The former computer repair shop owner who claimed he came into possession of Hunter Biden's laptop has sued Twitter for a second time alleging defamation.
John Paul Mac Isaac, who owned a Delaware computer repair shop until closing it last year, filed his lawsuit Thursday in the Southern District of Florida, per the Washington Examiner.
The suit claimed Mac Isaac was forced to close his business, in part, because Twitter labeled the contents of Biden's laptop as being hacked materials.
Mac Isaac denied the computer had been hacked, and said the characterization damaged his reputation.
He said Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, dropped off a damaged computer several years ago and would not return calls to pick it up after it had been repaired.
In an earlier lawsuit, Mac Isaac claimed defamation and sought $500 million in damages.
It had been filed in the same court and tossed out by a judge in late December over lack of jurisdiction.
This time, Mac Isaac attempted to bypass the jurisdiction issue by saying he filed the lawsuit in Florida, where Twitter has offices, and that injury was caused to the shop owner while doing business in the state.
In the suit, Mac Isaac said defamation damages totaled greater than $75,000, but added the exact award amount could be determined after a trial.
Mac Isaac also asked Twitter to "make a public retraction of all false statements and to issue a public apology.
"Plaintiff is not a hacker and the information obtained from the computer does not constitute hacked materials because Plaintiff lawfully gained access to the computer," the lawsuit said, "first with the permission of its owner, Biden, and then, after Biden failed to retrieve the recovered data despite Plaintiff’s reuses, in accordance with the Mac Shop’s abandoned property police.
"Plaintiff, as a direct result of Defendant Twitter’s actions and statements, is now widely considered a hacker."
In October, the New York Post said it had received a copy of a laptop hard drive belonging to Hunter Biden from Rudy Giuliani, then a lawyer for former President Donald Trump. Giuliani claimed he obtained the hard drive from Mac Isaac's repair shop.
A copy also was given to the FBI, according to Mac Isaac, after Hunter Biden left behind the computer after dropping it off for repairs in April 2019.
Biden has not denied it was his laptop.
The Post reported there were emails showing evidence of a possible meeting between Hunter Biden, his then-vice president father, and a Ukrainian energy firm executive. Joe Biden denied the meeting described took place.
The newspaper also detailed Hunter Biden's financial dealings with Chinese businessmen.
Twitter refused to let the Post place its articles on Twitter, claiming doing so would have violated a company rule against sharing "hacked" materials.
"Twitter knew or should have known that its statement that the New York Post’s story contained hacked materials would cause harm to the Plaintiff," Mac Isaac's lawyer argued.
"The statements allege that Plaintiff committed crimes including [but not limited to] computer hacking of the son of the Democratic Party nominee, now President, Joe Biden. The implication of an attempt to undermine American democracy and the 2020 presidential election is obvious."
Biden's campaign and many in the mainstream media dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop story as being part of a Russian disinformation operation.
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