Reality bytes: Hunter Biden’s laptop repairman harassed, nearly bankrupt
He’s between a rock and a hard drive.
The Delaware computer repair shop owner who alerted the FBI to Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop before ultimately taking it to Rudy Giuliani says he’s faced harassment from Big Tech, the IRS and other government agencies ever since, and now faces bankruptcy.
“I was getting a lot of death threats,” John Paul Mac Isaac said. “I had to have a Wilmington trooper parked in front of my shop all the time.
“There were multiple situations where people came in and you could tell they were not there to have a computer fixed. And if there were not other people in the shop, I don’t know what would have happened,” he told The Post. “I was having vegetables, eggs, dog s–t thrown at the shop every morning.”
Mac Isaac, 45, said his life was completely upended after the laptop contents became public in a series of reports by The New York Post in October 2020.
The laptop came into Mac Isaac’s possession after the future president’s son dropped it off for repairs in April 2019 and never came back. The hard drive contained a trove of emails, text messages, photos and financial documents between Hunter Biden and his family and business associates. The files show a laundry list of shady business deals around the world with Hunter Biden looking to cash in on his family and connections.
Things got so bad that Mac Isaac was forced to close down the shop at Trolley Square and flee the state on Nov. 5, 2020. He spent almost a year holed up with family in Lakewood, Colo. and spent time in woodworking school.
When he applied for unemployment in December 2020, Isaac ran into complications with government officials.
“I would open up a case, wouldn’t hear anything, then open another case, then open another case and then I was told to stop opening up cases. And they would keep closing these cases,” he said. As bills piled up, Mac Isaac dipped into his 401K, but the checks never came.
In December 2021, the computer man sent a pointed letter to Delaware Sen. Chris Coons. “I would hate to think that I was singled out in a politically motivated attack. If a state agency was weaponized to punish a perceived political enemy, the country has a right to know,” he warned the Democratic colleague of Joe Biden.
The unemployment cash came swiftly after that, though Mac Isaac insists he still ended up getting short-changed by several thousand dollars.
He also received what he perceived as threats from the feds.
“I got an invoice on Sept 6. 2021 for a tax return in 2016. I took it to an accountant friend of mine who said they don’t go back that far unless they’re looking for something,” Mac Isaac said. He paid the $57.75 promptly.
“We have all seen how weaponized the IRS has become over the last decade, so I wasn’t about to pick a fight,” he said.
Mac Isaac — a no-nonsense Scottish-American who regularly wears a green balmoral cap — declined to accuse the Biden family directly, but said he felt such government actions were retaliatory.
“I think it looks rather fishy,” he said. “I have been punished for my actions on so many levels both to hurt me personally and to set an example for anyone else that might try to blow the wrong whistle.”
Things got worse when Mac Isaac sued Twitter over their decision to censor his Hunter Biden revelations in December 2020. After the Post stories broke, Twitter and Facebook moved to suppress the information.
The suit was ultimately dismissed by a Florida judge with prejudice six months later — and he was ordered to pay the tech giant’s legal bills — a figure he said was roughly $175,000.
“Bankruptcy looks like my only option,” he said, adding that after losing his business he now mostly sustains himself with odd jobs. “A buddy of mine does estate clean outs, manual labor. I helped a neighbor redo their porch and I’m trying to do more with woodworking.”
Mac Isaac said even after social media began allowing the Hunter Biden stories to circulate, he remained stymied on various platforms. He accused YouTube of “shadow-banning” his content, by allowing it to remain on the site, but removing it from their normal algorithms. Throughout 2021 he said his posts have been censored on Facebook, which culminated in a 30-day suspension in September, which he successfully appealed.
He’s written a book about his experience since the laptop, but has struggled to find a publisher willing to partner with him.
Despite the hardships, Mac Isaac said he had no regrets.
“If I had the choice to do it again, I would absolutely do it again,” he said. “I was raised since 9/11 to believe if you see something you say something.”
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