A longtime House Republican confirmed that Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings are currently being investigated in Congress and now Republicans apparently have possession of the infamous laptop that is believed to have belonged to the president’s son.
Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said that “we have the laptop,” and “in the meantime, we’re investigating.” Issa described the findings on the laptop as a “treasure trove” before saying that “we’re going to need a special prosecutor” to look into other allegations about Biden’s business dealings in various countries, including China.
On the laptop is “direct communication between [President Joe Biden] and his son,” “a good dive into how sick and vulnerable Hunter Biden was,” and “some of the things he did,” Issa said, adding that there were photos on the hard drive that allegedly showed the younger Biden’s “drug stash.”
While the younger Biden has denied any wrongdoing in his business dealings, he has publicly admitted to having struggled with substance abuse in the past. President Biden, meanwhile, has categorically denied his son was involved in any improper business arrangements and has maintained he had no knowledge or communication about any deals.
Issa said that there were business deals that “went forward” for Hunter Biden, including a deal with the wife of the former mayor of Moscow “and including China” as he was dealing with drug problems.
The FBI said it took possession of the actual hardware after the owner, suspected to be Hunter Biden, left it for repairs at a Delaware shop in 2019 and never returned for it.
Its existence was first reported on in October 2020—just days before the general election between Joe Biden and then-President Donald Trump—by the New York Post before Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms moved to limit the Post’s article’s reach. Twitter also locked the newspaper out of its account for more than two weeks, although Hunter Biden’s business was heavily referenced in the second presidential debate between Trump and Joe Biden.
Starting in March, however, the New York Times, Washington Post, and other outlets claimed to have confirmed the laptop’s authenticity, driving renewed interest in the younger Biden’s business deals overseas.
The Post’s report stipulated that emails sourced from the laptop suggested there was a meeting between Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and Ukrainian business leaders. Days later, Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of the Bidens, came forward in October 2020 and asserted Joe Biden was the “big guy” referenced in emails about proposed payout packages and equity shares in a Biden venture with a Chinese energy conglomerate.
A federal investigation into Hunter Biden, led by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Delaware, is currently ongoing, concerning business and financial activities dating back to when his father was the vice president under the Obama administration.
At the time when the probe was announced, the younger Biden said that he is “[taking] this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors.”
