00:02:21.080Well, I see that Hunter Biden is back in the news.
00:02:24.160It was only about two years ago that I surprisingly received a letter from Hunter Biden's lawyer instructing me to preserve all emails, communications, documents, or records regarding Hunter Biden's laptop, which was really quite simple to do because I had none.
00:02:42.820See, Hunter Biden invented this convoluted conspiracy that involved me, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, my personal attorney, Tyler Nixon, and Hunter's former psychiatrist, Keith Albo, in a bizarre claim that we had somehow fabricated his laptop.
00:03:03.900Let me be as clear as I possibly can be.
00:03:06.140Anything I know about Hunter Biden's laptop, I read in the pages of the New York Post in a series of stories by Miranda Devine.
00:03:14.840So the idea that I either possessed or knew about Hunter Biden's laptop prior to the publication of those stories is categorically false.
00:03:23.480Now, Hunter Biden is attempting yet another reinvention.
00:03:26.800Fresh from securing a 1.7 punitive damages judgment against my friend, former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, who lost that case by default after failing to appear for trial, a judgment that is going to be appealed, as I understand it.
00:03:44.700The former First Son has launched a coordinated publicity campaign, podcasts, frequent posts on X, a new substack, live appearances, and an upcoming documentary financed by his Hollywood sugar daddy, Kevin Morris, who financed most of the assault on me and Mayor Rudy Giuliani, among others.
00:04:07.920Now, as Miranda Devine has written in the New York Post, this is not an organic redemption story. It is a deliberate effort to rehabilitate Hunter Biden's image, monetize his notoriety, and recast the history of the laptop that exposed his conduct, financial dealings, and his sale of his proximity to his father's political power.
00:04:31.380Biden trades himself as a misunderstood addict whose every failure should be used as a product of his use of crack cocaine.
00:04:40.940Now, it's a deal and destructive, but it does not explain away years of foreign business arrangements,
00:04:54.220or repeated invocation of the Biden name while seeking money and influence.
00:04:58.420Addiction may explain chaos, but it does not erase evidence.
00:05:03.580The laptop documented Hunter's dealings in China, Ukraine, Russia, Romania, and elsewhere.
00:05:10.380It contained emails, messages, photographs, some of them lewd, financial records, and recordings that directly copied Joe Biden's repeated claims that he knew nothing about his son's businesses.
00:05:22.680References to the big guy proposed equity splits, meetings with former associates, and Hunter's own complaints about paying his finances, raising serious about how much of the media refused to examine this stuff honestly.
00:05:36.480Instead of addressing those questions, Hunter and his sugar daddy, Kevin Morris, have advanced an increasingly elaborate narrative involving Rudy Giuliani, Russian operatives, manipulated databases, fabricated recordings, Hunter's former psychiatrist, Keith Abloh, myself, and my personal attorney, Tyler Nixon.
00:05:58.560It's an attempt to recast those who expose the material as participants in a conspiracy against him.
00:06:05.160I've made it very clear, I say it yet again, I never possessed nor saw the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop until I read about it in the New York Post.
00:06:13.900His claim that I was somehow involved with the exposure of his laptop are the delusions of a crackhead.
00:06:20.120Origins of the laptop is not a mystery.
00:06:22.400A man identifying himself as Hunter Biden brought three damaged MacBook Pro computers to John Paul McIsaac's repair shop in Wilmington, Delaware, in April of 2019.
00:06:34.760Hunter Biden's signature appears on the repair authorization.
00:06:38.260He never paid the bill, and he also never came to retrieve his devices.
00:06:41.920McIsaac, seeing the contents of the devices, provided the original computer to the FBI, which seized it under federal subpoena in 2019.
00:06:52.400Federal prosecutors later introduced material from the laptop during Hunter Biden's gun trial.
00:06:58.980An FBI agent testified the device was authenticated through a serial number
00:07:03.560and that investigators found no evidence or tampering or file insertion.
00:07:10.060The laptop was not just a media story, it became actual correspondence.
00:07:14.340Independent analysis also verified large portions of the data.
00:07:18.080Some emails were confirmed through cryptographic signatures, others through receipts and contemporaneous records.
00:07:25.340Hunter has gradually retreated from his blanket denials, acknowledging that much of the material is genuine, while still suggesting that unspecified portions may have been altered.
00:07:40.520Deny everything until denials become impossible, then concede selectively while casting doubt on the remainder.
00:07:47.080When the New York Post first reported the laptop in October 2020, the Biden campaign did not disprove the contents.
00:07:54.080Instead, 51 former intelligence officers issued a letter claiming the story had the, quote,
00:08:00.520classic earmarks of Russian disinformation, despite offering no evidence whatsoever that that was true.
00:08:06.980That claim provided justification for social media companies and major news outlets to suppress it during the closing weeks of the 2020 presidential campaign.
00:08:18.460Twitter actually blocked the New York Post's reporting.
00:08:21.900Facebook limited the distribution of its reporting.
00:08:25.320Major news organizations treated authenticated material as suspect while amplifying the unproven Russian narrative.
00:08:31.880Only after the election did many acknowledge the authenticity of the material that they had previously dismissed.
00:08:39.320One poll actually showed that 17% of voters say they would have voted differently if they had known that Hunter Biden's laptop was real.
00:08:47.880Hunter now argues the laptop proves only drug use and addiction.
00:08:53.760The Dice detailed record of income, spending, foreign relationships, tax issues, firearms purchases, and business negotiations.
00:09:05.180It helped establish conduct that later resulted in multiple fessions.
00:09:09.620In June of 2024, a federal jury convicted Hunter Biden of three felonies related to the purchase and possession of a Colt revolver.
00:09:18.060The jury found he lied on federal forms about drug use, made false statements required for firearms purchase records, and possessed a firearm while unlawfully using controlled substances.
00:09:33.040These were not political accusations. These are criminal convictions reached unanimously by a jury.
00:09:37.740Three months later, Hunter Biden pled guilty to three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanors.
00:09:44.240Federal prosecutors alleged he failed to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes, evaded assessments, and filed forced returns over a four-year period while spending heavily on drugs, escorts, luxury travel, cars, clothing, five-star hotel resorts, and other personal expenses.
00:10:04.880He received millions of dollars from foreign business arrangements while ignoring tax obligations.
00:10:10.140In fact, the IRS let $15 million of unreported income lapse so they could not charge him.
00:10:17.660In my case, by the way, I have paid all of my past due taxes with interest and penalty to the penny.
00:10:24.320And I got no break whatsoever from the IRS.
00:10:27.460So claims you see online that Hunter Biden was prosecuted and his wife were allowed to skip out on past due taxes, that's simply false.
00:10:38.600And addiction may explain some of his behavior, but it does not exclude deliberate tax violations or false filings.
00:10:44.980The laptop was central to this record. It contained financial data and communications from the same period covered by the tax case, helping establish timelines and corroborate evidence later used in a federal court.
00:10:57.920Public also has legitimate questions about why foreign companies and connected figures paid large sums to Hunter Biden.
00:11:04.660He had no background in Ukrainian energy policy when he joined the board of Burisma. He lacked the experience typically required for sex compensation.
00:11:14.980His primary asset was his last name, Biden.
00:11:18.380Joe Biden was vice president of the United States, and Hunter monetized proximity to him.
00:11:23.480Burisma Hunter, while its owner, faced scrutiny in Ukraine,
00:11:26.860and while U.S. policy towards that country was under the vice president's direct influence.
00:11:32.640Hunter has never provided a convincing explanation of why his role was necessary
00:11:36.580beyond that of access and for purposes of bribery.
00:11:43.020Hunter traveled with his father to Beijing aboard Air Force Two in 2013, introduced him to a Chinese business associate.
00:11:51.680His firm later secured a stake in a Chinese investment entity.
00:11:55.820He also purchased part of a Chinese energy company, a company linked directly to the Chinese Communist Party.
00:12:02.940One email referenced dividing equity in a Chinese including, quote, 10 held by H for the big guy, close quote.
00:12:12.600Business partner Tony Bobulinski has identified the big guy as Joe Biden.
00:12:18.400Whether or not the deal was completed, it was, the language reflects how he discussed the vice president's role.
00:12:24.600In fact, Hunter Biden has not dispersed his or away with his interest in that Chinese energy company.
00:12:32.600He's merely transferred to one of his cronies.
00:12:35.840Hunter also sent a message to a Chinese associate saying he was with his father and demanding payment.
00:12:42.700Shortly afterwards, millions of dollars moved into accounts tied to Hunter Biden's network.
00:12:48.400He now claims this reference to his father was meaningless.
00:12:51.240Well, that explanation strains credibility.
00:12:54.480Congressional investigators traced more than $24 million from foreign sources to the Biden family members and associates.
00:13:01.840The money moved through multiple entities before reaching individuals connected to the Biden family.
00:13:08.200While not every one of those trends were criminal, the structure warranted serious scrutiny.
00:13:12.620Banks filed more than 150 Suspicious Activity Reports, or SARS, involving Hunter Biden and the related accounts.
00:13:20.620These reports are not proof of wrongdoing, but they are indicators that financial activity may require investigation.
00:13:26.600A politically connected family return transfers should not be shielded from scrutiny.
00:13:31.840Joe Biden repeatedly denied discussing business with his son during the 2020 campaign.
00:13:37.480That claim was undermined by testimony and records showing calls, meetings, and shared appearances with foreign associates.
00:13:45.980Devin Archer, another one of Hunter Biden's partners, testified that Joe Biden was placed on the speakerphone during various business meetings.
00:13:54.560Hunter arranged dinners where his father met his foreign partners.
00:13:58.280Joe Biden's president himself was not the product of being sold.
00:14:01.900Access, not policy, was the commodity here.
00:14:05.040The defense offered by the Bidens relied on a narrow definition of corruption,
00:14:09.300that no specific policy change directly exchanged for payment.
00:14:13.800Influence operations rarely work that way, of course.
00:14:16.140They depend on access, expectation, and implied leverage rather than explicit contracts.
00:14:22.940Hunter and his uncle Jim Biden were part of a broader financial network.
00:14:27.180Money moves through associates and entities before reaching family members.
00:14:31.940Joe Biden received payments labeled as loan repayments from his brother after business-related transactions.
00:14:39.000These arrangements demand scrutiny rather than dismissal.
00:14:42.560A House impeachment inquiry concluded that Joe Biden engaged in conduct involving influence petting that benefited his family.
00:14:49.840While not a criminal conviction, the findings were based on records, testimony, financial data.
00:14:54.820If you want to get a copy of Hunter Biden's actual laptop, you can go to marcopolo.org.
00:23:39.920Raskin has also raised alarms about whether it's news and the possibility that changes there
00:23:45.860and that CNN could move away from its long-standing far-left editorial posture under the new ownership.
00:23:52.620As I've said many times, I don't get my news from CNN for the same reason I don't drink out of the toilet.
00:23:59.400But in other words, Raskin wants to protect the stronghold of liberal propaganda that attacks his enemies and attempted to abuse his power to stop a new owner who may take it in a new direction.
00:24:13.860Democrats spent years defending supposedly independent legacy media outlets, while those same institutions routinely spouted leftist propaganda, amplified anti-Trump narratives, including the Russian collusion hoax, divided the country needlessly, and treated any viewpoint other than their evasion.
00:24:32.780Now that a new only could bring greater ideological balance or simply demand more straight down-the-middle journalism,
00:24:41.260Democratic politicians like Raskin are suddenly involving and invoking government power in congressional scrutiny.
00:24:48.720Ellison has publicly said he doesn't want newsrooms bending to his political views
00:24:53.120and that organizations like CNN and CBS should serve audiences across the political spectrum.
00:24:59.400Yet Democrats appear deeply concerned about what happens in existing culture changes.
00:25:05.640If politicians are comfortable with a media organization when it consistently tilts in their ideological direction,
00:25:11.440but threaten investigations when ownership might challenge that tilt, this is not a good-faith debate about media independence.
00:25:19.400These are liberal Democrat officials abusing their authority to protect their political machine.
00:25:25.040CNN does not need government protection for diversity.
00:25:27.760It needs credibility or will eventually go bankrupt. Its audiences are already down sharply. Ellison is coming in to save CNN like he's saving CBS News, but Democrats would rather CNN go away completely than present a fair and balanced perspective.
00:25:44.900Meanwhile, Vice President J.D. Vance is in the Justice Department to investigate whether hospitals and doctors committed fraud while providing gender transition treatments to minors.
00:25:58.160The move follows a new Department of Health and Human Services report
00:26:01.760alleging that some providers may have used inaccurate medical billing codes or diagnoses
00:26:07.880to secure insurance reimbursements for hormones, puberty blockers, and surgeries
00:26:13.180that otherwise might not have been covered or paid for by the taxpayers.
00:26:17.180HHS says that evidence could provide and raise potential civil or criminal liability,
00:26:23.320although the allegations have not yet been adjudicated.
00:26:27.140Vance referred the findings to Attorney General Todd Blanche,
00:26:30.720asking the Department of Justice to define whether providers violated federal fraud, conspiracy,
00:26:37.100food and drug, or false claim act statutes.
00:26:40.660The vice president argued that intentional miscoding designed to obtain Medicaid
00:26:45.680or private insurance payments should carry serious consequences.
00:26:50.660This is exactly the kind of accountability he's been missing from the pediatric gender medicine debate
00:26:56.260from the highest levels of our government.
00:26:58.880Parents deserve to know what doctors are putting children's welfare
00:27:03.580ahead of leftist woke ideology, institutional pressure, or financial incentives.
00:27:09.840Taxpayers deserve assurance that Medicaid dollars are not being obtained
00:27:13.820through misleading diagnoses or fraudulent billing practices.
00:27:18.740The Trump administration has made it clear that it intends to reverse
00:27:21.520the federal government's previous promotion of medical gender transition
00:27:25.900for minors. The new HHS report notes that political, ideological, and financial pressures
00:27:32.720help drive the rapid expansion of these treatments, which is, if anything, a drastic
00:27:38.520understatement. If these hospitals not only manipulated billing rules while performing
00:27:43.800irreversible procedures on children, well, taxpayers have a right to demand accountability.
00:27:49.840Medicine should be about healing children, not maiming for the life in the name of some cult.
00:27:57.700As I said yesterday, White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt will leave her spot at the end of August,
00:28:04.120closing a remarkable chapter in which she became one of President Trump's most effective defenders
00:28:11.180against an overwhelmingly hostile press corps dedicated to tearing down the administration at every turn.
00:28:18.420Now, in my 50-year career in American politics, I've known five presidential press secretaries.
00:28:24.860Some were good, a few were great, but Caroline Leavitt may be the greatest.
00:28:30.180President Trump himself announced Wednesday that Leavitt is leaving,
00:28:33.300stepping away to spend more time with her two young children after recently returning from maternity leave.
00:28:39.260Leavitt will remain one of Trump's outside advisors and an influential Republican voice heading into the midterm elections.
00:28:47.540President Trump himself praised her as one of the best press secretaries in White House history,
00:29:38.800It made a difference and helped President Trump achieve his successes.
00:29:42.800For decades, Republican officials too often treated hostile media coverage as something they simply had to endure.
00:29:49.540Caroline Leavitt showed America that the press can and should be challenged when its reporting or assumptions are false or contemptible.
00:29:58.480Leavitt ultimately concluded she could not give both the demanding role of a press secretary and her young family the attention that both deserved.
00:30:07.500At just 28 years old, this clearly is not the end of her political story.
00:30:12.080In fact, in my opinion, it is only the beginning.
00:30:15.760Eating well shouldn't be complicated, but somehow it turns into recipes, prep, cleanup, and half your Sunday gone.
00:32:33.280Go to factormeals.ca and use code RESET.
00:32:36.380That's up to $90 off and free shipping, but only with the code RESET at factormeals.ca.
00:32:43.020Factor, Canada's number one meal delivery service.
00:32:45.980Meanwhile, a former top official at the Southern Poverty Law Center has been arrested as federal prosecutors widen a fraud and money laundering case that is finally cracking down against a sinister far-left scam organization.
00:33:00.700One Heidi Bayrich, who once headed the Southern Poverty Law Center's intelligence project, faces charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to make false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to conceal money laundering.
00:33:18.560Prosecutors allege that the Southern Poverty Law Center
00:33:21.480secretly funneled donor money through fictitious entities
00:33:25.440to paid informants invaded into extremist groups,
00:33:29.340including the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation, and the National Alliance.
00:33:34.560Reminds me of what one veteran FBI agent once told me.
00:33:38.420He said if you went to a Ku Klux Klan member and there were 10 people there,
00:33:42.320nine of them would be federal informants.
00:33:44.740According to the indictment, some informants were not merely observing extremists,
00:33:48.520but were allegedly helping promote or organize racist activity
00:33:52.720while receiving the money from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
00:33:56.460So in other words, the center was creating the problem
00:33:59.160that they could then go out and fundraise off of.
00:34:01.820They were essentially fomenting the threat that fear-mongered about
00:34:06.900in order to bleed money out of their gullible, small-dollar leftist flock.
00:34:12.460Prosecutors say more than $3 million in donated funds went to at least eight informants between 2014 and 2023.
00:34:21.680Bayrich has also been accused of sharing a bank account with one informant
00:34:25.460who allegedly received Southern Poverty Law Center funds while infiltrating a neo-Nazi organization.
00:34:32.580Southern Poverty Law Center has pleaded not guilty and argues the government is mischaracterizing legitimate intelligence-gathering work.
00:34:39.800But frankly, that rationale is not going to fly with the Trump administration.
00:34:44.440Finally, there's a glaring spotlight on an organization who spent years judging others and fomenting extremism while engaged in treacherous double dealing.
00:34:55.200Remember how they profiled Charlie Kirk in Turning Point USA as a hate group in the lead up to assassination?
00:35:01.780Now they're finally reaping what they have sown.
00:35:05.240Without that ICE is prepared to give officers a new tool designed to stop violent suspects without immediately resorting to deadly force, this is good news.
00:35:14.080According to a Department of Homeland Security, ICE plans to spend up to $20 million on specialized gloves capable of delivering electric shock through direct skin contact.
00:35:24.700These devices, called the CTG-5 glove, also described as conductive distraction and de-escalation tools,
00:35:32.680are expected to be delivered by March of 2027.
00:35:36.900The gloves are intended for situations where it becomes violent and poses a threat to officers of the public.
00:35:42.880They're not going to be used in defiance, punishment, or torture,
00:35:46.500and officers have yet to be trained and certified before they can be deployed.
00:35:51.160The manufacturer also places restrictions on their use against vulnerable populations.
00:35:56.380Predictably, of course, the far-left ACLU is already warning about abuse.
00:36:01.460The critics would be up in arms about any decision that protects ICE officers
00:36:04.940and gave them better ability to deport illegal immigrants.
00:36:09.200But the left-wing critics ought to be happy.
00:36:11.420For years, activists have demanded that law enforcement find alternatives to lethal force.
00:36:18.240Here's ICE doing exactly that, as they use technology to give agents another option between physical restraint and using a firearm.
00:36:26.180No tool, of course, eliminates risk, and strict training remains essential.
00:36:30.700But when federal officers confront violent resistance, they need practical ways to protect themselves, the public, and even the suspect.
00:36:38.700If these gloves can safely end a dangerous confrontation, a bullet being fired, well then that's not an escalation.
00:36:45.700It is precisely the kind of de-escalation technology law enforcement critics claim
00:36:50.760they want. We should applaud ICE as they use these tools to enforce the law and to make the
00:36:56.080country safer. Meanwhile, President Trump is taking America's public health policy back from
00:37:01.740the globalist control, this time by reshaping childhood vaccination recommendations despite
00:37:06.940the World Health Organization's objections. President Trump signed an order directing
00:37:11.940much-needed changes to the childhood vaccination schedule, as urged by Secretary of Human Health
00:37:17.300and Human Services, Senator Kennedy, including spacing out the measles, mumps, and rubella
00:37:22.140vaccinations rather than relying exclusively on a combined MMR shot. His administrations made the
00:37:29.100case that the changes are necessary to give parents more flexibility while aligning U.S.
00:37:33.940recommendations with scientific evidence and practices in other developed nations.
00:37:39.320Predictably, the World Health Organization, which the United States is no longer a member,
00:37:44.260lashed out at the Trump administration defending its recommendation to pump as many as 79 big pharma shots into the bodies of children all at one time.
00:37:54.780This response from the World Health Organization is music to the ears of the MAGA faithful.
00:37:59.940The COVID-19 pandemic badly damaged public confidence in global health authorities, which is led by the World Health Organization.
00:38:09.720Guided repeatedly, legitimate inquiry was purposely stifled, and fear-mongering propaganda warped the public psyche in ways we're only today beginning to comprehend.
00:38:19.700Whatever one's view of vaccinations may be, and I'm for health freedom, you should have as many vaccinations as you choose, but you shouldn't be mandated to take any.
00:38:28.000Americans should never outsource critical health policy decisions to an unaccountable and discredited international bureaucracy.
00:38:35.940President Trump's orders indicate that public health will now answer to America's families, American doctors, and American institutions,
00:38:43.340not global organizations obsessed with enforced compliance.
00:38:47.780The World Health Organization can feel free to offer advice, but will likely fall on deaf ears of the Trump administration, rightfully so.
00:38:57.620If that offends enemies of the United States, so be it.
00:39:00.480But going from 79 required vaccinations to a mere 11, those that I support, seems to be common sense.
00:39:09.440I'm Roger Stone. You're listening to The Stone Zone.
00:39:11.760Don't go away because we'll be right back.0.90
00:39:14.380Harvard University has been exposed for their ties to the Chinese Communist Party, and you're going to want to hear all about it.
00:39:21.220Once again, you're joining me in the Stone Zone right here on the Red Apple Audio Networks, where we talk news, history, politics, style, and well, once in a while, food. Don't go away. We'll be right back.0.89
00:39:35.760The Stone Zone. Entertaining and informative.
00:42:34.040The government should not force religious institutions to surrender their beliefs as the price of participating in a generally available public benefit.
00:42:44.980The court will also hear a major separation of powers case involving the Labor Department.
00:42:50.620A New Jersey farm was fined more than a half million dollars through an in-house agency tribunal over alleged violations of the H-2A temporary farmer worker program.
00:43:01.860A federal appeals court ruled that process was unconstitutional.
00:43:06.560That case could build on recent Supreme Court decisions limiting the ability of unelected federal agencies to act as an investigator, prosecutor, and judge all at once.
00:43:17.500A third case the court will consider whether federal prisoners can sue the U.S. government employees over allegedly inadequate medical treatment.
00:43:25.260Taken together, these cases go to the heart of our constitutional government.
00:43:29.400religious freedom, individual rights, and limits on administrative power.
00:43:34.320For years, conservatives have warned that bureaucracies cannot be allowed to write the rules,
00:43:39.140enforcement, and punish Americans with minimal judicial accountability.
00:43:43.740This November, the Supreme Court has another opportunity to restore those constitutional
00:43:48.520boundaries of the country in ways that will help to save the republic for generations to come.
00:43:54.120Thank you for joining us today in the Stone Zone.
00:43:56.140I'm Roger Stone. We're here five days a week where we talk history, politics, news, style, and from time to time, food.
00:44:06.860Until tomorrow, God bless you and Godspeed.