Emails from Hunter Biden's laptop contain records the Secret Service did not hand over to lawmakers



For years, Republican lawmakers have sought Hunter Biden's travel records as part of a larger review of Biden's use of Secret Service protection while his father was vice president. But the Secret Service claimed it was unable to identify any such communications for several years during which Biden received Secret Service protection, frustrating those efforts.

However, emails from Hunter Biden's laptop confirm that the Secret Service did coordinate Biden's travel during the years for which the Secret Service told Republican senators they could not find such communications.

On Jan. 18, 2022, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) wrote to the director of the Secret Service, requesting that the agency produce records "involving Hunter Biden and his use of government-sponsored travel while he conducted private business." Their letter complained that records previously provided to Congress contained inappropriate redactions and asked for unredacted copies of those documents. The lawmakers also demanded an explanation for why the Secret Service "did not provide any communication records for the years of 2010, 2011, and 2013."

Secret Service Director James M. Murray wrote back to the senators on Feb. 14: "The Secret Service worked extensively with your committees, and agreed to search parameters provided by your office as to identify communications regarding Mr. Biden's travel.

"These search parameters did not yield communications for the years 2010, 2011, or 2013," Murray said.

But dozens of email records reported by Just the News appear to contradict what the Secret Service told Grassley and Johnson.

For example, Secret Service records show that between May 15 and May 17, 2011, Biden took a trip to Mexico with Secret Service protection. The plans for that trip were discussed ahead of time in communications between the then-vice president's son and Secret Service agents, Just the News reveals.

“Hunter, when you have some free time, I would like to discuss the Monterrey trip with you,” Secret Service agent Yvonne DiCristoforo wrote to Biden on April 28, 2011.

"I have some specific information to provide you that we received from our Mexico City office,” she added. “I know you are out of the office this evening, but if you could contact me at your convenience, I would appreciate it."

The email was contained on a Hunter Biden laptop that is now in FBI custody, Just the News reported. It was one of five dozen emails reviewed by the outlet that show Biden communicating with his Secret Service handlers, including in the years for which the Secret Service did not hand over records.

Some of the emails Just the News reported included subject lines like "upcoming trip" or "all checked in," that clearly identify them as emails related to Biden's travel.

The Secret Service did not respond when asked why these communications were not turned over to the senators.

In statements to Just the News, both Grassley and Johnson sharply criticized the Secret Service for failing to produce these emails.

"For years, Sen. Johnson and I have been trying to get a clear picture of Hunter Biden's communications with the Secret Service when he was under their protection," Grassley said. "The Secret Service says they don’t have records for three years during Hunter Biden's time as a protectee, but I have reason to believe they do.

"In fact, I suspect there was also communication between Secret Service employees and Hunter Biden even after his protection ended. The Secret Service needs to come clean, and I intend to get to the bottom of this discrepancy."

Johnson demanded that the agency "immediately produce all records responsive to our October 2020 request or explain to us why the agency did not retain records it is required by law to retain."

"The Secret Service’s inability, or perhaps unwillingness, to comply with my requests for records relating to Hunter Biden is unacceptable," he said. "We now know that Hunter Biden's laptop contained records that the Secret Service claimed they did not possess and therefore failed to produce to me and Senator Grassley. I can think of only two explanations for their lack of compliance, either the Secret Service is incompetent or it is corrupt."

Just the News obtained the emails from a laptop a Delaware repair shop owner said was abandoned by Hunter Biden in 2019. The New York Post was the first to report that this laptop had been seized by the FBI in December 2019. The content of some of the emails stored on it suggested that the Biden family, including then-presidential candidate Joe Biden, had been involved in corrupt business dealings with Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company, which prompted Republican lawmakers to investigate the matter.

When the New York Post first broke the Hunter Biden laptop story, mainstream media outlets including the New York Times attempted to discredit the paper's reporting as Russian disinformation. Even though the Post's reporting was confirmed by the Daily Caller in October 2020, the Times did not recognize the authenticity of Biden's emails until Wednesday, March 17, 2022.

CNN analysis finds Biden has taken more time for 'personal travel' than any other president in 'recent history'​



Even as several crises raged on during the first several months of his term, President Joe Biden managed to log more "personal travel" days during that span than any president in "recent history," according to a new analysis of presidential time away from the White House.

CNN reported Saturday that during his first 276 days in office, Biden spent 108 of those days either vacationing or teleworking from Camp David or one of his two Delaware homes.

The outlet noted that to this point in his presidency, Biden's time spent away from the White House has dwarfed that of his predecessors — including Donald Trump, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush. And even though Biden has spent some of that time working in remote, his time away includes no fewer than 35 "personal trips."

Here's more from the report:

A CNN analysis of Biden's public schedule indicates the President has spent a significant amount of time away from the White House, particularly on weekends, since his January inauguration. Including this weekend's trip to Delaware, Biden has taken 35 personal trips and spent all or part of 108 of his first 276 days in office at one of his Delaware homes or at Camp David in Maryland. That includes partial days, like Friday -- when he spent the day at the White House and departed in the evening.

Sixty-nine of those 108 days away from Washington were spent at his home in Wilmington, spread over 23 visits; seven days at his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, beach house over two visits; and 32 days at Camp David over 10 visits ...

... While most presidents have prioritized taking time away from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, this is the most time a president has spent away from the White House on personal travel at this point in the presidency in recent history.

In comparison, Trump spent just 70 days away from the White House during his first 275 days as president, while Obama spent only 40 days away, and Bush 84 days.

In response to the report, White House spokesman Andrew Bates defended his boss' penchant for personal getaways.

"Presidents of the United States are constantly on the job, regardless of their location; whether they're on a state visit overseas or just 100 miles from the White House for a short trip to Wilmington," Bates told CNN. "Wherever he is, the President spends every day working to defeat the pandemic, to ensure our economy delivers for the middle class — not just those at the top — and to protect our national security."

Critics of the president are likely to point out that much of Biden's travel has come even as the country has grappled with crises at the southern border as well as in Afghanistan. Even when Biden has been in the office, he has been unavailable to the media.

The Daily Wire reported that through September, Biden had participated in just 10 extended interviews with reporters, roughly six times fewer than Trump and 13 times fewer than Obama.