Current:Home > ContactHunter Biden sues former Trump White House aide over release of private material -WealthRoots Academy
Hunter Biden sues former Trump White House aide over release of private material
View
Date:2025-04-22 01:26:12
Hunter Biden's legal team filed a lawsuit Wednesday against former Trump White House aide, Garrett Ziegler, over the publication of private photos, emails and other materials that came from a hard drive allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden.
The lawsuit is the latest in a strategy Biden's lawyers telegraphed earlier this year, which involved an aggressive push to pursue court action against those they viewed as instigating unwarranted and invasive attacks on Biden, the son of President Joe Biden.
Ziegler has been a particularly notable figure in the effort to bring attention to Hunter Biden's past — largely mined from the now-infamous laptop. Ziegler, a former aide to Trump White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, has operated a website dedicated in part to exposing elements of Hunter Biden's past. The website includes links to a range of photos, text messages, emails and other documents purported to be from the president's son.
The 13-page lawsuit alleges that Ziegler and others violated federal and California privacy laws by "accessing, tampering with, manipulating, altering, copying and damaging computer data" gathered from Hunter Biden's purported laptop and iPhone cloud storage without consent.
The lawsuit details how Ziegler and unnamed defendants allegedly obtained sensitive materials by hacking into encrypted data on Hunter Biden's devices and uploading them to Ziegler's website, where it remains public. In the lawsuit, Hunter Biden's lawyers assert that the defendants had refused requests to "cease their unlawful activity" and return private data belonging to the president's son.
"I nor the nonprofit, Marco Polo, have been served with a lawsuit — but the one I read this morning out of the Central District of California should embarrass Winston & Strawn LLP. It's not worth the paper it's written on" Ziegler told CBS News in a statement. "Apart from the numerous state and federal laws and regulations which protect authors like me and the publishing that Marco Polo does, it's not lost on us that Joe's son filed this SLAPP one day after a so-called Impeachment Inquiry into his father was announced. The president's son is a disgrace to our great nation."
The reference to a SLAPP suit (a strategic lawsuit against public participation) alludes to a California law providing penalties for filing a lawsuit intended to chill the exercise of the rights to petition and free speech.
Earlier this year, Hunter Biden sued John Paul Mac Isaac, a Delaware-based computer repairman for invasion of privacy for allegedly accessing and distributing Biden's private computer data in 2019. Attorneys for Biden also requested that the Justice Department investigate Isaac, Ziegler and others for allegedly violating Delaware laws by distributing data from Biden's personal device.
Mac Isaac has said he obtained the information from Biden's laptop legally and has said that Biden himself dropped it off in April 2019 and never returned to claim it. Mac Isaac has said he waited 90 days and then considered it abandoned.
In this recent suit, Hunter Biden is seeking a jury trial, damages, an injunction that would prevent access or tampering with Biden's data and the return of any materials obtained unlawfully.
- In:
- Hunter Biden
veryGood! (3)
Related
- Skins Game to make return to Thanksgiving week with a modern look
- Will Aaron Rodgers retire? Jets QB tells reporters he plans to play in 2025
- Tesla issues 6th Cybertruck recall this year, with over 2,400 vehicles affected
- 4 arrested in California car insurance scam: 'Clearly a human in a bear suit'
- The Louvre will be renovated and the 'Mona Lisa' will have her own room
- Who will save Florida athletics? Gators need fixing, and it doesn't stop at Billy Napier
- Bridgerton's Luke Newton Details His Physical Transformation for Season 3's Leading Role
- Falling scaffolding plank narrowly misses pedestrians at Boston’s South Station
- The Louvre will be renovated and the 'Mona Lisa' will have her own room
- Joan says 'Yes!' to 'Golden Bachelorette' finale fantasy beach proposal. Who did she pick?
Ranking
- Warm inflation data keep S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq under wraps before Fed meeting next week
- 5-year-old boy who went missing while parent was napping is found dead near Oregon home, officials say
- Ex-Phoenix Suns employee files racial discrimination, retaliation lawsuit against the team
- Wisconsin agency issues first round of permits for Enbridge Line 5 reroute around reservation
- DeepSeek: Did a little known Chinese startup cause a 'Sputnik moment' for AI?
- Judge hears case over Montana rule blocking trans residents from changing sex on birth certificate
- Jake Paul's only loss led him to retool the team preparing him to face Mike Tyson
- Florida Man Arrested for Cold Case Double Murder Almost 50 Years Later
Recommendation
See you latte: Starbucks plans to cut 30% of its menu
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign chancellor to step down at end of academic year
Donna Kelce Includes Sweet Nod to Taylor Swift During Today Appearance With Craig Melvin
Amazon's 'Cross' almost gets James Patterson detective right: Review
Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
Mike Tyson employs two trainers who 'work like a dream team' as Jake Paul fight nears
Don't Miss Cameron Diaz's Return to the Big Screen Alongside Jamie Foxx in Back in Action Trailer
RHOBH's Erika Jayne Reveals Which Team She's on Amid Kyle Richards, Dorit Kemsley Feud