Hunter Biden attorney asks Giuliani, Bannon, to preserve evidence
FILE – Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, speaks to guests during the White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House, April 18, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
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(NewsNation) — Hunter Biden’s attorney sent more than a dozen people, including Roger Stone, Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon, letters asking them to preserve evidence for future legal action over the alleged theft of personal data from the president’s son’s laptop.
These “litigation hold letters” were sent Wednesday, but not too many details are known yet about more lawsuits being filed or other possible litigation.
NewsNation obtained the letter Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell sent to computer repair shop owner John Paul Mac Isaac. Mac Isaac says Hunter Biden’s laptop was dropped off at his Delaware store in 2019.
A New York Post article in October 2020 later detailed some of the emails it said were found on the device, that were allegedly related to Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. The Post said it received a copy of a hard drive from the computer from Giuliani, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.
“You have made various statements and engaged in certain activities by your own admission, or that
have been publicly reported in the media, concerning our client, Robert Hunter Biden (“Mr. Biden”),” Wednesday’s letter to Mac Isaac said. “This letter (“Notice”) constitutes notice that a litigation hold should be in effect for the preservation and retention of all records and documents related to Mr. Biden.”
A spokesperson for Hunter Biden’s legal team says they have “nothing to hide” after years of being the subject of investigations and media scrutiny, saying the people who have yet to be held accountable for their wrongdoing are the recipients of these letters.
The people who received near-identical hold letters Wednesday include:
- Bradley Birkenfeld
- Richard “Bo” Dietl
- Garrett M. Ziegler
- Keith Ablow
- Robert Costello
- Rudy Giuliani
- Richard Mac Isaac
- Ronald Scott
- Roger Stone
- Steve Bannon
- Tony Bobulinski
- Tyler Nixon
- Yaacov Apelbaum
Larry Johnson, Jack Maxey and Guo Wengui are also set to receive letters.
“Instead of gossiping with reporters and leaking this stuff to the press, Abbe Lowell should focus on the facts because the facts don’t support his allegations,” Giuliani’s adviser, Ted Goodman, told POLITICO. “This is yet another failed attempt by Mr. Lowell to silence and intimidate Mayor Giuliani and Mr. Costello. That’s why he made sure to send this letter to you guys.”
Along with a screenshot of an NBC story on the litigation hold letters, Stone posted on Twitter that he has “No ‘EVIDENCE’ to preserve.”
“Everything I know about Hunter Biden’s laptop I read in the @NYPost,” Stone wrote.
This all comes after Lowell issued another bunch of letters to state and federal law enforcement requesting investigations into those who accessed and disseminated personal data from the laptop.
One letter also went to Fox News host Tucker Carlson threatening a defamation lawsuit.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.