Hunter Biden, claiming times are tough these days, has asked a federal judge to drop a lawsuit he filed against a former Trump White House aide in connection with circulating the embarrassing contents of his laptop.
Biden, 55, claimed in his request filed in California that he is "millions of dollars in debt" because his artwork and memoir are not selling, and he lost a home he was renting in the Los Angeles wildfires, the New York Post reported Thursday.
The former first son filed his lawsuit against Garrett Ziegler, who worked as an aide to Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro in 2023. Biden claims Ziegler illegally accessed and circulated the contents of his laptop on his Marco Polo website.
In the lawsuit, Biden accused Ziegler and others of breaking data and computer fraud laws by gaining access to "tens of thousands of emails, thousands of photos, and dozens of videos and recordings" from the laptop.
But now, Biden's lawyers are arguing their client does not have the money to move forward with the legal action, as he has "suffered a significant downturn in his income and has significant debt in the millions of dollars range."
Further, the Pacific Palisades wildfires left his rental home "unlivable," Biden says in his filing, adding, "like many others in that situation, I am having difficulty in finding a new permanent place to live."
Biden also said that nobody is buying his paintings anymore.
"In the 2 to 3 years prior to December 2023, I sold 27 pieces for art at an average price of $54,481.48, but since then, I have only sold 1 piece of art for $36,000," he argued in the motion.
Biden's book sales for his 2021 memoir, "Beautiful Things," have also dropped off.
"In the six month period before the statements (April 1, 2023 through September 30, 2023), based on the September 30, 2023 statement, 3,161 copies of my book were sold, but in the six months after the statements, only approximately 1,100 books were sold," Biden said in the filing.
"Given the positive feedback and reviews of my artwork and memoir, I was expecting to obtain paid speaking engagements and paid appearances, but that has not happened."
Biden has also filed a lawsuit against former Delaware computer repair shop owner John Paul Mac Isaac, where he had left the infamous laptop for repairs, but indicated he is assessing other lawsuits "case-by-case basis to allocate my limited resources."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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