Hunter Biden’s iPhone has been hacked, fueling old allegations surrounding President Joe Biden’s involvement in criminal activities.
On July 9th, users on the infamous 4Chan message board announced having obtained and hacked a backup from the iPhone of the son of the U.S. president. Joe Biden’s second son, Hunter Biden, has been a mainstay in tabloid news ever since a similar leak from a laptop was released in 2019, where records of Hunter’s abuse of drugs, his promiscuity, and business connections with China were found.
After gaining access to the iPhone backup, 4Chan uploaded screenshots on its site, which were then shared on Twitter. The backup itself was uploaded and shared via torrent sites, thus spreading it far and wide all over the Internet.
Besides a slew of nude pictures the phone contains many videos, some of which show Hunter Biden arguing with prostitutes about the amount of crack he had on him at the time. Chat protocols display an overall tone of disdain for human beings that, while not necessarily criminal, draw a pejorative picture of Hunter Biden, his family, and friends.
Although sceptics have been voicing their doubts regarding the iPhone’s authenticity, much of the newly published cache had been previously found on Hunter Biden’s laptop, which cyber forensics expert Konstantinos Gus Dimitrelos considered to be authentic: de facto authenticating the data from the iPhone leak.
“Based on my analysis of the iPhone, I conclude the same results as my analysis of the MacBook Pro Laptop hard drive and iCloud synced data. The person who owns and operates this iPhone XS is Robert Hunter Biden,” Dimitrelos told the Washington Examiner.
Besides documenting the lewd lifestyle of Hunter Biden, the leak’s political component should set off alarms. Evidence taken from the iPhone reinforces rumours that Joe Biden knew about Hunter’s involvement in the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, and that Hunter’s position there was used to enrich the Biden family, while compromising the security of the United States.
Through a voicemail from 2018 discovered on the hacked phone, Joe Biden—then vice president and presidential hopeful—is recorded discussing his son’s overseas business dealings. Commenting on an article published in The New York Times covering Hunter’s business dealings in China, Biden says “I think you’re clear,” and continues, “I thought the article released online, it’s going to be printed tomorrow in the Times, was good.” Joe Biden repeatedly claimed to have never spoken with his son about his foreign business ventures.
Joe’s involvement in Hunter’s business interests has taken on new intensity because of the recent sale of U.S. energy resources. In April of 2022, President Biden signed off on the sale of U.S. oil reserves to the state-run Chinese oil company Sinopec. The transaction renewed allegations of Biden’s illegal business dealings and the current administration’s contempt for national interests, given that a company allegedly co-owned by Hunter Biden, BHR Partners, is an active shareholder of Sinopec. The sale of oil to a Chinese state company thus not only compromises national interests in a highly volatile energy situation, but may have also helped fill the pockets of the president’s son.
Currently, none of the leaked data has been officially authenticated. If the process of verifying Hunter’s ownership of the iPhone follows the pattern of verifying the ownership of his laptop—a claim discredited by media until the Washington Post confirmed it—most of these allegations will remain simply ignored or denied, rather than investigated. Almost all mainstream news outlets have so far ignored the existence of the latest leaks.
The leak hits the Biden family amidst a series of controversies, particularly in respect to Hunter Biden’s drug addiction, and his business involvements in Ukraine and China. Meanwhile, his father Joe Biden is increasingly under pressure for questions about his mental and physical fitness for presidency, with almost daily examples of run-ins with teleprompters or other public occasions gone awry.
The latest scandal surrounding his son is not likely to strengthen his position.
