CBS News Monday reported that it confirmed Monday the authenticity of data taken from Hunter Biden’s old laptop, more than two decades after The Post published its contents. The claim was made by the lawyer for the first son who claimed he didn’t consent to the release.
The laptop connects President Biden with his son Hunter and brother Jim Biden. But high ranking former spy agency officials claimed it was likely Russian propaganda and was censored by Twitter and on Facebook.
The contents of the laptop were ignored by most news outlets until recent. CBS’s report is based on late verification of the laptop’s contents by the Washington Post as well as the New York Times.
CBS correspondent Catherine Herridge reported to CBS that Hunter Biden’s hard drives were given to John Paul Mac Isaac (ex-Delaware computer repairman) and that Mark Lanterman, former Secret Service computer crimes expert, verified that they were legitimate.
Lanterman’s company determined that the laptop’s contents accumulated over time, as would have been expected, and that there is no evidence that documents were altered outside of that.
Herridge didn’t say specifically which documents on the laptop were authentic. However, she stated that Joe Biden was identified by Herridge as the “big boy” in an email dated May 2017 that described a 10% side-aside to be part of a deal with Chinese government-linked companies.
Herridge reported that “Two of Hunter Biden’s former business partners , including Tony Bobulinski who received the email, said to CBS News that the 10% held by Hfor the big guy’ was shorthand meaning 10% held by Hunter for His father.” CBS News did not reach out to James Gilliar who was the email’s author.
Mac Isaac reports that Hunter Biden brought the laptop into his Delaware shop but never took it. He claims that the FBI took his original laptop in December 2019, after he alerted to its contents. He gave files from the device to The Post in Oct 2020.
“At none time did any person, including Mr. Mac Isaac’s consent to gain Mr. Bidens computer data or share them with others,” Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Chris Clark, complained to CBS.
Clark said that there have been numerous attempts to hack, infect or distort the data and devices of Mr. Biden, but he did not provide any examples.Mac Isaac claimed Biden took the laptop to his repair shop but never picked it up.
Rep. James Comer (Republican from Kentucky), the incoming Republican chairman for the House Oversight Committee said Thursday that he will lead GOP efforts in learning more about Joe Biden’s connections to family business ventures.
“This committee will examine whether the president is being influenced or compromised by foreign dollars. Comer explained that it is an investigation of Joe Biden.
The Post first reported Hunter Biden’s laptop document about then-Vice president Joe Biden’s attendance to a 2015 dinner in DC’s Cafe Milano. Hunter Biden invited a number of associates to the event, including a representative for Burisma (a Ukrainian gas company) that paid Hunter Biden $1 million per year during his father’s presidency’s Ukraine policy.
Documents on the laptop indicate that Hunter Biden was also invited along with a trio of Kazahi businessmen, Yelena Baturina, a Russian billionaire, and Yury Luzhkov (ex-Moscow Mayor).
Baturina is alleged to have paid $3.5 million too in 2014. This firm was associated with Hunter Biden. It remains one of a few Russian billionaires that has not been subject to US sanctions for this year’s Russian invasion in Ukraine.
Online business records indicate that Hunter still has a 10% stake at BHR Partners. A Chinese state-backed private investment firm, BHR Partners manages $2.1 Billion in assets. It also plays a prominent part in the acquisition of assets overseas.
BHR Partners was co-founded by Hunter Biden, just weeks after he joined Vice President Biden aboard Air Force Two for an official visit to Beijing, according the Wall Street Journal. Hunter introduced Jonathan Li his father in a hotel lobby to Jonathan Li, the new BHR CEO. Joe Biden later wrote college recommendations for Li’s kids, according to laptop records.
Hunter and James Biden were part of a separate Chinese venture, which included discussion about the “big man” getting a cut. According to the Washington Post’s review on laptop files, Hunter and James Biden received $4.8million from CEFC China Energy in 2017 and 2018.