The Delaware computer repairman who disclosed the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020 said on Dec. 30 that his home was subjected to a “swatting” incident on Friday night.
John Paul Mac Isaac, who owned a computer store in Delaware at which the son of President Joe Biden was said to have dropped off his laptop years ago, said he was not present during the swatting incident.
“My home was swatted tonight, I was not home but the outstanding men and women of the Wilmington PD responded quickly and professionally,” Mr. Mac Isaac said on X.
“All that was achieved was the wasted time of the Wilmington PD. NOTHING, let me repeat that, NOTHING will take me out of this fight! Cheers!” he added.
It remains unclear whether the swatting is connected to his defamation lawsuit against Mr. Biden. The Wilmington Police Department has not disclosed any details regarding the incident.
The Lawsuits
Mr. Mac Isaac in October 2022 sued Mr. Biden for defamation. He closed his business in 2020 after receiving death threats. Mr. Biden has countersued Mr. Mac Isaac for allegedly invading his privacy.
Mr. Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, reportedly deposed Mr. Mac Isaac in June 2023, a session that lasted about seven hours, according to the New York Post.
The countersuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, asks for a jury trial.
“No matter how they came into his initial possession, Mac Isaac improperly accessed files that he admits were ‘none of [his] business’ even though he was never given permission by Mr. Biden to access or review any data of Mr. Biden’s,” it says.
He later made copies of the data and distributed the copies to others, including former President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
“Mac Isaac’s knowing and intentional distribution of Mr. Biden’s personal and sensitive data was not carried out for any reasonable or legitimate purposes, but rather to try and expose Mr. Biden’s data to those that he knew or should have known would intend to create embarrassment and harm for Mr. Biden,” the countersuit says.
“In addition, Mac Isaac decided to use the data in his possession for commercial purposes and to make money, which he has done by including portions of the data in his book and making reference to and/or making some or all of the data available at appearances he has made.”
According to a document Mr. Mac Isaac has filed in court, on April 12, 2019, Mr. Biden asked for a quote for data recovery from three MacBook computers. Mr. Mac Isaac recovered the data and notified Mr. Biden of the development. He also sent an invoice, but Mr. Biden “never returned” to the shop to retrieve the data nor did he pay the invoice, according to the suit.
Mr. Biden’s attorneys confirmed that Mr. Mac Isaac had come into possession of materials from Mr. Biden.
Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
