Hunter Biden abandons laptop lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani, amid other cases

Giuliani takes a victory lap as the laptop's dubious origins weren't enough for the president's son to keep pushing

By Griffin Eckstein

News Fellow

Published June 14, 2024 6:18PM (EDT)

Hunter Biden attends the House Oversight and Accountability Committee markup titled "Resolution Recommending That The House Of Representatives Find Robert Hunter Biden In Contempt Of Congress," in Rayburn Building on Wednesday, January 10, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Hunter Biden attends the House Oversight and Accountability Committee markup titled "Resolution Recommending That The House Of Representatives Find Robert Hunter Biden In Contempt Of Congress," in Rayburn Building on Wednesday, January 10, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Hunter Biden is dropping a suit against Rudy Giuliani, who obtained and turned over Biden’s personal laptop to the New York Post — and allegedly manipulated data on it — weeks ahead of the 2020 election.

The Post article alleged that the laptop contained emails outlining corrupt dealings between the former Vice President’s son and Ukrainian officials, among other claims that have never amounted to any charges. 

Though numerous New York Post reporters refused to associate their bylines with the front-page story citing the dubious nature of the reporting, the report was ultimately published and stands largely un-retracted by the tabloid.

The suit, filed in California in September 2023, alleged that Giuliani and Robert Costello engaged in activities to harm Biden including “hacking into, tampering with, manipulating, copying, disseminating, and generally obsessing over data that they were given that was taken or stolen from.” 

Biden, who is swimming in legal trouble from California tax evasion charges and a guilty verdict for lying on an application for a gun about his drug use, took one legal fight off his plate.

As for Giuliani, who spent the past four years fighting in numerous suits regarding election lies and his subsequent bankruptcy, the case coming to an end will allow him to focus his energy on his Arizona criminal indictment for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election in that state.

“Mayor Rudy Giuliani's integrity and commitment to the truth is unwavering,” Ted Goodman, spokesperson for Guiliani, told Salon in a statement. “Giuliani was right about the Russian collusion hoax, he was right about the Ukrainian quid-pro-quo hoax, and he's right about Hunter Biden's laptop.”


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