The Daily Beast has corrected at least two articles that claimed that the laptop owned by President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden was stolen by a computer repairman.
The website published a story on Dec. 9, 2020, about the laptop that said the computer was “stolen.”
“An earlier version of this story mistakenly referred to Hunter Biden’s laptop as ’stolen.' We have removed that word, and we apologize to Mr. Mac Isaac for the error,” the Daily Beast said in the note.
It’s not clear what evidence the outlet had cited, if any, for the stolen claim. Older versions of the article weren’t available. The Daily Beast did not return a request for comment.
“John Paul thanks the Daily Beast for coming to the table to settle this matter amicably,” Brian Della Rocca, a lawyer representing John Paul Mac Isaac, who owned the shop at which Hunter Biden was said to have dropped off the laptop, told The Epoch Times in an email.
Another story appeared to have been stealth edited to remove the word “purloined.” That story contained no evidence for the claim. Stealth editing means a story was altered with no indication given to readers as to the alteration or why the change was made.
The suit noted that the Daily Beast interviewed Mac Isaac in October 2020 and published an article about the interview, so it was aware that the laptop was not stolen.
Mac Isaac says that he acquired the laptop directly from Hunter Biden, who he says dropped off the computer at the store and failed to return to pick it up.
“The false and defamatory statements about the plaintiff by the Daily Beast accused the plaintiff of committing the crime of theft,” the suit says. “The false and defamatory statements made by Daily Beast were made negligently; without reasonable care as to its truth or falsity; with knowledge of its falsity; and/or with reckless disregard for the truth.”
Mac Isaac asked for damages in excess of $75,000 and additional punitive damages, including a “public retraction of all false statements” and “a public apology.”
Politico, CNN, and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) were also named in the suit.
CNN was sued over having Schiff on as a guest; Schiff said that he had confirmed the source of the laptop was Russia, when CNN had already published an article detailing how Mac Isaac said that he obtained the computer from Hunter Biden.
“Despite the fact that CNN knew plaintiff was the source of the information, it broadcast the interview [with] Schiff during which plaintiff was defamed,” the suit says.
Politico, CNN, and Schiff have not responded to requests for comment.
