Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Max Every month, there are dozens of stories about HUNTER BIDEN attributed to a hard drive of a computer he left behind. The New York Post published 23 this past month. The Daily Mail has penned 20. In recent months, The Washington Post has also begun publishing stories on Hunter’s business dealings and personal relationships based on what is now known as “The Laptop” or “The Laptop from Hell,” as the New York Post’s MIRANDA DEVINE has dubbed it. The origins of many of these stories are two conservative activists who happen to hate each other. The Washington Post and the Daily Mail both obtained their copies of “The Laptop” from JACK MAXEY, a former co-host on STEVE BANNON’s “War Room” podcast who describes himself as “Hunter's laptop king” on his Gettr account. On June 14, 2021, The Washington Post’s GLENN KESSLER served as an intermediary for a meeting at the Post between Maxey, editor PETER WALLSTEN and investigative reporter TOM HAMBURGER, according to Maxey—a description a Post spokesperson confirmed. They said that after the Post had problems with the first copy of the drive, Maxey subsequently gave the paper three other digital copies, including one that was more user-friendly. The Daily Mail and The Washington Post both say they have authenticated at least some material contained in the laptop, upon which they have based their stories (POLITICO has not undergone the process to authenticate the laptop, but reporter BEN SCHRECKINGER has confirmed the authenticity of some emails on it.) Then there’s GARRETT ZIEGLER, a 26-year-old former aide to Trump trade adviser PETER NAVARRO, who was a key figure in the lead up to Jan. 6 as he escorted MICHAEL FLYNN and SIDNEY POWELL into the White House on Dec. 18 to discuss seizing voting machines, according to the New York Times. Ziegler’s credentials were revoked afterward. Ziegler has taken a different approach with a copy of the laptop he says he obtained through RUDY GULIANI and his long-time associate BERNARD KERIK in the winter of 2020, when they were passing around copies to many far-right operatives. Rather than supplying copies to media outlets, starting in May, Ziegler uploaded on his group’s website more than 120,000 emails and other documents from the hard drive. The documents are often watermarked with the name of his group, The Marco Polo Project. Some of these materials have subsequently been cited by the Daily Mail. Ziegler took the same tack with a journal he claims was written by Hunter’s sister ASHLEY BIDEN, which he transcribed and published online last October. How these two men became some of the chief purveyors of Hunter Biden dirt provides a window into how the far-right media ecosystem has evolved in response to his father’s presidency. Neither Maxey nor Ziegler are classic D.C.-operative types peddling oppo to reporters. Rather, they present themselves as zealots in a historic battle for the sake of the republic. They aren’t filtering out items from the laptop in hopes of driving specific media coverage so much as arguing that they have uncovered documents rivaling the Pentagon Papers in importance. As a result, they’re in an increasingly nasty competition over who gets to claim the title of modern day DANIEL ELLSBERG. “I think it's one of the greatest stories of the 21st century so far, probably in the top 10,” Ziegler said of the laptop. Maxey said he thinks Ziegler is trying to profit off the laptop by collecting donations to the Marco Polo group via donation buttons on his site. “In every respect he's been full of shit this whole way," he told West Wing Playbook. Maxey said he gave Ziegler a copy of the laptop in December 2020 to hand off to the director of national intelligence, but that Ziegler instead hung onto it for himself. Ziegler acknowledged Maxey gave him the Hunter hard drive, but said he returned it after getting another copy from Kerik. He denies ever withholding the laptop from anyone and accuses Maxey of trying to sully his image. “That’s what haters do, they just make up shit. And people just repeat the lies. Usually in a sane world, in a Western world, the person who is accusing someone else produces some sort of evidence,” he said. “The whole thing is a hoax. So when you write your story, make sure that you put the truth.” For good measure, he called Maxey “a dumbass.” The White House and Hunter’s representatives have largely taken a “no comment” approach to the laptop even as photos, videos, text messages, voicemails, and emails continue to trickle out on a weekly basis. They declined to comment for this story as well. But they are quietly keeping track of Maxey and Ziegler. Ziegler in particular has drawn the ire of one of Hunter’s representatives, attorney KEVIN MORRIS. On May 30, in the weeks after Ziegler uploaded the emails online and Morris’ involvement with Hunter became public, Morris messaged Ziegler and told him “there is right and wrong in this world. You are a vicious little p—-- and I’m coming to get you,” according to screenshots of the messages provided by Ziegler. “Make sure you take a few nice outfits to jail. You’ll want to look pretty,” wrote Morris, who declined to comment. Ziegler and Maxey both continue to be immersed in the contents of the hard drive. Ziegler says that most of his days are “spent figuring out how pimps are connected to one another,” adding that he has called “over 40 prostitutes” he believes Hunter has solicited either for sex or drugs. Hunter’s ex-wife claimed in her 2017 divorce filing that he spent “extravagantly” on drugs and prostitutes. In his memoir “Beautiful Things,” Hunter wrote that he would also browse online escort service ads in order to find drugs. While mainstream news outlets continue to tread carefully on the laptop — if they touch it at all — conservative media have feasted on it. And the stories likely aren’t going away. On Monday night’s show, TUCKER CARLSON gave a shout out to Maxey for his work and showed part of a lengthy interview the two did in April in Switzerland, to where Maxey said he fled out of fear of reprisal. Meridith McGraw contributed to this newsletter MESSAGE US — Are you DARCY PALDER, communications assistant to the Second Gentleman? We want to hear from you! And we’ll keep you anonymous if you’d like. Or if you think we missed something in today’s edition, let us know and we may include it tomorrow. Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. WHAT YOU WROTE US: Yesterday, we encouraged young “Biden superfans” to write in and, to our pleasant surprise, some of you did! A 26-year-old sent a pithy email that argued: “Biden could literally do nothing for the next two and a half years, letting the WH interns run the Cabinet and his dog declare war, etc., and the expected value would be far better for the country than having had a second Trump term, which was the only realistic alternative. We chose the only candidate who could win and he did.” He also sent us a Biden meme of what he called “Dark Brandon.”
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