Earlier today in Two Puzzles I suggested that the when the FBI sought Hunter Biden's laptop from the Delaware computer repair shop run by John Paul Mac Isaac, they opened an investigation based on Isaac's concern over sexually graphic images of underage girls stored on the laptop. I made that suggestion based on what I considered to be the inherent improbability that Isaac--even with the help of his father--could have sorted through a vast amount of data on the laptop and come up with a coherent understanding of all the transactions that Hunter Biden was involved in.
However, we now know, courtesy of Fox News, that that was not how the investigation developed. The FBI agents from the Wilmington Resident Agency (RA) who came to visit Isaac in November, 2019, returned in early December with a subpoena for the laptop. But the subpoena was issued under a 272D case file--money laundering:
Laptop connected to Hunter Biden linked to FBI money laundering probe
It is unclear, at this point, whether the investigation is ongoing or if it was directly related to Hunter Biden
I continue to question whether Isaac would have been able to articulate to the agents the elements of a money laundering violation, based on his perusal of the contents of the hard drive. And that raises the question whether Hunter Biden may have been implicated in some way in an already ongoing investigation--perhaps not as a main subject, but as involved in some way in money laundering. This isn't a far fetched idea, given that there are clear indications that Biden was, in fact, involved in laundering money to help influential Russians circumvent US sanctions.
Here's an excerpt from the Fox News account:
The FBI’s subpoena of a laptop and hard drive purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden came in connection with a money laundering investigation in late 2019, according to documents obtained by Fox News and verified by multiple federal law enforcement officials who reviewed them.
It is unclear, at this point, whether the investigation is ongoing or if it was directly related to Hunter Biden.
Multiple federal law enforcement officials, as well as two separate government officials, confirmed the authenticity of these documents, which were signed by FBI Special Agent Joshua Wilson. Wilson did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
One of the documents, obtained by Fox News, was designated as an FBI “Receipt for Property” form, which details the bureau’s interactions with John Paul Mac Isaac, the owner of “The Mac Shop” who reported the laptop’s contents to authorities.
The document has a “Case ID” section, which is filled in with a hand-written number: 272D-BA-3065729.
According to multiple officials, and the FBI’s website, “272” is the bureau’s classification for money laundering, while “272D” refers to “Money Laundering, Unknown SUA [Specified Unlawful Activity]—White Collar Crime Program,” according to FBI documents. One government official described “272D” as “transnational or blanket.”
“BA” indicates the case was opened in the FBI’s Baltimore field office, sources said.
The documents state that the subpoena was carried out in Wilmington, Del., which falls under the jurisdiction of the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office.
It now seems possible that Isaac's offer of the Hunter Biden laptop to the FBI came as a remarkable coincidence--one that offered an inside glimpse into the nexus of Big Money, politics, and influence peddling. If that was the case, it's small wonder that the FBI was eager to prevent the seamier details of Biden's excuse for a life from short circuiting a major money laundering investigation.
Well, a lot of the details are now out in the open. Time to wrap it up and bring charges !
ReplyDeleteOne thought I had--could Trump possibly take the risk of disclosing new information at the debate? Now that would be a way to disclose something impossible for the press to not cover, and impossible for Biden to ignore.
ReplyDeleteMy vice in this is slowly becoming Barr's DOJ.
ReplyDeleteThey sat on this through the impeachment, unforgivable.
I've come to the realization that Barr is showing Trump how 5-dimensional chess is played. He had me fooled, I admit it - but no longer. I now predict a devastating press release no later than Jan 15 will be issued by Barr containing the words "integrity", "professional", "honor", and the deadliest word of all: "constitution". All will be right in our God-blessed country again. I can't wait.
ReplyDeleteIts hard to imagine, at this point, that Joe Biden could offer any public explanations for Hunter's actions and his connections to Hunter's actions without seriously risking incriminating himself.
ReplyDeleteWhat happens on the off chance Biden wins & there are sealed indictments against his son or brother?
ReplyDelete& even him, perhaps as an unindicted coconspirator?
Do those get unsealed on November 4th? How do we deal with the unprecedented situation of prosecuting a President-elect or his only surviving son?
Get ready for President Harris.
DeleteI am sorry- just not buying it. There was no investigation, isn't one now, and won't be one unless Trump wins. The simplest explanation here is that the FBI decided it was dangerous to leave this information in Isaac's hands, and the firmest, quickest, least messy way was to take it from him with a surprise subpoena. It has probably been examined just as deeply and thoroughly by the FBI as they did with the Wiener laptop. The two sets of disks probably really are in the same warehouse of the sort like Raiders of the Lost Ark with instructions "Not to be opened until 2120".
ReplyDeleteI have to agree. Hunter Biden was indeed likely involved in money laundering, so that would the appropriate classification for the FBI's seizure of his laptop, but with Wray in charge, it was almost certainly the FBI's intention to deep-six the laptop and prevent disclosures that would harm Joe Biden's election chances.
DeleteCEO of Sinohawk Holdings investment firm says "Hunter Biden called his dad ‘the Big Guy’ or ‘my Chairman,’ and frequently referenced asking him for his sign-off or advice on various potential deals that we were discussing."
ReplyDeleteOoops!
So much for Joe (Big Guy) Biden claiming he didn't know what his loving son's business dealings are.
"It now seems possible that Isaac's offer of the Hunter Biden laptop to the FBI came as a remarkable coincidence"
ReplyDeleteIt's often said that there are no coincidences in politics...how believable is this, esp since the shop owner is legally blind and he's going through documents?
Frank
"Legally blind" is a term of art- it doesn't mean "blind". Additionally, being a Wilmington resident, he would know who "Hunter Biden" was. Finally, it was his father and friend who looked into the documents on the drive.
DeleteTwo minor points I think bear consideration.
ReplyDelete1) Legally, blindness is defined as less than 20/200 vision in the better eye with glasses...A person with 20° or less vision (pinhole vision) is also legally blind. (from the Medical Dictionary of freedictionary.com) This leaves a lot room for close vision and technological enhancements. Many here seem to conflate that with total blindness. I've known folks who were "legally blind" yet, with proper aids, were allowed drivers licenses. Mr. Isaac repairs computers for a living which means, unless he's Densel Washington in a Hollywood post-apocalypse fantasy, he has some close vision capacity. What precisely he described to the FBI field agent in the Albuquerque field office that instigated a visit from Delaware field agents several weeks later is unclear.
2) The field agents that visited Mr. Isaac's shop in November 2019 made a forensic copy of the LT/HD. This, over the ensuing three weeks or so, gave them the opportunity to ascertain the provenance of the device and data and enough review time to see if there was reason to pursue it further; which they did by returning approximately three weeks later to take custody of the LT/HD.
This doesn't answer many questions but it might eliminate some speculative dead-ends as to how the FBI, seemingly mysteriously, came to subpoena the device. Three weeks, give or take, and the totality of files, including meta-data, should be plenty of time to come to decisions, for better or worse, concerning veracity and applicability.
Tom S.
A side issue of of minor importance. I have read some speculation about the dumbness of Hunter's lawyer calling Mr. Isaac's shop seemingly after it's public knowledge that the FBI had already removed the horse from the barn. I view that as a fishing expedition. Has anyone asked around to see if any other shops in the area received odd calls looking for a MacBook Pro dropped off in the appropriate time frame? If you're going to take a deep dive into researching someones life with a view of discrediting/destroying then you want to make very sure you have the correct target. Not that anyone involved would lose sleep over destroying an innocent life; they just wouldn't want to waste resources destroying a non-threatening innocent life.
DeleteMr. Isaac's concerns over his, and his fathers, well being were not, considering the amounts of money and power in play, misplaced paranoia. The faster this info is released the safer Mr. Isaac becomes. For now, if I were him, I would be telling everyone I know, and strangers on the street, two things: that Giuliani has all the copies and that I would never ever commit suicide.
Tom S.
Off the record:
ReplyDeletecheck your rss feed - it's not working
-->If that was the case, it's small wonder that the FBI was eager to prevent the seamier details of Biden's excuse for a life from short circuiting a major money laundering investigation.<--
ReplyDeleteI'd have thought Hunter Biden's sleazy lifestyle would provide perfect cover to a money laundering (or other serious) investigation.
The distraction of "Look, it's just a bunch of compromising photos--private and intimate, though embarrassing. Nothing anyone but a voyeur would be interested in, if not for the salaciousness."
A cooperative MSM would have it as a one-day story.
Just read something that said CEFC went bankrupt shortly after US accused it of "MONEY LAUNDERING" ...
ReplyDeleteone of it' top officials was CONVICTED AND JAILED BY US COURTS in 2018 or early 2019.
This suggests there has been a FBI money laundering investigation underway for a couple years, and into which Hunter Biden's emails and laptop documents seemlessly folded in when they showed up on FBI's doorstep.
The floodgates are starting to open as various business people who were roped into the Biden Crime family schemes scurry to turn over evidence on the Bidens and stay out of jail or Ft. Marcy Park themselves.
I think it's time for a tsunami warning be issued for the entire state of Delaware, if not D.C. as well. Not even the MSM can hold back the flood that is about to engulf the Bidens.