CBS FINALLY wakes up and admits Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop IS REAL

CBS has finally admitted Hunter Biden’s laptop is real – 20 months after DailyMail.com authenticated its contents with top experts.

When files from the laptop were published before the 2020 presidential election, 60 Minutes host Lesley Stahl insisted in an interview with Donald Trump that the contents couldn’t be verified.

The network was among a wide range of left-leaning outlets such as the New York Times and MSNBC who doubted the authenticity as the Biden administration insisted it was Russian disinformation.

But on Monday, two weeks after the midterms, CBS This Morning changed their tune.

The network ran a segment with with former Secret Service member and computer forensics expert Mark Lanterman saying he and his son Sean had independently verified the laptop and said there was no evidence of external tampering.

The story referenced a voicemail from Joe Biden to his son saying he ‘needed to get help’ for his ongoing drug addiction – and pinned the timing of the report to Republicans threatening to launch an investigation into the president’s complicity in Hunter’s foreign business deals.

DailyMail.com authenticated the laptop in March 2021, and was the first – and only – news organization to publicly verify its contents using expert analysis. 

The scandal was widely dismissed by multiple outlets, social media companies made sure stories were censored and whistleblowers claim FBI agents went out of their way to obstruct investigations. 

DailyMail.com columnist Meghan McCain has raised fresh questions over why it has taken so long for these outlets to come around.

‘Anyone with five braincells has known Hunter Biden’s laptop is real,’ McCain said.

‘I’m extremely confused why CBS is taking a victory lap or taking any kind of credit on this today – years late?’

‘Yes’, Lanterman said when asked if he believed what he saw on the laptop that was given to the FBI under subpoena was real and that it belonged to the president’s scandal-plagued son.

DailyMail.com published dozens of a stories based on the scandalous contents of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop – including a cache of 103,000 text messages, 154,000 emails, more than 2,000 photos (pictured)- that were verified by top forensics experts

DailyMail.com published dozens of a stories based on the scandalous contents of Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop - including a cache of 103,000 text messages, 154,000 emails, more than 2,000 photos (pictured) - that were verified by top forensics experts. Pictured above: A selfie of Joe and Hunter

Experts concluded there were no indications ‘found that would suggest the data was manufactured.’ Pictured above: A selfie of Joe and Hunter 

CBS This Morning on Monday ran a segment with a segment with former Secret Service member and computer forensics expert Mark Lanterman, saying the and his son Sean had independently verified the laptop and said there was no evidence of external tampering

CBS This Morning on Monday ran a segment with a segment with former Secret Service member and computer forensics expert Mark Lanterman, saying the and his son Sean had independently verified the laptop and said there was no evidence of external tampering

He added that his analysis found it would be difficult to add any additional files, quashing long-time suggestions foreign actors were trying to plant information, and said drivers licenses and social security numbers found saved on the device proved it was Hunter.

 ‘After laughing off reports for two years, the mainstream media wants to claim a victory lap over their independent review. You cannot make this up,’ Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) wrote on Twitter.

Last March, DailyMail.com hired top cyber forensics experts at Maryman & Associates to examine the hard drive to determine its authenticity.

The firm’s founder, Brad Maryman, was a 29-year veteran of the FBI, served as a Chief Information Security Officer and founded the bureau’s cyber forensics unit. His partner, Dr. Joseph Greenfield, is an associate professor at the University of Southern California and helped write their degree program in intelligence and cyber operations.

After an extensive analysis of the hard drive, Greenfield and Maryman produced a report for DailyMail.com detailing their findings.

‘The operating system timestamps appear to be authentic, and no evidence was found to suggest that the timestamps or data were altered or manufactured,’ the report said. 

‘No indications were found that would suggest the data was manufactured.’

Since then, DailyMail.com has revealed a series of troubling stories based on the scandalous material from the laptop that go to the heart of the FBI’s probe into Hunter’s alleged dodged taxes, foreign lobbying and suspected money laundering.

Over the past 20 months we have published stories including: 

But the stories were given few column inches by America’s most venerable news organizations.

In March 2022, The New York Times published a story saying they had confirmed the authenticity of the laptop. 

The Times has previously repeatedly referred to information from the laptop as ‘purported’, ‘in question’, and even called it ‘unsubstantiated’ in a September 2021 news story, then later quietly removed the word.

Jack Maxey, a political activist and former Steve Bannon podcast co-host, who gave DailyMail.com the laptop, said he also provided the Washington Post with a copy last summer

Jack Maxey, a political activist and former Steve Bannon podcast co-host, who gave DailyMail.com the laptop, said he also provided the Washington Post with a copy last summer

The newspaper also prominently reported White House denials of Joe Biden’s meetings with Hunter’s business partners at a DC cafe, evidenced by the laptop emails, until this week’s report when the Times performed an about-face.

A lawsuit reveals that although the newspaper failed to publish stories based on the laptop for over a year, Times reporters appear to have been paying close attention to some of DailyMail.com’s stories.

The same month the Washington Post also confirmed the authenticity of the laptop by hiring their own experts. 

On June 7 last year, we revealed how Hunter and Freeh were hired by Romanian tycoon Gabriel Popoviciu – later convicted of bribery – and represented him in meetings with top US officials.

Hunter’s work for the corrupt foreign magnate came dangerously close to the line of illegal lobbying, and is now likely to be one avenue of investigation by the federal probe into the president’s son over suspected violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Trump discusses Hunter Biden's laptop in an interview with CBS News' Lesley Stahl in October 2020, weeks before the presidential election

When files from the laptop were published before the 2020 presidential election, 60 Minutes host Lesley Stahl insisted in an interview with Donald Trump that the contents couldn't be verified.

When files from the laptop were published before the 2020 presidential election, 60 Minutes host Lesley Stahl insisted in an interview with Donald Trump that the contents couldn’t be verified.

Photos provided by Maxey show him at the newspaper’s offices, and a copy of the laptop hard drive lying on the Post’s boardroom table

DailyMail.com obtained the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by Times reporter Kenneth Vogel to the State Department, asking for staff's communications relating to Hunter

DailyMail.com obtained the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by Times reporter Kenneth Vogel to the State Department, asking for staff’s communications relating to Hunter

The day the story was published, Times reporter Kenneth Vogel fired off a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the State Department, asking for staff’s communications relating to Hunter, Popoviciu and other individuals named in our piece.

Vogel’s FOIA request was made public this month when the Times sued the Department for failing to hand over its files promptly.

While the Times fights it out with the State Department, DailyMail.com readers already learned months ago that one very senior State staffer – the then-US ambassador to Romania Hans Klemm – communicated with Hunter’s team and met Hunter to discuss Popoviciu’s case in 2016.

Jack Maxey, a political activist and former Steve Bannon podcast co-host who gave DailyMail.com the laptop, said in 2021 he also provided the Post with a copy last summer.

‘I’m not going to disclose the details of our conversations, but I gave them a copy of it in June. I personally delivered it to their offices and met with senior editors,’ he said

‘They haven’t done anything. They’re not just late to the party, they didn’t even show up.

‘I had to go a second time in October because they broke the first copy.’

Photos provided by Maxey show him at the newspaper’s offices, and a copy of the laptop hard drive lying on the Post’s boardroom table.

Among the stories to emerge from the files in the laptop, was how Hunter and former FBI director Louis Freeh (left) were hired by Romanian tycoon Gabriel Popoviciu (right) – later convicted of bribery – and represented him in meetings with top US officials

Emails showed Hunter brought in political heavyweight and family friend Louis Freeh, the former director of the FBI, to use his US law enforcement contacts for Popoviciu's advantage, and was offered a referral fee as a result

Emails showed Hunter brought in political heavyweight and family friend Louis Freeh, the former director of the FBI, to use his US law enforcement contacts for Popoviciu’s advantage, and was offered a referral fee as a result

AUTHENTICATING HUNTER’S LAPTOP

DailyMail.com commissioned cyber forensics experts at Maryman & Associates to examine the hard drive to determine its authenticity.

The firm’s founder, Brad Maryman, was a 29-year veteran of the FBI, served as a Chief Information Security Officer and founded the bureau’s cyber forensics unit. His partner, Dr. Joseph Greenfield, is an associate professor at the University of Southern California and helped write their degree program in intelligence and cyber operations. 

After an extensive analysis of the hard drive, Greenfield and Maryman produced a report for DailyMail.com detailing their findings.

Using the same forensic tools as federal and state law enforcement in criminal investigations, they found a total of 103,000 text messages, 154,000 emails and more than 2,000 photos.

They found emails for multiple accounts on the laptop dating back to 2009, and other data which ‘appears to be related to Mr. Biden’ between 2016 and 2019.

 – The report’s findings were consistent with the known timeline for the hard drive. A Wilmington, Delaware computer store work order with Hunter’s signature shows he left his 2017 MacBook Pro laptop there on April 12, 2019.

The Maryman & Associates report said the original ‘Macintosh HD’ drive was created on March 28, 2018

Hunter’s iCloud email address was added to the laptop’s system on October 21 2018, as well as his work email at his firm Rosemont Seneca on February 2 2019. 

The same day, a Gmail address he used to log onto sex cam sites, and another personal Gmail address belonging to Hunter, were also added. 

– Beau Biden’s old Gmail account was added on February 7 2019.

– Emails addressed to Hunter’s various email addresses dating from December 2009 to December 2020 were found on the system.

– An iPad with the name ‘Hunter’s iPad’ and three email addresses associated with the Biden family was backed up on the laptop and on iCloud in January 2019 and again a month later.

– Greenfield found 818 call logs in this iPad backup with timestamps from June 2016 to February 2019. 

– There were 8,942 entries in the iPad’s contacts book, created between April 2016 and January 2019.

In February 2019 an iPhone XS was also synced with the laptop. Its serial number was consistent with the timestamps of the data on the phone. 

In conclusion, ‘The operating system timestamps appear to be authentic, and no evidence was found to suggest that the timestamps or data were altered or manufactured,’ the report said. ‘No indications were found that would suggest the data was manufactured.’

DailyMail.com obtained a copy of Hunter’s laptop hard drive from Maxey in spring 2021.

John Paul Mac Isaac, the owner of the computer store where Hunter abandoned his laptop, gave a copy of its hard drive to Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani in September 2020.

Giuliani reportedly leaked documents and photos from the drive to the New York Post, and also gave a whole copy of the drive to Trump’s former advisor Bannon and his podcast co-host Maxey.

The Post published excerpts of emails and photos from the laptop ahead of the 2020 election, but without authentication they were widely dismissed as fake or ‘Russian disinformation’.

In April 2021 DailyMail.com published the contents of a report by Maryman & Associates showing the laptop was real, and continued to reveal its sordid and potentially incriminating contents over the following year.

Using the same forensic tools as federal and state law enforcement in criminal investigations, Maryman & Associates found a total of 103,000 text messages, 154,000 emails and more than 2,000 photos on the hard drive.

The now-infamous photo of Hunter lying in bed with a crackpipe in his mouth was among the files found on his device

The now-infamous photo of Hunter lying in bed with a crackpipe in his mouth was among the files found on his device

The New York Post had published excerpts of emails and photos from the laptop ahead of the 2020 election, but without authentication they were widely dismissed as fake or ‘Russian disinformation’. Pictured: Photos recovered from the computer

A shocking photo obtained from Hunter's laptop shows his badly damaged and worn down teeth - also known as 'meth mouth' -  as he sits in a dentist chair

A shocking photo obtained from Hunter’s laptop shows his badly damaged and worn down teeth – also known as ‘meth mouth’ –  as he sits in a dentist chair

The sheer volume, interconnectedness and consistency of the data was a major factor in the cyber forensics experts coming to their conclusion over its authenticity.

They found emails for multiple accounts on the laptop dating back to 2009, and other data which ‘appears to be related to Mr. Biden’ between 2016 and 2019.

Hunter’s iCloud email address was added to the laptop’s system on October 21 2018, as well as his work email at his firm Rosemont Seneca on February 2, 2019.

Emails addressed to Hunter’s various email addresses dating from December 2009 to December 2020 were found on the system.

An iPad with the name ‘Hunter’s iPad’ and three email addresses associated with the Biden family was backed up on the laptop and on iCloud in January 2019 and again a month later.

Greenfield found 818 call logs in this iPad backup with timestamps from June 2016 to February 2019.

There were 8,942 entries in the iPad’s contacts book, created between April 2016 and January 2019.

In February 2019 an iPhone XS was also synced with the laptop. Its serial number was consistent with the timestamps of the data on the phone.

The findings were consistent with other information from Mac Isaac, Maxey, and recipients of emails and texts from Hunter. 

DailyMail.com has reached out to CBS News for comment. 

Hunter's laptop is brimming with evidence of apparent criminal activity by him and his associates including drug trafficking and prostitution. This photo of him grabbing a woman's hair was recovered from his laptop

Hunter’s laptop is brimming with evidence of apparent criminal activity by him and his associates including drug trafficking and prostitution. This photo of him grabbing a woman’s hair was recovered from his laptop 

The computer also revealed Hunter, who began dating his late brother’s widow Hallie (pictured) after his death, also had a fling with her sister 

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