[Ancapistani]

It’s been hard to keep up with the (largely crazy, frankly) events and speculation here, but a few things stick out to me that make me lean toward believing the story as told:

* Hunter Biden’s attorney, George Mesires, has allegedly gotten a subpoena issued for the return of Hunter’s laptops. In doing so his ownership is implicitly verified. Caveat: I wasn’t able to find a copy of this subpoena, though I’m fairly sure I read it a day or so ago.

* The Biden campaign has not denied _any_ of this.

* The FBI has not commented. If there were no active investigation they would typically say so. If there were an active investigation, they are bound not to comment on it.

[iaw]

Thank you, this is the most compelling case I've seen here for the emails being real.

I don't know that I reach the same conclusions as you though. The lack of denials is disconcerting and does imply some elements of truth in the story.

For the subpoena for Hunter's laptop I could see a lawyer doing that if there was no laptop to force someone either into contempt of court, perjury, or acknowledging the laptop doesn't exist. It could be a tactic to undermine the story rather than supporting evidence is what I'm saying (but on the surface is looking bad).

As for the FBI [0] I think things are a little more complicated than taking a lack of an answer for confirmation.

[0] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/fbi-probing-whether-purpor...

[Ancapistani]

To be clear, I'm not 100% convinced that any of it is true. I think it is likely that the emails are real and very likely that the photos are.

As for the FBI - it's at best circumstantial evidence. If they had stated there was no open case I would have considered it to be strong evidence that it's all disinformation. The two possible outcomes from that facet are "disprove"/"not disprove".

[iaw]

I've begun to wonder if it isn't somewhere in the middle.

Perhaps the emails, texts, and photos are real but from a Russian hack and are being selectively released in an effort to paint Hunter Biden in the worst possible light hoping it reflects poorly on his father.

[Ancapistani]

That seems plausible to me.

At the end of the day I don't think the source matters in terms of how I see the Bidens, only the authenticity of the information itself. If the later comes out that the stated source was a lie, then that will change how I see everyone involved on that side. If both the information and source are false, then I would strongly support severe criminal charges for those involved.