The computer repairman claims that he suffered serious reputational damage after Democratic legislators and media outlets erroneously alleged that the Hunter Biden laptop leak was part of a Russian disinformation plot when, in fact, Hunter Biden later admitted that laptop was his.
A Delaware computer technician who leaked files from Hunter Biden’s laptop has filed a lawsuit against U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), CNN, The Daily Beast, and POLITICO, claiming that he suffered serious financial and reputation damage after media outlets claimed that the leak was part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
According to Yahoo! News, computer repairman John Paul Mac Isaac told The New York Post that he filed the lawsuit because his livelihood was “significantly disrupted” when sent files recovered from the laptop to authorities.
Shortly afterward, the F.B.I. initiated an investigation into the leak.
“After fighting to reveal the truth, all I want now is for the rest of the country to know there was a collective and orchestrated effort by social and mainstream media to block a real story with real consequences for the nation,” Mac Isaac told the New York Post.
“This was collusion by 51 former pillars in the intelligence community and backed by the words and actions of a politically motivated [Department of Justice] and [Federal Bureau of Investigation],” he said. “I want this lawsuit to reveal that collusion and more importantly, who gave the marching orders.”
Mac Isaac told the Post that he came into possession of the laptop when President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, dropped the laptop off at his shop for repairs in April 2019 but never came back to collect it.
Authorities later found “questionable” content on the laptop relating to Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine, as well as President Joe Biden’s alleged knowledge of the same.
Mac Isaac first turned over possession of the laptop drive to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and then sent a copy of the files to Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who spearheaded Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.
Yahoo! News notes that the story was published in October 2020, shortly before the presidential election.
However, some media outlets—along with social media networks like Facebook and Twitter—tried to censor the New York Post story on the laptop, saying that it was unsubstantiated information that was potentially part of a Russian disinformation plot.
A year after the story first broke, the New York Times and the Washington Post both admitted that the Post’s story contained real information.
Hunter Biden himself had previously admitted that the laptop did belong to him.
Conservatives have long claimed that Democrats and their purported allies in the “mainstream media” tried to suppress the story, likely to prevent it from influencing the 2020 presidential election.
“Twitter initially labeled my action hacking, so for the first day after my information was leaked, I was bombarded with hate mail and death threats revolving around the idea that I was a hacker, a thief and a criminal,” Mac Isaac told the New York Post.
Mac Isaac further suggested that Rep. Schiff, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, dismissed the laptop leak out-of-hand.
“Without any intel, the head of the intel committee decided to share with CNN and its viewers a complete and utter lie,” Mac Isaac said. “A lie issued in the protection of a preferred presidential candidate.”
Yahoo! News notes that Rep. Schiff did, in fact, tell CNN that the information on the laptop was somehow planted or conceived by Moscow.
“Well, we know this whole smear on Joe Biden comes from the Kremlin,” Rep. Schiff told CNN host Wolf Blitzer. “That’s been clear for well over a year now, that they’ve been pushing this false narrative about the Vice President and his son.”
Mac Isaac’s lawsuit names CNN as a defendant because the network refused to recognize or acknowledge that the story could have been genuine, instead propagating Rep. Schiff’s preferred narrative.
“CNN’s broadcast of the false statement accuses the Plaintiff of committing an infamous crime, i.e., treason by working with the Russians to commit a crime against the United States of America by attempting to undermine American democracy and the 2020 Presidential election,” the lawsuit says.
Mac Isaac also claims that other media outlets, including The Daily Beast and POLITICO, similarly misconstrued the story and suggested that the computer repairman’s files were either corrupted or falsified.
Mac Isaac is now seeking “at least $1 million” in compensatory and punitive damages.
An attorney for Mac Isaac said they expect to request—and receive—a far higher amount at trial.
Sources
Hunter Biden Laptop Whistleblower Sues Schiff, CNN, the Daily Beast , Politico
Join the conversation!