout the day, prospective jurors opened up about their loved ones who struggled with addiction, in front of a fully packed courtroom with reporters from around the world.several of those jurors, who all hail from delaware, made it onto the final jury panel.one woman on the jury said her sister was a “recovering addict” who was previously convicted of drug crimes and credit card fraud and did time in delaware state prison. the pool included a wide range of views on gun rights in the us, with some saying certain firearms   like so called assault weapons   should be banned and others praising the second amendment.several jurors selected said they owned a firearm, one of whom had a concealed carry license and said he believed “our second amendment right is very important, and i stand with it.” this is personal for the bidens.president biden issued a rare statement about his son’s case. and first lady jill biden was in the courtroom throughout the day, sitting in the pews, a few feet from hunter, as she celebrated her 73rd birthday. read more about monday’s takeaways cnn’s kit maher and macayla cook contributed to this report. this is a historic moment for the united states and the history of the presidency. no president has tried to run the country while watching his child go on trial. over the decades, there have been plenty of examples of presidential family members getting in trouble. george h. w. bush’s son faced civil penalties for violating banking laws while his father was serving in the white house. jimmy carter’s brother was scrutinized for his foreign lobbying. but nothing has sunk to the level of a criminal trial. cnn presidential historian douglas brinkley said “there’s always somebody considered a black sheep in the presidential family,” but that hunter biden’s sprawling legal debacles “cut unusually close to the bone because it’s the president’s son.” “this trial is an albatross around president biden’s neck and weighs very heavily on his psyche,” brinkley said on monday. “for any parent to watch their child go through addiction, and now face possible jail time, it’s harrowing,” brinkley added. “you would hope that family would be his comfort zone. but in this case, family is probably his biggest worry of the moment.” © 2025 cable news network. a warner bros. discovery company. all rights reserved. cnn sans ™ & © 2016 cable news network.

hunter biden has been found guilty on all charges related to his drug use and gun possession, making him the first child of a sitting president to be a convicted of a crime. president joe biden's son now awaits sentencing   the maximum he could receive is 25 years in prison, though experts say such a term is very unlikely. here's what we know about the historic case and what happens next. if biden is given a prison sentence, legal experts said that it is very unlikely he would face the maximum 25 years for the three gun charges. even for the charge of being an illegal drug user in possession of a gun, which carries a maximum 10 year penalty, few believe that biden will face the full potential punishment. south texas college of law houston professor dru stevenson said it would be "bizarre and unprecedented” if biden was to receive anything close to five years. “that’s for people that [are] really dangerous, like someone who had already been on the fbi’s watchlist,” he said. prof stevenson said there was a “50:50 chance” of a prison term, and that he would expect something closer to 20 months. “it’s hard to predict, but i think it’s very possible,” he said. prof stevenson said it was also possible that biden gets probation, rather than prison. biden’s apparent recovery from drug abuse may also be cited by his legal team to merit a lighter sentence. however, he noted that the judge overseeing the case had declined to give biden’s lawyers “any breaks” during the trial. judge maryellen noreika was tough on biden’s lawyers during evidentiary hearings, the texas professor said, and she frequently ruled against defence lawyers’ requests. that could indicate that biden might face a harsher sentence than most would consider typical. judge maryellen noreika is expected to schedule a sentencing hearing in the next few weeks. biden will also meet probation officers for a pre sentencing report to be used by the judge. in the interim, it is unlikely that he will be held in custody. even in the event of a prison sentence, it is not expected that biden would have to surrender to authorities immediately. rather, he would probably be given a date to turn himself in. former us assistant attorney neama rahmani told the bbc that after sentencing, biden's team will have 30 days to appeal, something mr rahmani said was very likely. "this is a case made for appeal," he said. he added that sending biden to prison would be a "logistical nightmare" because of the secret service protection he gets as the president's son. biden faced three federal charges in the case: two counts of making false statements and one of illegal gun possession. the charges all relate to his purchase of a revolver at a delaware gun store on 12 october 2018, which he kept for about 11 days. by biden's own admission, he was deep in the throes of a "full blown addiction" to crack cocaine at the time. the two false statement charges stemmed from allegations that he lied about his drug use on a federally mandated form when he bought the weapon. the third count was related to his possession of a firearm while using drugs. before the guilty verdict, president biden said he would not pardon his son. when asked in an interview with abc news if he would rule out the option, he said: "yes." after the verdict he appears to be sticking to the same message. on tuesday, he said in a statement: "i will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as hunter considers an appeal." to convict mr biden, prosecutors had to convince jurors that he knowingly made false statements on the form in a bid to deceive the store that sold him the pistol. prosecutors relied on deeply personal text messages and other communications made while mr biden was in the throes of addiction to prove he was a drug user when he took possession of the gun. in one such message sent to hallie biden a day after the gun was purchased, biden says he was on his way to meet a dealer named mookie. ms biden, who was called to testify by prosecutors, told the court that the text had meant "he was buying crack cocaine". other witnesses called to the stand were mr biden's ex wife, kathleen buhle, and ex girlfriend zoe kestan, who both spoke about his addiction. prosecutors have also pointed to biden's own 2021 memoir, in which he detailed his experiences as a drug user who was "up twenty four hours a day, smoking every 15 minutes, seven days a week". "all my energy revolved around smoking drugs and making arrangements to buy drugs   feeding the beast," he wrote in the book. while biden has himself been quiet about the trial, his lawyers focused on how much he was aware of his addiction at the end of the purchase, and on the quality of the evidence itself. when questioning hallie biden, defence lawyer abbe lowell also sought to cast doubt on whether his client was seen using drugs on the day of the purchase or around it. the third charge, regarding mr biden's alleged possession of a firearm while a drug user, is considered unusual, as it can be hard to prove someone is a drug user and has a gun. "it's just really rare that they would go after someone and prosecute them for this," prof stevenson said. "but this is a high profile person and there's been members of congress demanding he be prosecuted." among the most prominent pieces of evidence at the trial is the information on biden's infamous laptop, which has been the focus of intense media speculation and focus from conservative news outlets. the laptop contained the text messages and pictures sent and received by biden around the date of the firearm purchase, which prosecutors argue are evidence of his guilt. biden's own lawyers have argued that the computer was tampered with before it fell into the hands of investigators. erika jensen, an fbi agent who was called as a witness to testify about the laptop's contents, confirmed its authenticity to jurors. the special counsel appointed to oversee the probes into hunter biden, david weiss, has said that the tampering argument is a "conspiracy theory" with "no supporting evidence". the laptop has also been at the centre of unproven theories linking biden and his father to corruption, which they both deny. in addition to the gun charges in delaware, biden is facing separate federal charges in california over allegations that he evaded a tax assessment, failed to properly file and pay taxes and filed a fraudulent tax return. several months after the spectacular collapse of a plea deal that would address both sets of charges last year, biden also pleaded not guilty to the tax charges. the japanese prime minister gets much needed reassurances that his country is still america's top ally. officials say it's too soon to say what caused the plane to come down on alaska's west coast. nineteen state attorneys general sued the trump administration after the department of government efficiency (doge) was given access. the billionaire aide to donald trump indicates he wants to see the end of an agency founded after the financial crash of 2007 8. fbi agents, former allies, and the nation's top record keeper are among those president trump has fired. copyright 2025 bbc. all rights reserved. the bbc is not responsible for the content of external sites. read about our approach to external linking.

profile sections local tv featured more from nbc follow nbc news news alerts there are no new alerts at this time coverage of this event has ended. get live updates from hunter biden's gun trial here. owen hayes zoë richards court was dismissed for the day at 4:26 p.m. daniel barnesis reporting from the federal courthouse. lowell started his cross examination by going through hunter biden’s text exchanges with drug dealers. lowell asked jensen the dates of those texts   she said the majority of them were in jan. 2019 and the following months. so these exchanges were months after the gun sale, lowell asked? yes, jensen confirmed. lowell also appeared to be trying to draw the jury’s attention to times in hunter’s life that he wasn’t using drugs. the excerpts you selected reflected the “periods” of time when hunter was using crack, there were also periods where he wasn’t using, lowell said. gary grumbach reporting from wilmington, del. the prosecution ended its questioning of erika jensen, the fbi agent. hunter biden's lawyer abbe lowell began cross examining her around 4 p.m. et. owen hayes reporting from wilmington, del. the prosecution then displayed a video from december, obtained from hunter’s phone, showing a shirtless hunter biden holding what jensen identified as a crack pipe. owen hayes reporting from wilmington, del. hines also read through messages between hunter biden and hallie biden on oct. 23, 2018, the day she discovered the gun. “did you take that from me…are you insane?” asked hunter. “this is no game. and you’re being totally irresponsible and unhinged.” in later messages he added “tell me now” and “this is very very serious." hallie responded, “call me!!!!” lowell objected to hines’ reading of messages from hallie biden when she is set to testify herself, but noreika overruled lowell’s objection. owen hayes zoë richards prosecutor derek hines displayed a message that hunter biden allegedly sent to hallie biden, his late brother beau biden's widow, on oct. 13, 2018, that indicated he was “waiting for a dealer” in wilmington. in another message the following day, hunter biden allegedly said he was sleeping in a car smoking crack. the defense said earlier that hunter biden would lie to hallie biden, with whom he had a relationship after beau biden's death, about his whereabouts because he didn’t want to see her. later messages, from november, the prosecution showed, appeared to show hunter biden texting allie kennedy, in which she references his apparent crack usage around the time of the messages. other messages from that month, appear to show hunter setting up meetings with other dealers, exchanging information about quantities and prices. in a dec. 18 message, hunter biden appeared to say “i’m insane and a addict.” daniel barnesis reporting from the federal courthouse. zoë richards hines brought up emails between the gun shop and the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives regarding hunter biden’s background check. as part of this section, the prosecutor introduced the form that hunter biden filled out when he purchased a colt cobra revolver in october 2018. hines showed the jury a magnified view of question 11e, in which hunter biden marked "no" with an x, indicating he was not using illegal drugs when he bought the revolver. a response from the atf confirmed that hunter biden passed the background check. jurors were also shown a copy of the receipt for the gun sale from starquest shooters and survival supply. hunter biden’s total purchase came to $886.81, which he paid with $900 cash. hines also introduced a cash withdrawal slip from oct. 12, 2018   the day of the gun purchase   for $5,000. gary grumbach reporting from wilmington, del. through jensen, the fbi agent, prosecutors entered bank statements from september, october and november 2018 into evidence. the bank statements listed cash withdrawals across three accounts: hunter biden’s personal account, owasco llc, and another account associated with owasco. these bank statements, jensen said, indicated that there were large cash withdrawals nearly every day of september, october and november 2018, totaling $151,640.45. “that was almost $50,000 a month in cash withdrawals?” hines asked jensen. jensen responded affirmatively. gary grumbach rebecca shabad the prosecution entered into evidence several invoices from “the view,” a detox center in southern california. the invoices amounted to 12 days of stabilization services and sober companionship at the end of august and early september 2018. prosecutor derek hines noted that this was 40 days before hunter biden's gun purchase. hines also noted hunter biden said in his audiobook, “i stayed clean for about two weeks.” hines then entered into evidence an alaska airlines subpoena response, indicating hunter biden flew from los angeles international airport (lax) to philadelphia international airport (phl) on the evening of oct. 5, landing in philadelphia early on oct. 6. hines noted this was one week before the gun purchase. prosecutors played another recording from hunter biden’s “beautiful things," from the chapter “lost highway.” in the book, hunter biden says he was coming back to the east coast "with the hope of getting clean.” gary grumbach reporting from wilmington, del. fbi agent erika jensen is continuing to be used as a vehicle to introduce evidence, including text messages from hunter biden’s laptop. “i am so sorry,” zoe kestan texted hunter biden and in an apparent reference to drug paraphernalia. “is there anywhere else to get brillo pads?” kestan was also asking hunter biden for money. “i need more chore boy but regardless come back and yes,” hunter biden responded over text. owen hayes jensen, the fbi agent on the witness stand, proceeded to walk through with hines a series of messages between hunter biden and people the prosecution identified as drug dealers from april 2018 through july 2018. several of those messages appeared to be coordinating meetups with those drug dealers. one exchange on whatsapp included photos between hunter biden and an account with the name “clifford o’brien.” one photo sent from biden's phone showed white powder on a scale. biden then complained that he was being ripped off with a 60% markup, while clifford o’brien defended himself by saying he always had biden's back, referring to him as “family.” another meetup was with a dealer known as “killa cam.” the last exchange from this chunk of messages included an apparent deal arrangement with a dealer named michael, for 10 grams for $600. owen hayes jensen told the prosecution that there were 18,000 pages of messages, photos and videos contained in the pdf file summarizing the data they obtained from the phone, tablet and laptop. all of that was given to the defense. a much smaller share   75 pages   of messages relevant to this trial is included in a summary chart that the government is introducing as exhibit 18. those 75 pages, jensen says, contain evidence of hunter biden’s drug addiction, drug use and possession of a firearm. the chart is being displayed for the jurors without objection from the defense. the chart contains messages and data obtained from the search warrant for icloud data obtained from apple and from the laptop. daniel barnesis reporting from the federal courthouse. reporting from wilmington, del. prosecutor derek hines introduced the laptop to the jury, drawing excited whispers from the gallery, though it's not clear that any of the jurors understood the significance of hunter’s laptop. hines handed fbi agent jensen the physical laptop (a macbook pro 13) in an evidence bag and asked her to explain how the fbi authenticated the laptop and extracted hunter’s data. the data   whatsapp messages, imessages and text messages   contained evidence of hunter’s addiction, she said. hunter’s wife, melissa cohen biden, began shaking her head as soon as hines held up the laptop and at times exchanged whispers with lawyer kevin morris, seated next to her. she continued to shake her head as jensen explained how the fbi extracted data from the laptop and what the data showed. hines also introduced as evidence an emailed invoice for $85 that hunter had received from the mac shop, the repair shop where he dropped off the laptop. gary grumbach daniel barnesis reporting from the federal courthouse. reporting from wilmington, del. hunter biden’s laptop, the one of much discussion and controversy that was obtained via fbi subpoena from “the mac shop,” was handed to witness fbi agent erika jensen. jensen confirmed its authenticity. “this is the laptop that was recovered from the computer store,” she said. when asked how she was able to confirm the laptop's authenticity, jensen said the serial number on the back of the laptop matches the serial number provided in apple inc.’s subpoena response for records. jensen appeared to be making a point of looking at the jury while she explained the concept of icloud data and how the fbi obtains the data via warrants. the jurors appeared engaged   a few were taking notes, but most simply listened. hunter was wearing glasses and appeared to be taking notes when not whispering with his lawyers. the laptop is the subject of the lawsuit hunter biden filed against garrett ziegler, the former trump aide who attended court today. in his lawsuit, hunter biden accused ziegler and his company of breaking multiple laws in an effort to create an online database of 128,000 emails attributed to biden. owen hayes reporting from wilmington, del. the trial resumed at 2 p.m., following a lunch break. prosecutors are continuing with the fbi agent's testimony about the audiobook excerpts. we are on chapter 9 currently. summer concepcion first lady jill biden has departed the courthouse during the lunch break. gary grumbach the trial went on a lunch break as of 12:50 p.m. et. owen hayes reporting from wilmington, del. first lady jill biden, sitting behind the defense table, appears to be looking at the exhibit display screen during several of the excerpts and following along as hunter’s voice narrates his experience of substance abuse. at other times she appears to be looking directly at hunter and over at the jury box   which is off screen of the overflow feed. the government seems to be about halfway through the excerpts they have selected. owen hayes rebecca shabad the main witness today is, in a sense, hunter biden himself, through his audiobook. prosecutor derek hines continued to use fbi agent erika jensen’s testimony to introduce copious excerpts of biden’s memoir in audiobook form. the excerpts have included his self described “superpower” of being able to buy crack in any town anywhere. they also have included biden’s discussion of how “walking into a high crime neighborhood and buying crack was like playing russian roulette,” sometimes with five bullets in the chamber. gary grumbach hunter biden is flipping through pages of a binder. several jurors are taking notes. daniel barnesis reporting from the federal courthouse. rebecca shabad prosecutors had fbi agent erika jensen go through passages from hunter biden's memoir where he discusses his addiction and times that he had smoked crack. prosecutors highlighted sections from the book for the jury and played hunter’s narration of those passages from his audiobook. jensen also authenticated bank statements from hunter biden's wells fargo account that show atm withdraws in april 2019 to prove where he was during that time, including in washington, d.c., and california. daniel barnesis reporting from the federal courthouse. summer concepcion under direct examination, erika jensen began by saying this july will mark her 20th year as an fbi agent. she said she investigates a variety of criminal matters for the fbi and was assigned to hunter biden's case in the fall of 2023. sarah fitzpatrick there was a dramatic scene in the hallway during the brief morning break, when hunter biden’s wife, melissa cohen biden, approached former trump white house aide garrett ziegler as he was about to walk to the courtroom. hunter biden sued ziegler over an online database of emails attributed to the president's son. she got close to him and said in a loud emotional voice and gestured toward him, pointing her finger at him: “you have no right to be here, you nazi piece of s   ” and then walked away. ziegler did not respond. he entered the courtroom and confirmed what was said, telling nbc news, “that’s what i heard.” when asked for comment, he said, "it's sad i've been sitting here the whole time and haven’t approached anyone." when asked if he had any response to the incident, ziegler told nbc news: “for the record, i’m not a nazi, i’m a believer in the u.s. constitution. i haven’t said one thing to them.” when asked why he was attending the trial, ziegler said, “it's prudent for me to be here.” when asked for comment on the ongoing civil litigation he is involved in with hunter biden and kevin morris, ziegler told nbc news that the suits are “completely frivolous and hunter should focus on paying his attorneys.” after a few minutes, cohen biden walked back into the courtroom, appearing to look at ziegler as she walked by him and then returned to her seat next to the first lady. gary grumbach fbi agent erika jensen took the stand at 11:35 a.m. at the beginning of her testimony, prosecutor derek hines asked her biographical questions. gary grumbach rebecca shabad defense lawyer abbe lowell walked jurors through the day of oct. 23, when hallie biden found the gun, put it in a bag that she had taken from her house and dropped it in a dumpster behind a high end grocery store. the bag was then found, lowell explained, by edward banner, who was going through the trash and took it home. in a box at banner’s home, police later found hunter biden’s gun and a second gun banner said he was saving for a friend. lowell made clear that from oct. 12 to oct. 23, hunter never loaded the gun, carried it around or used it. when police took possession of the gun and the pouch it was in, lowell said, they found white residue that tested positive for cocaine. it seems clear lowell is throwing hallie biden, beau biden's widow, under the bus here. “hunter put the gun in the locked box of the ford truck,” lowell said. “hallie put it in the bag.” “that’s the story,” lowell said. gary grumbach opening statements have concluded in the trial, and the court took a break for 10 15 minutes. owen hayes rebecca shabad lowell said that gordon cleveland, the gun dealer that the government plans to call as a witness, referred to himself as a "whale hunter" and wanted to make the firearm sale to hunter biden. lowell said cleveland was willing to skirt protocol because hunter biden didn't have a driver's license but a passport without an address. lowell says the jury will see that the id box was not filled out by biden, and, more importantly, that the boxes were already checked “no,” including the box in question about the purchaser’s potential substance abuse. “a sale is a sale, and that was their goal that day,” said lowell. daniel barnesis reporting from the federal courthouse. summer concepcion after showing jurors a chart of eight liquor store receipts from around the time of hunter biden's gun purchase, defense lawyer abbe lowell appeared to pre emptively push back on some of the texts that prosecutors plan to enter as evidence. lowell said hunter biden sometimes lied to hallie biden about his whereabouts because he didn't want to see her. daniel barnesis reporting from the federal courthouse. rebecca shabad hunter biden's attorney abbe lowell told jurors that what the prosecution can’t show is that hunter biden went to the store with the intent to buy a gun and that he considered himself an addict at the time. lowell referred to the jury selection question about people’s experiences with addiction, saying that jurors might recognize biden’s “deep state of denial” about his drug use. lowell mentioned the traumas of the biden family: hunter biden's mother, neilia, and sister, naomi, died in a car crash in 1972 that hunter and brother beau survived; and in 2015, beau biden died of cancer. hunter biden had periods of sobriety, lowell said, claiming that he did not consider himself to be addicted at the time of the gun purchase. gary grumbach reporting from wilmington, del. defense attorney abbe lowell began his opening statement at 10:24 a.m. “hunter bought a small handgun,” lowell said. “it was never loaded.” he added, "he never used it.” lowell suggests that prosecutors left out the word “knowingly” from the slide that described the charges to the jury. hunter “knowingly violated the law” is what prosecutors have to prove, lowell said. lowell stressed that it’s about what hunter biden thought at the time in 2018, and what his state of mind was when he walked into the gun store. owen hayes summer concepcion hines said they will lay out that hunter biden flew back from california on oct. 5 with the hopes of “getting clean, not staying clean.” prosecutors will show his continued addiction through messages and testimony, hines said, including from hallie biden, the widow of hunter's brother, beau. “hallie will testify about her own crack use” with hunter, hines said, acknowledging that the testimony will be “embarrassing.” hines revealed that both hallie biden and zoe kestan, a woman who was romantically involved with hunter biden, will be testifying under immunity agreements. the prosecution will also call kathleen buhle, the ex wife of hunter biden who shares three daughters with him and who did not use drugs herself. buhle will not be testifying under any immunity agreement. laying out the three charges against hunter biden, hines emphasized that on the third count, concerning his possession of the gun for 11 days, biden did not get rid of the gun by choice. “the only reason he had the gun for 11 days is because hallie took it from him,” he said. daniel barnesis reporting from the federal courthouse. rebecca shabad hines told jurors that hunter biden described his behavior at the time as smoking “every 15 minutes, seven days a week.” he boasted in his book of having a “superpower” for finding crack anywhere, the prosecutor said. hines also showed jurors a message biden sent to a drug dealer: "can you get baby powder? the really soft stuff.” a drug enforcement administration agent will testify as a witness during the trial and will say that baby powder referred to cocaine, hines said. owen hayes reporting from wilmington, del. the prosecution gave their full intended witness list: erika jensen, an fbi agent kathleen buhle, hunter biden’s ex wife zoe kestan, who says she had a romantic relationship with hunter biden hallie biden, beau biden's wife whom hunter biden had a relationship with after beau's death gordon cleveland, a starquest shooters gun store employee dsp corp. joshua marley dsp lt. millard greer forensic chemist dr. jason brewer and possibly, dea supervisory special agent joshua romig daniel barnesis reporting from the federal courthouse. during opening statements, prosecutor derek hines told jurors that they would hear from a witness who had a romantic relationship with hunter and observed him smoking crack “every 15 minutes.” her name is zoe kestan, hines said. here is how she was identified in pretrial filings: “witness 2 was previously in a romantic relationship with the defendant between approximately december 2017 and october 2018. during the course of their relationship, witness 2 observed the defendant using crack cocaine frequently every 20 minutes except when he slept. witness 2 visited the defendant in massachusetts when he was in rehab in the fall of 2018 (after his gun possession) and over the course of 3 days, she observed the defendant smoking crack cocaine every 20 minutes.” daniel barnesis reporting from the federal courthouse. summer concepcion hines told jurors about how hallie biden   the widow of the president's late son, beau biden, who began a relationship with hunter biden after beau's death   found and disposed of hunter’s gun. she is expected to testify later in the trial. hunter got hallie biden to use drugs as well, hines said, but she was clean by the time hunter purchased the gun. hines also presented some evidence that hunter was still using drugs around the time of the gun purchase and knew that he was an addict. hines displayed a text from hunter to hallie biden the day after the gun purchase, saying he was behind blue rocks stadium (a minor league baseball team in wilmington, delaware) waiting for a dealer. derek hines for the prosecution says they will lay out that hunter biden flew back from california on october 5 with the hopes of “getting clean, not staying clean.” they will show his continued addiction through messages and testimony, including from hallie biden. “hallie will testify about her own crack use,” with hunter, said hines, acknowledging that the testimony will be “embarrassing.” hines revealed that both hallie biden and zoe kestan will be testifying under immunity agreements. they will also call kathleen buhle, who did not use drugs herself. kathleen will not be testifying under any immunity agreement. laying out the three charges against hunter, hines emphasized that on the third count, concerning his possession of the gun for 11 days, hunter did not get rid of the gun by choice. “the only reason he had the gun for 11 days is because hallie took it from him,” he said. gary grumbach summer concepcion prosecutor derek hines said that gordon cleveland, an employee of starquest shooters who sold hunter biden a gun, will be testifying in this trial about his experience. the form that hunter biden filled out to purchase the gun was shown to jurors, and hines walked through each part of the form. dealers rely on the honesty of the person filling out the form, hines said. “mr. cleveland will testify” that hunter biden checked a box on the form indicating he wasn't using drugs or alcohol, hines said. a gun seller does not have a “magic crystal ball” to know if a buyer is answering questions on the form honestly, hines said. cleveland didn’t know one way or the other if hunter was telling the truth on the form when he checked “no.” owen hayes summer concepcion prosecutor derek hines began opening statements around 9:57 a.m. by saying, “no one is above the law. it doesn’t matter who you are, or what your name is.” defendants are tried 'because of the choices they made,” he said, adding that hunter biden "chose to illegally own a firearm" and that "we’re also here because he chose to lie." owen hayes proceedings restarted as of 9:57 a.m. the jury is in attendance and judge noreika is running through standard questions for the jury, such as reiterating that they didn't do any research or discuss the case overnight. hunter biden returned to the courtroom at 9:49 a.m., a few minutes after his lawyer abbe lowell. during the break, lowell chatted briefly with prosecutor derek hines at the government’s table and conferred with hunter biden after he returned to sit at the defense table. rebecca shabad owen hayes the trial's opening statements are about to begin. hunter biden's attorney abbe lowell will deliver his statement for the defense and derek hines, a senior assistant special counsel, will make remarks for the prosecution. daniel barnesis reporting from the federal courthouse. summer concepcion it’s still quiet inside the courtroom, but it’s unclear why proceedings are still delayed. the parties re entered the courtroom at 9:37 a.m. as the sidebar over objections to opening statements appeared to wrap up. hunter biden has left the courtroom, accompanied by his lawyers and wife, melissa cohen biden. they are huddling in a conference room just outside the courtroom. first lady jill biden, ashley biden, who is hunter's half sister, and lawyer kevin morris remain in the first row behind the defense table. sarah fitzpatrick rebecca shabad one of the jurors dropped out overnight because she lives an hour away and is unemployed and can’t afford to make the trip every day. this was juror no. 16, seated in seat 3. gary grumbach summer concepcion before 9 a.m., judge noreika began going over rulings on what evidence can be admitted, indicating that specific texts, photos and portions of hunter biden’s memoir, "beautiful things," will likely be on display in court today. several photos that place hunter biden in specific locations on certain dates could be among the evidence. for example, there was mention of a photo of him in malibu, california, and of a photo of his back that places him in wilmington on a certain day. noreika did not initially understand why the photos were relevant: “can you give me a hint why i care what he’s doing in malibu?” she asked. prosecutor derek hines said it’s about putting hunter in a particular place. not all jurors are in court yet, noreika said, so proceedings are delayed until they arrive. gary grumbach daniel barnesis reporting from the federal courthouse. owen hayes dareh gregorian wilmington, del.   opening statements will begin this morning in the federal criminal trial of hunter biden. opening statements are expected to begin shortly after 9 a.m. et, with prosecutors from special counsel david weiss‘ office expected to lay out their case against president joe biden’s son in federal court in wilmington, the largest city in the family’s home state, delaware. hunter biden is charged with three counts tied to possession of a gun while using narcotics. two of the counts accuse him of having completed a form indicating he was not using illegal drugs when he bought a colt cobra revolver on oct. 12, 2018. the third count alleges he possessed a firearm while using a narcotic. the indictment said biden certified on a federally mandated form “that he was not an unlawful user of, and addicted to, any stimulant, narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance, when in fact, as he knew, that statement was false and fictitious.” he has pleaded not guilty. read the full story here. summer concepcion first lady jill biden arrived at the courthouse at 8:46 a.m. for opening statements in her son's gun trial. she also attended court proceedings yesterday for jury selection. ryan nobles alexandra bacallao reporting from wilmington, del. hunter biden arrived at the courthouse at 8:33 a.m., where his lawyers and prosecutors are set to deliver opening statements. a jury was selected in the federal trial of hunter biden on three gun related charges. president biden’s son is accused of falsely claiming on a form when he purchased a handgun that he was not addicted to or an active user of drugs. nbc news’ ryan nobles reports. katherine doyle reporting from wilmington, del. the biden family members seated in a court in wilmington, delaware, for the start of hunter biden’s gun trial yesterday share many of the hardships as the jurors who will weigh the fate of the president’s son. hunter biden is himself a former drug addict, on trial accused of illegal gun possession and making false statements. he is divorced and remarried. he has experienced death, as when his brother died of a brain tumor in 2015 and when his biological mother and younger sister died in a car crash when he was 2 years old. hunter biden is also the president’s son, a distinction that was impossible to ignore as, time and again, jurors name dropped members of the biden family during jury selection or coyly conceded that, yes, they had once donated to a political campaign   and yes   it had been to the “bidens.” peering over peach colored eyeglasses, hunter biden sat upright as dozens of potential jurors filed through u.s district judge maryellen noreika’s court during an at times grueling selection process. noon had passed when hunter’s lead attorney, abbe lowell, gently asked, “for the schedule, are we thinking, i forget if there was supposed to be a lunch break today or not?” seated behind him were not only the attorneys, reporters and sketch artists who typically fill the courtroom in high profile cases, but also first lady jill biden, who embraced her son, his half sister and even his son in law. read the full story here. sarah fitzpatrick gary grumbach reporting from wilmington, del. prosecutor derek hines serves as senior assistant special counsel in weiss’ office. before joining the special counsel’s team, hines was an assistant u.s. attorney in the eastern district of pennsylvania, where he also served in the narcotics and organized crime unit. hines also previously served under then u.s. attorney robert hur in maryland   who would later conduct an investigation into president joe biden's handling of classified documents   and worked at the law firm pepper hamilton llp. gary grumbach dareh gregorian daniel barnesis reporting from the federal courthouse. owen hayes prosecutors from special counsel david weiss's office are expected to lay out their case against president joe biden’s son in federal court in wilmington, the largest city in the family’s home state of delaware. prosecutors said their first witness will be fbi special agent erika jensen. according to a government court filing in the case, jensen will introduce some of the prosecutors’ evidence, including text messages they say show hunter biden was using crack in the months before and after the gun purchase. dareh gregorian owen hayes daniel barnesis reporting from the federal courthouse. gary grumbach hunter biden faces three counts tied to possession of a gun while using narcotics. two of the counts accuse him of having completed a form indicating he was not using illegal drugs when he bought a colt cobra revolver in october of 2018. the third count alleges he possessed a firearm while using a narcotic. the indictment said biden certified on a federally mandated form “that he was not an unlawful user of, and addicted to, any stimulant, narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance, when in fact, as he knew, that statement was false and fictitious.” he’s pleaded not guilty. gary grumbach sarah fitzpatrick tom winter dareh gregorian a jury of 12 people and four alternate jurors were selected in the federal gun case against hunter biden in delaware, paving the way for opening statements to begin this morning. the panel was selected more quickly than expected, after just one day of jury selection monday. the jurors were sworn in at 4:20 p.m. et. the jury is made up six men and six women, and all of the alternates are women. biden, the son of president joe biden, faces three counts tied to possession of a gun while using narcotics. he pleaded not guilty. he was joined in court by first lady jill biden, who turned 73 on monday. it was unclear whether any of the potential jurors noticed her where she was sitting in the audience next to hunter biden’s wife, melissa cohen. it is the first time the child of a sitting president has faced a criminal trial. read the full story here. © 2025 nbcuniversal media, llc

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supported by many claims about the laptop’s contents have not been proved, but it played a role in the prosecution of mr. biden over a firearm purchase. by katie robertson when the new york post first reported in 2020 about a laptop once used by hunter biden   which the paper said contained incriminating evidence against him and his father, joseph r. biden jr., who was running for president   it set off a firestorm. many national news outlets raised questions about the existence of the laptop and the claims about its contents, while major social media platforms limited posts about the post’s coverage. conservatives said those reactions were evidence of liberal censorship. many of the claims made by the post in its coverage of the laptop, in which the publication sought to link president biden to corrupt business dealings, have not been proved. but the laptop had enough incriminating evidence to continue to haunt hunter biden. the laptop and some of its contents played a visible role in federal prosecutors’ case against the president’s son, who was charged with lying on a firearm application in 2018 by not disclosing his drug use. a prosecutor briefly held up the laptop before the jury in delaware, and an f.b.i. agent later testified that messages and photos on it and in personal data that mr. biden had saved in cloud computing servers had made his drug use clear. on tuesday, the jury found mr. biden, 54, guilty of three felony charges. he will be sentenced at later date.

in october 2020, a controversy arose involving a laptop that belonged to hunter biden. the owner of a delaware computer shop, john paul mac isaac, said that the laptop had been left by a man who identified himself as hunter biden. mac isaac also stated that he is legally blind and could not be sure whether the man was actually hunter biden.[1] three weeks before the 2020 united states presidential election, the new york post published a front page story that presented emails from the laptop, alleging they showed corruption by joe biden, the democratic presidential nominee and hunter biden's father.[2] according to the post, the story was based on information provided to rudy giuliani, the personal attorney of incumbent president and candidate donald trump, by mac isaac.[1] forensic analysis later authenticated some of the emails from the laptop, including one of the two emails used by the post in their initial reporting.[7] shortly after the post story broke, social media companies blocked links to it, while other news outlets declined to publish the story due to concerns about provenance and suspicions of russian disinformation.[8] by may 2023, no evidence had publicly surfaced to support suspicions that the laptop was part of a russian disinformation scheme.[9][10] in december 2019, under the authority of a subpoena issued by a wilmington grand jury, the fbi seized the laptop from mac isaac.[1][11][12] fbi investigators handling hunter biden's laptop quickly concluded in 2019 "that the laptop was genuinely his and did not seem to have been tampered with or manipulated".[13][14] in june 2024, federal prosecutors utilized the laptop as evidence as part of a criminal case against hunter biden, alongside testimony from an fbi agent involved in authenticating and investigating the laptop.[15] the hard drive data had been shared with trump advisor steve bannon before it became publicly known.[1] trump attempted to turn the story into an october surprise to hurt joe biden's campaign by falsely alleging that, while in office, biden had acted corruptly regarding ukraine to protect his son.[16][17][18] a joint investigation by two republican senate committees released in september 2020 and a republican house oversight committee investigation released in april 2024 did not find wrongdoing by joe biden with regard to ukraine and his son's business dealings there.[24] politifact wrote in june 2021 that the laptop did belong to hunter biden, but did not demonstrate wrongdoing by joe biden.[25] starting in 2021, news outlets began to authenticate some of the contents of the laptop. in 2021, politico verified two key emails used in the post's initial reporting by cross referencing emails with other datasets and contacting their recipients. cbs news published a forensic analysis which examined a "clean" copy of the data obtained directly from mac isaac. it concluded that the "clean" data, including over 120,000 emails, originated with hunter biden and had not been altered, while other copies circulated by republican operatives "could have been tampered with". other outlets also verified portions of the data, while noting problems in fully authenticating the copies they had to work with.[5][4][3] the media coverage of the laptop spurred speculation about the biden ukraine conspiracy theory, which falsely[26] alleged that then vice president joe biden acted in ukraine to protect his son from a corruption investigation by ukrainian prosecutor general viktor shokin. on october 14, 2020, the new york post published an article based on an email from the laptop about a purported meeting between then vice president joe biden and the burisma advisor vadym pozharskyi. the biden campaign denied joe biden had any meeting with pozharskyi and said that if they had ever met, it would have been a brief encounter.[27] witnesses at the dinner where they allegedly met said joe biden briefly passed by to see an old friend. the post reported in its story that pozharskyi declined to comment, and he did not comment to a politico journalist who reported extensively on the story a year later.[28]