Steve Bannon and Guo Wengui in 2018.Don Emmert/Getty
Hunter is a lawyer for Biden An exiled Chinese mogul closely associated with Steve Bannon has threatened to sue Guo Wengui, for Guo’s role in disseminating material allegedly copied from Biden’s laptop. In a letter sent Thursday, high-powered attorney Abbey Lowell demanded that Guo preserve any evidence that could be relevant to such a case.
Lowell—who was hired by Biden in December—sent 14 nearly identical letters Wednesday to others who allegedly played a role in distributing files from a computer that Biden left at a Delaware computer store in 2019. mother jones According to reports, arrangements were made in October 2020 for Guo and his subordinates to distribute explicit images and videos copied from laptops. Rudy Giuliani—who was Donald Trump’s personal lawyer at the time—and Giuliani’s own lawyer, Robert Costello, also received the letter. Another letter went to longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone, who has denied involvement in leaking material from the laptop.
“You have made various statements and engaged in certain activities by your own admission, or as publicly reported in the media, about our client, Robert Hunter Biden,” the letter said. “This letter … notes that a lawsuit should be effected to preserve and retain all records and documents related to Mr. Biden.”
Such letters officially serve as instructions to preserve evidence for potential future litigation, but they also serve as warnings — and in this case, a public threat — of plans to sue. The missives are part of a new offensive campaign by Lowell and other Biden representatives and allies to push back against the GOP investigation into the Biden family. Lowell sent another letter last week asking federal and state agencies to investigate whether some of the same figures, including Bannon and Giuliani, committed crimes by disseminating material from Biden’s personal computer without his permission. Another lawyer for Biden has also threatened to sue Fox News’ Tucker Carlson for defamation.
Lowell’s effort to counter House Republicans’ investigation into Hunter Biden’s apparent attempt to cash in on his status as the vice president’s son during the Barack Obama administration appears timely. Republicans have also alleged that Joe Biden oversaw or benefited from his son’s activities, though little evidence has been found to support those claims, which President Biden has denied. A House Oversight Committee held a hearing on Twitter’s initial crackdown on Wednesday The New York Post Reports based on material from Hunter’s laptop have revealed little new information about the episode, which Twitter has already called inaccurate. In the wake of that hearing, Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) requested material from Hunter Biden. The request drew a quick “no” from Lowell, who insisted the panel “lacks a legitimate legal purpose and oversight basis to request such records from Mr. Biden, a private citizen.”
Republican committee during the hearing on Twitter highlight The Oct. 24, 2020 emails, which were published last month by journalist Matt Taibbi with the help of Twitter owner Elon Musk, show Twitter executives discussing requests from the Biden presidential campaign to take down certain tweets. None of the tweets, however, appeared to be related to the emails Taibi cited of the post Instead of reporting, those currently available through the Internet Archive contain clear images, including pictures of Dick on Hunter’s hard drive. Twitter appears to have removed the material under a rule excluding objectionable postings of such content.
As I detailed earlier, Hunter’s candid images were distributed by individual members of Guo’s large following among Guo and the Chinese diaspora at Bannon’s direction. Guo oversaw the minute details of the distribution of the material and, according to people involved in the effort, directed them to repeat lies about the content on their laptops, including false allegations that it contained images of Hunter Biden raping children.
Lowell’s letter did not specifically address whether Hunter Biden could sue Guo to pursue such a claim. A Guo attorney did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
Costello, who currently represents both Bannon and Giuliani, said mother jones Tuesday that Hunter Biden had no basis to sue him or his clients. He argued that Hunter Biden surrendered ownership of his laptop and its personal contents to the computer store owner when he failed to pick it up after 90 days.