Hunter Biden says he has no idea if the laptop reportedly seized by the FBI in 2019 belongs to him. He also says he can’t even remember if he dropped off a laptop at a computer repair shop in Delaware.
All Biden knows is the laptop story is a “red herring.” Strange that he should be so certain about this while also maintaining he knows nothing.
His assertion came amid a broader discussion this week as he and comedian Jimmy Kimmel discussed Biden’s new memoir, Beautiful Things.
Kimmel specifically asked whether the laptop, which allegedly contains documentation suggesting the president’s son leveraged his father’s political influence to line the family’s pockets, belongs to Biden.
“Now look,” Biden responded. “I really don’t know, and the fact of the matter is, it’s a red herring. It is absolutely a red herring. But I am absolutely, I think, within my rights to question anything that comes from the desk of Rudy Giuliani. And so, ‘I don’t know’ is the answer.”
Note that, in his remarks to Kimmel, Biden is careful to sidestep the main issue, which is that documents reportedly retrieved from the laptop, whose contents were allegedly copied by a computer repairman and given to Trump’s personal attorney, purport to show Biden used his father’s status to enrich the Biden family. Giuliani, last year, gave “a hard drive or a laptop or something to that effect” to law enforcement officials in Delaware, a spokesperson for Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings confirmed. State officials then turned everything over to the FBI. Federal officials confirmed elsewhere for the New York Times the FBI also “seized the laptop and an external hard drive” held by the repairman.
Biden neither denies nor admits to wrongdoing. He doesn’t even broach the topic. Rather, he is very careful to focus on the question of the laptop’s disputed ownership, not its reported contents.
For the record, neither Biden, nor his father, nor his father’s administration has denied the authenticity of the emails reportedly pulled from the laptop, which is smart, considering federal law enforcement officials have already confirmed the documents are real.
It’s a smart strategy on Biden’s part, sticking with the “I don’t know” defense versus a flat admission or denial because it allows him to hedge against any future revelations. Considering he is currently under federal investigation for possible tax and money laundering violations, hedging seems the smartest play in this scenario.
It’s also a clever strategy because focusing on whether it’s his laptop distracts from allegations his overseas business dealings involved corporate and political corruption.
And you had better believe Biden is sticking to this strategy. Indeed, his remarks to Kimmel are almost identical to what he said earlier in an interview with CBS News’s Tracy Smith.
“Was that your laptop?” the CBS journalist asked.
“For real, I don’t know,” Biden said. “I really don’t know what the answer is. That’s the truthful answer.”
“You don’t know, yes or no, if the laptop was yours?” Smith persisted.
Biden responded, “I don’t have any idea. I’ve no idea whether or not.”
“So, it could have been yours?” Smith asked one more time.
“Of course,” Biden said, “certainly. There could be a laptop out there that was stolen from me. There could be that I was hacked. It could be that it was Russian intelligence. It could be that it was stolen from me.”
For the record, then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said in October 2020 the information contained on the laptop “is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign.” The Justice Department and the FBI concurred with his assessment.
“And you didn’t drop off a laptop to be repaired in Delaware?” Smith asked for good measure.
“No. No,” said Biden before course-correcting and adding, “Not that I remember at all, at all. So, we’ll see.”
Considering he is still under federal investigation, and considering the FBI seized a laptop and a hard drive as part of its investigation into his business activities, we shall see indeed.
