Hunter Biden warns Steve Bannon, Rudy Giuliani, Roger Stone, and 11 others to preserve records for potential litigation following laptop scandal
- Hunter Biden's attorney sent notices to 14 people at the center of the laptop scandal.
- The notice requires them to preserve documents and data related to President Joe Biden's son.
Hunter Biden's attorney sent letters this week demanding that at least 14 individuals involved in publicizing and politicizing the contents of his laptop without his permission preserve documents and data in case of future litigation.
According to Politico, letters were sent to former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Giuliani's attorney Robert Costello, and Brian Della Rocca, the attorney who represents the former owner of the computer repair shop where Hunter Biden's laptop was sent in 2019.
Former President Donald Trump's former political adviser Roger Stone and exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui also received a letter, according to Mother Jones, but it's unclear who else it was sent to.
"You have made various statements and engaged in certain activities by your own admission, or that have been publicly reported in the media, concerning our client, Robert Hunter Biden," Hunter Biden's attorney Abbe Lowell wrote in two of the letters, one of which was obtained by Politico and the other obtained by Mother Jones. "This letter constitutes notice that a litigation hold should be in effect for the preservation and retention of all records and documents related to Mr. Biden."
"It may be necessary to produce this material in litigation," it adds, without explicitly detailing which type of litigation.
The personal life and business dealings of Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's middle child, have been the center of Republican criticism. Twenty days before the 2020 election, the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop became a controversial and confusing political scandal, New York Magazine reported.
Hunter Biden is also pushing for a criminal probe into Trump loyalists involved in the data breach. A letter was sent to the Justice Department and the Delaware attorney general, requesting an investigation into those who may have violated federal and state laws for distributing information contained in Biden's personal laptop.
"Instead of gossiping with reporters and leaking this stuff to the press, Abbe Lowell should focus on the facts because the facts don't support his allegations," an adviser to Giuliani, Ted Goodman, told Politico about the litigation hold notice. "This is yet another failed attempt by Mr. Lowell to silence and intimidate Mayor Giuliani and Mr. Costello. That's why he made sure to send this letter to you guys."
Costello echoed Goodman's sentiment.
"The litigation hold notice is nothing more than an intimidation tactic designed to try to dissuade witnesses to the truth from speaking that truth," Costello told Insider, adding that Biden's counsel is "acting out of desperation because they see Judgment Day is coming for the Bidens."
Bannon's attorney, David Schoen, declined Insider's request for comment. Rocca, Lowell, Wengui's attorneys, and an attorney for Stone, Bruce S. Rogow, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.