Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Hunter Biden calls for criminal investigation of Trump’s close allies
WASHINGTON — A lawyer for President Joe Biden’s son Hunter asked the Justice Department in a letter Wednesday to investigate close allies of former President Donald Trump and others who accessed and disseminated personal data from a laptop that a computer repair shop owner says was dropped off at his Delaware store in 2019.
In a separate letter, Hunter Biden’s attorneys asked Fox News host Tucker Carlson to retract and apologize for what they say are false and defamatory claims made repeatedly about him on air, including implying without evidence that he had unauthorized access to classified documents found at his father’s home.
The requests, which come as Hunter Biden faces his own investigation for tax evasion by the Justice Department, does not mean federal prosecutors will open a probe or take any other action. But it represents a shift in strategy and a rare public response by the younger Biden and his legal team to years of attacks by Republican officials and conservative media, scrutiny expected to continue with the GOP leading the House.
It also represents the latest salvo in the long-running laptop saga, which began with a New York Post story in October 2020 that detailed some of the emails it says were found on the device related to Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. It was seized on by Trump as a campaign issue during the presidential election that year.
The letter seeks an investigation into, among others, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, Trump’s longtime lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Giuliani’s own attorney and the Wilmington computer repair shop owner, John Paul Mac Isaac.
The letter cites passages from Mac Isaac’s book in which he admitted reviewing private and sensitive material from Biden’s laptop, including a file titled “income.pdf.” It notes that Mac Isaac sent a copy of the data to Giuliani’s lawyer, Robert Costello, who in turn shared it with Giuliani, a close ally of Trump’s who at the time was pushing discredited theories about the younger Biden.
Giuliani provided the information to a reporter at the Post, which first wrote about the laptop, and also to Bannon, according to the letter. Hunter Biden never consented to any of his personal information being accessed or shared in that manner, his lawyer says.
Santos investigation: Federal authorities are investigating a military veteran’s claim that Republican Rep. George Santos of New York raised $3,000 for life-saving surgery for his pet dog several years ago, then never turned over the money for the animal’s care, according to a published report.
U.S. Navy veteran Richard Osthoff told Politico on Wednesday that two FBI agents contacted him after he went public last month with his story about his experiences with Santos in 2016. Osthoff said he gave the agents text messages he exchanged with Santos, who at the time was going by the name Anthony Devolder.
The local news site Patch reported in January that Osthoff was living in a tent in New Jersey in May 2016 when his pit bull mix named Sapphire developed a stomach tumor. A veterinary technician connected Osthoff to Santos’ pet charity, Friends of Pets United, Osthoff said. Authorities have said the group was not a registered charity.
According to Osthoff, Santos set up a GoFundMe account and raised money for the dog’s surgery but never turned it over. Sapphire died in 2017.
Santos, who has repeatedly declined to answer questions about the matter, is facing multiple probes.
Israel settlements: Israel’s West Bank settler population now makes up more than half a million people, a pro-settler group said Thursday.
The report, by WestBankJewishPopulationStats.com and based on official figures, showed the settler population grew to 502,991 as of Jan. 1, rising more than 2.5% in 12 months and nearly 16% over the last five years.
“We’re here to stay,” said Baruch Gordon, the director of the group and a resident of the Beit El settlement.
The milestone comes as Israel’s new government, made up of ultranationalist parties who oppose Palestinian statehood, has placed expanding settlements at the top of its priority list.
State of the Union response:
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders will deliver the Republican address to the nation in response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky announced the role for Sanders, 40, the nation’s youngest governor, on Thursday.
Sanders, the first woman elected governor of Arkansas, said she relished the opportunity to contrast the GOP’s vision for the future against that of Biden and his fellow Democrats.
She is the daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Kenosha shooting: A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled Wednesday that a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the father of a man shot and killed by Kyle Rittenhouse during a protest in 2020 can proceed against Rittenhouse, police officers and others.
The father of Anthony Huber, one of two men shot and killed by Rittenhouse in Kenosha, filed the lawsuit in 2021, accusing officers of allowing for a dangerous situation that violated his son’s constitutional rights and resulted in his death.
Anthony Huber’s father, John Huber, also alleged that Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time of the shootings, conspired with law enforcement to cause harm to protesters. John Huber is seeking unspecified damages from city officials, officers and Rittenhouse.
Actor in court: A former “Dances With Wolves” actor accused of sexually abusing Indigenous girls and leading a cult must remain held without bail until his next court hearing, a judge ordered Thursday.
Nathan Chasing Horse, 46, faces charges of sex trafficking, sexual assault against a child younger than 16, and child abuse. He has been in custody since his arrest Tuesday near the North Las Vegas home he shares with his five wives.
He appeared but did not speak before Justice of the Peace Belinda Harris, who scheduled a bail hearing for Monday. Chasing Horse has not been formally charged.
Known for his role as young Sioux tribe member Smiles a Lot in the Oscar-winning Kevin Costner film, Chasing Horse gained a reputation among tribes across the United States and in Canada as a so-called medicine man who performed healing ceremonies.
He is believed to be the leader of a cult known as the Circle, whose followers believed he could communicate with higher powers, according to an arrest warrant released Wednesday. Police said he abused his position, physically and sexually assaulted Indigenous girls and took underage wives over two decades.