First son Hunter Biden and his legal team sent a slew of letters to government agencies on Wednesday demanding investigations into the dissemination of materials from his laptop, while also threatening to sue Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
A source familiar with the letters, obtained by CBS News, indicated to the outlet that the scandal-plagued Biden intends to take the initiative in combatting negative press and Republican-led investigations.
"He is not going to sit quietly by as questionable characters continue to violate his rights and media organizations peddling in lies try to defame him," the source said.
The letter to Carlson demands that the Fox host retract statements describing a "money laundering scheme" connected to Biden allegedly paying his father "rent" money. The letter acknowledges that other outlets have retracted such claims.
Other letters went to the Delaware attorney general, the IRS, and the Department of Justice seeking investigations related to the publication of the laptop, the authenticity of which has since been verified.
The letters appear to mark a direct admission from Biden's legal team that the laptop does indeed belong to Biden and that the contents are authentic.
"This failed dirty political trick directly resulted in the exposure, exploitation, and manipulation of Mr. Biden's private and personal information," read the letter to Delaware AG Kathy Jennings. "Mr. Mac Isaac's intentional, reckless and unlawful conduct allowed for hundreds of gigabytes of Mr. Biden's personal data, without any discretion, to be circulated around the Internet.
Specifically, Biden wants investigations into laptop repairman John Paul Mac Isaac, at whose store the younger Biden left the laptop, as well as various Trump aides connected to the publication of its contents. Biden alleges that many of these aides may have broken the law in obtaining and distributing the laptop's contents.
Biden also has asked the IRS to review the tax-exempt status of Marco Polo, the organization operated by former Trump aide Garrett Ziegler that published a lengthy report on the laptop's contents.
Reports emerged in December that Hunter Biden was mounting a legal and media blitz to combat conservative criticism and allegations of legal improprieties.
A source at the White House expressed concerns to the Washington Post about Hunter's plans at the time, saying "[n]o one thinks this strategy of putting Hunter Biden front and center is smart… No one, including the White House, thinks this is a smart strategy."
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