The New York Times has finally admitted Hunter Biden’s laptop is real – more than a year after DailyMail.com authenticated its contents with top experts.
When files from the laptop were published before the 2020 presidential election, the newspaper cast doubt on its provenance, linked it to Russian disinformation, and made no public attempt to obtain and verify it.
But buried 1,200 words into a story this week about a federal probe into the president’s son, the Gray Lady admitted to an astonishing U-turn.
Reporters referenced emails ‘obtained by The New York Times from a cache of files that appears to have come from a laptop abandoned by Mr. Biden in a Delaware repair shop’, adding that they ‘were authenticated by people familiar with them and with the investigation.’
DailyMail.com authenticated the laptop a full year earlier, and was the first – and only – news organization to publicly verify its contents using expert analysis.
Last March, we hired top cyber forensics experts at Maryman & Associates to examine the hard drive to determine its authenticity.
DailyMail.com published dozens of a stories based on the scandalous contents of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop – including a cache of 103,000 text messages, 154,000 emails, more than 2,000 photos (pictured)- that were verified by top forensics experts
Experts concluded there were no indications ‘found that would suggest the data was manufactured.’ Pictured above: A selfie of Joe and Hunter
The firm’s founder, Brad Maryman, was a 29-year veteran of the FBI, served as a Chief Information Security Officer and founded the bureau’s cyber forensics unit. His partner, Dr. Joseph Greenfield, is an associate professor at the University of Southern California and helped write their degree program in intelligence and cyber operations.
After an extensive analysis of the hard drive, Greenfield and Maryman produced a report for DailyMail.com detailing their findings.
‘The operating system timestamps appear to be authentic, and no evidence was found to suggest that the timestamps or data were altered or manufactured,’ the report said.
‘No indications were found that would suggest the data was manufactured.’
Since then, DailyMail.com has revealed a series of troubling stories based on the scandalous material from the laptop that go to the heart of the FBI’s probe into Hunter’s alleged dodged taxes, foreign lobbying and suspected money laundering.
Over the past year we have published stories including:
But the stories were given few column inches by America’s most venerable news organizations including the New York Times – until now.
The Times has previously repeatedly referred to information from the laptop as ‘purported’, ‘in question’, and even called it ‘unsubstantiated’ in a September 2021 news story, then later quietly removed the word.
Jack Maxey, a political activist and former Steve Bannon podcast co-host, who gave DailyMail.com the laptop, said he also provided the Washington Post with a copy last summer
The newspaper also prominently reported White House denials of Joe Biden’s meetings with Hunter’s business partners at a DC cafe, evidenced by the laptop emails, until this week’s report when the Times performed an about-face.
A new lawsuit reveals that although the newspaper failed to publish stories based on the laptop for over a year, Times reporters appear to have been paying close attention to some of DailyMail.com’s stories.
On June 7 last year, we revealed how Hunter and Freeh were hired by Romanian tycoon Gabriel Popoviciu – later convicted of bribery – and represented him in meetings with top US officials.
Hunter’s work for the corrupt foreign magnate came dangerously close to the line of illegal lobbying, and is now likely to be one avenue of investigation by the federal probe into the president’s son over suspected violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Photos provided by Maxey show him at the newspaper’s offices, and a copy of the laptop hard drive lying on the Post’s boardroom table
DailyMail.com obtained the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by Times reporter Kenneth Vogel to the State Department, asking for staff’s communications relating to Hunter
The day the story was published, Times reporter Kenneth Vogel fired off a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the State Department, asking for staff’s communications relating to Hunter, Popoviciu and other individuals named in our piece.
Vogel’s FOIA request was made public this month when the Times sued the Department for failing to hand over its files promptly.
While the Times fights it out with the State Department, DailyMail.com readers already learned months ago that one very senior State staffer – the then-US ambassador to Romania Hans Klemm – communicated with Hunter’s team and met Hunter to discuss Popoviciu’s case in 2016.
DailyMail.com can also reveal that the Washington Post has had a copy of the laptop hard drive for over six months, but has failed to admit it, publish any stories based on its contents, and even managed to accidentally delete their first copy.
Jack Maxey, a political activist and former Steve Bannon podcast co-host who gave DailyMail.com the laptop, said he also provided the Post with a copy last summer.
‘I’m not going to disclose the details of our conversations, but I gave them a copy of it in June. I personally delivered it to their offices and met with senior editors,’ he said
‘They haven’t done anything. They’re not just late to the party, they didn’t even show up.
‘I had to go a second time in October because they broke the first copy.’
Photos provided by Maxey show him at the newspaper’s offices, and a copy of the laptop hard drive lying on the Post’s boardroom table.
Among the stories to emerge from the files in the laptop, was how Hunter and former FBI director Louis Freeh (left) were hired by Romanian tycoon Gabriel Popoviciu (right) – later convicted of bribery – and represented him in meetings with top US officials
Emails showed Hunter brought in political heavyweight and family friend Louis Freeh, the former director of the FBI, to use his US law enforcement contacts for Popoviciu’s advantage, and was offered a referral fee as a result
DailyMail.com obtained a copy of Hunter’s laptop hard drive from Maxey in spring 2021.
John Paul Mac Isaac, the owner of the computer store where Hunter abandoned his laptop, gave a copy of its hard drive to Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani in September 2020.
Giuliani reportedly leaked documents and photos from the drive to the New York Post, and also gave a whole copy of the drive to Trump’s former advisor Bannon and his podcast co-host Maxey.
The Post published excerpts of emails and photos from the laptop ahead of the 2020 election, but without authentication they were widely dismissed as fake or ‘Russian disinformation’.
In April 2021 DailyMail.com published the contents of a report by Maryman & Associates showing the laptop was real, and continued to reveal its sordid and potentially incriminating contents over the following year.
Using the same forensic tools as federal and state law enforcement in criminal investigations, Maryman & Associates found a total of 103,000 text messages, 154,000 emails and more than 2,000 photos on the hard drive.
The now-infamous photo of Hunter lying in bed with a crackpipe in his mouth was among the files found on his device
The New York Post had published excerpts of emails and photos from the laptop ahead of the 2020 election, but without authentication they were widely dismissed as fake or ‘Russian disinformation’. Pictured: Photos recovered from the computer
A shocking photo obtained from Hunter’s laptop shows his badly damaged and worn down teeth – also known as ‘meth mouth’ – as he sits in a dentist chair
The sheer volume, interconnectedness and consistency of the data was a major factor in the cyber forensics experts coming to their conclusion over its authenticity.
They found emails for multiple accounts on the laptop dating back to 2009, and other data which ‘appears to be related to Mr. Biden’ between 2016 and 2019.
Hunter’s iCloud email address was added to the laptop’s system on October 21 2018, as well as his work email at his firm Rosemont Seneca on February 2, 2019.
Emails addressed to Hunter’s various email addresses dating from December 2009 to December 2020 were found on the system.
An iPad with the name ‘Hunter’s iPad’ and three email addresses associated with the Biden family was backed up on the laptop and on iCloud in January 2019 and again a month later.
Greenfield found 818 call logs in this iPad backup with timestamps from June 2016 to February 2019.
Hunter’s laptop is brimming with evidence of apparent criminal activity by him and his associates including drug trafficking and prostitution. This photo of him grabbing a woman’s hair was recovered from his laptop
The computer also revealed Hunter, who began dating his late brother’s widow Hallie (pictured) after his death, also had a fling with her sister
There were 8,942 entries in the iPad’s contacts book, created between April 2016 and January 2019.
In February 2019 an iPhone XS was also synced with the laptop. Its serial number was consistent with the timestamps of the data on the phone.
The findings were consistent with other information from Mac Isaac, Maxey, and recipients of emails and texts from Hunter.
