Hunter Biden’s Uber Connection and the K Street Collision

On December 3, 2018, at least per emails in the MarcoPolo set at BidenLaptopEmails dot com, Hunter Biden accessed his Uber account by logging in using his phone, but logging in through what appears to be a Comcast connection in Newburyport, MA, where he was getting treatment from Dr. Keith Ablow.

I found this request as part of my effort to figure out which iCloud accounts were run by which devices during the period — roughly January 14 to February 15, 2019 — when his digital life was being taken over and packaged up as part of a huge political hit job to be used against his father the following year.

It was surprisingly common for Hunter Biden to access Uber by logging in using a browser from a Mac computer, not the phone app. I’m not an Uber user, but isn’t the point that the service relies on tracking you via your phone and its location data?

But when Hunter Biden logged into Uber using his phone, the normal way, he appears to have used his cell service. Again, the normal way.

But on December 3, 2018, Hunter Biden logged into Uber using some Comcast network — not his cell service — in Newburyport MA, in the town but not the exact location where Dr. Ablow’s practice was; this also appears to be a different location from where Hunter would stay in January, as well.

As I laid out in this post, there were several instances during the period where Hunter Biden appears to have been getting his digital life hacked where his communications didn’t connect, starting with an exchange in January 2019 that Keith Ablow facilitated, in Hunter’s first known email to the shrink. It was an exchange asking two doctors for assistance. Hunter asked at one point, “Guys are you getting my emails?,” and contrary to Ablow’s assurances, it appears they were not. If Hunter wasn’t accessing his cell service in this period, that might help to explain why he was sending messages that their recipients weren’t getting.

But this Comcast log-in to Uber is notable for several other reasons.

Around February 13, 2018, Hunter had added his rhbdc iCloud account — the account believed to be taken over a year later — to his Uber account; prior to that his account was exclusively registered to his rhb iCloud account — the account that would be exposed via an encrypted phone backup available through iTunes. For most of 2018, Hunter Biden’s Uber account was common to both of those iCloud accounts. Both emails would get a notice whenever he used the service.

On December 1, 2018, the password was changed, with notice to just the rhb account. There were a bunch of rides on December 3, paid by Venmo (Hunter’s Venmo had definitely been compromised earlier in 2018, but that’s for another post), the Uber receipts for which don’t appear to be in the MarcoPolo stash of emails. On December 3, the rhbdc account password was changed. There was one ride on the rhbdc Uber on December 3 in Newburyport, the same location where the password had been changed.

But from December 3, 2018 through at least February 8, at least per the emails that ended up in the MarcoPolo set, just his rhbdc iCloud account was getting notices from Uber. The first trip showing that Uber had been set back to the way it had been was on February 19, 2019. Then, in the very last days of this email set, following new devices being added to Hunter’s Uber account, three or even four receipts show up.

Some of the rides during this period are pretty interesting, too — such as a 50-minute, 15-mile drive (with no wait time) to go .1 mile around the corner on a key day of the account takeover.

And while it doesn’t show up in the emails, per Gus Dimitrelos — the forensics guy who did a long report for Washington Examiner — the iPhone XS that would be stored to iTunes (registered to the rhb iCloud) had an Uber account showing a modified date on November 22, 2018, a created date of January 22, 2019 — right in the thick of events, and an accessed date of February 3, 2019. I don’t believe those Uber events show up in the MarcoPolo set, even though the set includes emails from both the rhb and rhbdc iCloud accounts and so should reflect changes made on the rhb Uber account.

Among other things, by splitting these two Uber accounts, you might show “Hunter Biden” in two different places at one time. Imagine, for example, if the “other intelligence” the IRS used to justify obtaining the laptop from Mac Isaac was just one of two Uber accounts showing him to be in Delaware?

The possibility that a digital or even physical Hunter Biden was in two places at once in this period brings me to a story about Lyft.

In addition to Hunter’s failed attempt to email two doctors in early January 2019, this post describes a few other communication disconnects in this key period.

  • He failed to respond to Ablow’s practice manager when she tried to respond to his droidhunter88 account on January 15
  • On January 18, Ablow entirely rewrote a statement for Vanity Fair in such a way that Hunter’s attorney George Mesires — who appears to have passed it onto the magazine — would not have realized it

Metaphorically, at least, Hunter Biden was not publicly speaking for himself in this period.

But there’s one more potential communication disconnect from this period.

On January 24, 2019, an Ablow associate, Greg, had a meeting with Hunter Biden at which (per an email the associate wrote memorializing the meeting), it was decided that Greg would be Hunter’s “Chief of Staff.”

The email memorialization had a list of things Greg was going to do, including communication with two of Hunter’s kids and his lawyer.

And his father’s assistant.

Among the things on the list — right next to sky diving and flying lessons ASAP — was a note to talk to Katie Dodge: “ski’s and gear – need phone number and address to ship to.”

Katie Dodge was Hunter Biden’s long-time personal assistant, who already was doing the administrative things on this list, though not the flying lessons and sky diving. Dodge was doing those administrative things for income less than half of what Greg proposed he should be paid, to do what Dodge was already doing (again, less the flying lessons and sky diving).

On January 29, 2019, five days after this meeting at which Greg made himself Chief of Staff in charge of contacting Dodge about skis and boots — per SMS texts published by Dimitrelos — Dodge wrote Hunter and asked him about paying for his storage facility. At least per the published SMS texts, this was the first she had spoken to Hunter via SMS text since October 2018.

After an exchange about the storage facility, Hunter asked whether she could get his skis and boots and send them to him, “here,” by context, in MA.

Can you get my ski bag- and ski boots – from storage. Fed-ex can pick them up and deliver here or there’s another company that does that and I can get them if someone puts skis and boots where they can pick up.

She seemed surprised by the request, and asked if they had previously been at K Street. She agreed to go get the skis — but noted that would require paying the overdue storage bill — and asked where she should be overnighting them.

Also what resort do they need to go to? What are the dates?

Hunter had no idea where he’s going to be using these skis that he asked her to overnight to MA.

I have neither.

She appears to have sent them, because on February 8, 2019, she asked,

Did you receive your skis?

This SMS conversation — focused largely on paying bills — went on for almost two more weeks. Then, on February 20 (the day after Hunter’s Uber account was restored to the way it had been before December 3), in response to a question about a particular financial change he said he wanted to make, which they had already discussed on February 15, Dodge asked if he had made the call to make that happen.

He seems to have missed that instruction entirely — because of “limited access to communications on all forms.”

No didn’t ! I’ve got limited access to communications on all forms

Then — in what seems like a muddled voice-to-text transmission — he asked her about the skis that she appears to have retrieved from storage by February 8, as if he doesn’t know that.

Ivan you get the skis done I’ll send you a dress tomorrow

She already sent the skis somewhere, but he was offering to send her the address in MA “tomorrow,” so on February 21.

I’m interested in the skis and Dodge’s efforts to retrieve them from storage in the DC area and her follow-up about them on February 8 because one of the things in unallocated space that someone tried to delete — again, per Dimitrelos’s reports — were the February 7, 2019 texts and collision report from a Lyft driver who apologized to “Mr. Biden” for the collision they had had the previous evening, February 6, at roughly this ridiculous part of K Street in Washington DC.

Hunter Biden’s long-time assistant wrote him on February 8, asking if he got the skis she made significant efforts to send him from the DC area to MA a week earlier, with absolutely no awareness that Hunter — or someone presenting as Hunter Biden — was on K Street, side-swiping or getting side-swiped by a Lyft driver.

Now, certainly, it was possible that Hunter Biden drove from MA to DC to be present for a car accident on February 6, 2019. Maybe the trip — by whomever — served to pick up those skis.

But neither he nor his personal assistant seems to have had any clue that that had happened.

Update: After several tries, I’ve taken out errors regarding when the Uber for the XS was set up. Thanks to zscoreUSA for the persistence.

Related posts

The Laptop Everyone Knows as Hunter Biden’s Appears to Have Been Deleted Starting February 15, 2019: This post describes a number of the events that occurred in the key time period, and has a timeline that will have to suffice until I tidy up an updated one.

Gary Shapley and Hunter Biden’s Colleague Named “Z”: One thing that happened in the key period in 2019 is that Hunter Biden’s contacts were restored — which creates the possibility that the publicly released contacts reflect alterations.

Hunter Biden’s Matryoshka Cell Phone: How the IRS and Frothers Got Hunter’s Encrypted iPhone Content: The “laptop” as we know it appears to be the entire iCloud of one Hunter Biden account and a phone containing another iCloud account saved — during the period of compromise — to his iTunes account.

Keith Ablow’s Unallocated Space in Hunter Biden’s Memory: When Hunter Biden went to Newburyport, MA to get Ketamine treatment from Fox News personality Keith Ablow in early 2019, he had a series of communications failures that prevented him from speaking to others directly.

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119 replies
  1. klynn says:

    My goodness EW! This piece is as groundbreaking as your waterboarding discovery!

    “Hunter Biden’s long-time assistant wrote him on February 8, asking if he got the skis she made significant efforts to send him from the DC area to MA a week earlier, with absolutely no awareness that Hunter — or someone presenting as Hunter Biden — was on K Street, side-swiping or getting side-swiped by a Lyft driver.

    Now, certainly, it was possible that Hunter Biden drove from MA to DC to be present for a car accident on February 6, 2019.

    But neither he nor his personal assistant seems to have had any clue that that had happened.”

    Hopefully Hunter’s lawyer is catching these details.

    Seriously amazing close reading and piecing of evidence! Thank you!

  2. Fancy Chicken says:

    Every time I read one of your amazing sleuthing Hunter Biden’s Laptop posts, I hope that someone from his legal team has discovered what you’re doing. As much as it is helping us understand the incredible degree of fuckery that poor guy was subjected to hoping to smear his dad, it could be helping him.

    Minds like yours are rare to come by and I don’t even know if a top notch lawyer like Abbe Lowell has a mind like yours on his staff allotted to this kind of work. Do you think they have contracted a forensic IT team to do this kind of work? It seems rather foundational to any meaningful defense he may need to mount in the future and to slap back unhinged GOP crank committee hearings that are smearing him and POTUS.

    Four gold stars again for you on another wicked smart post-cheers!

    • Fancy Chicken says:

      Rayne or other mods,

      Why am I still on moderation? Do I have to make a certain amount of posts before I’m off the leash or am I inadvertently using trolly keywords that keep triggering moderation?

      Thanks,

      Chicken

        • bmaz says:

          Hmmm, maybe you can sympathize that this is a site under constant attack, and understand there are only three people, at any given moment none, who stand to protect it. You pay nothing. So, please, STFU.

        • NkcEd2023 says:

          I had previously wondered about this site’s threat assessment level by “the other side”. How can a common reader help?

        • Desidero says:

          Fine, ban me. Anything I want to say can say on Twitter. Only been following Marcy since NextHurrah and FireDogLake days.

      • Rayne says:

        You’re not on moderation. You’re most likely using words which trigger moderation.

        I will not discuss the triggers, but I want you to think very carefully about the kinds of subjects and inherent keywords which are likely to both attract and launch trolling and bot swarms. For the security of the site, its overall accessibility, and your fellow community members, please keep in mind that moderation doesn’t always mean YOU personally are on a watch list here.

        This also includes comments with active links since many forms of phishing attacks use them to launch their payload — again, not a judgment against the user, but a safety measure.

        This is not to say that there aren’t users on the auto-moderation list as a result of past behavior. Again, you’re not on that list.

        Thanks for your patience.

        • Fancy Chicken says:

          Rayne,

          Thank you for elucidating what you are able to while maintaining security. As the community guidelines are loose but based on simply being decent I just wanted some understanding.

          I appreciate you seeing my question was earnest and that I wasn’t questioning ya’ll but my own actions so I can be a better contributor.

          Thanks,

          Chicken

    • emptywheel says:

      A lawyer in CA named Kevin Morris apparently has a team addressing these things; Denver Riggelman has said recently he has been working with them. They may be focused differently — on proving that stuff on the laptop is fraudulent, but that obviously involves proving that he was not operating the devices in question.

      I have reached out to the rest of his legal team but gotten no response. That’s not actually unusual for me. Lawyers sometimes like to make it clear they’re not feeding me stuff.

      • NkcEd2023 says:

        Trying to get to the core of the “HB laptop” story: whom and for what purpose was the iCloud/iTunes hack executed?

  3. David Brooks says:

    Admittedly I haven’t checked the logs online, but there is nothing odd about accessing Uber through Comcast on a phone. If the logs specifically identify a Mac, then ignore what follows, but if not: my (droid) phone preferentially uses WiFi to connect with apps, if it happens to be connected to a router at the time. If Hunter were often in Ablow’s office, in Plum Island IIRC, his phone would have automatically connected there but, due to a shortcoming in broadband geolocating, would have IP located at the nearest Comcast node, presumably in the adjacent town of Newburyport. It would still use its GPS circuit for precise location.

    Newburyport, btw, is a lovely town on the Merrimack estuary and Plum Island beach nearby, south of the village itself, is part of a national wildlife refuge.

      • David Brooks says:

        I can’t answer that specifically for an iPhone, but my Android does not alert each time I re-connect. Still, whether he is using a phone or actually is using a Mac and entering his address manually, WiFi does explain the Newburyport/Plum Island ambiguity.

        • emptywheel says:

          Not if Uber doesn’t alert you every time you access Uber using the same phone via a different WIFI point.

          It recognized something as different — either the Comcast address or the phone itself.

        • Shadowalker says:

          A cellular phone could also be geolocated by triangulation of the cell towers surrounding it. This would give more granularity in exact location since the technology forces a more even coverage for access points versus an ISP.

        • David Brooks says:

          To drill this one down even more (and, again, sorry I don’t know where to look): is the IP address identified as four decimal numbers separated by dots (IPv4), or eight groups of hexadecimal digits separated by colons (IPv6)? If the former, then usually Ablow’s IP address would not change. If the latter, you would expect the last four segments to change randomly, in an attempt at providing privacy protection that fools nobody. But I would expect the Uber app to know that.

        • emptywheel says:

          These are IPv4. All of them, it seems.

          Hunter Biden used AT&T service, and many of his Uber accesses are that.

          The others are generally Safari or occasionally Chrome access, on occasion with computer system not IDed.

          I’d have to go back and double check my work, but there are few, if any, like this — a phone accessing via a set WIFI access.

        • David Brooks says:

          Ah… apologies for diving so far down a rabbit hole but I thought I should at least address that Plum Island/Newburyport confusion.

        • emptywheel says:

          Totally fair. When I started this I thought the IP address was ON Plum Island, where he seems to have stayed at some point.

        • David Brooks says:

          Thanks for the acknowledgment. I’ve probably added to the confusion, though. According to Google, Ablow’s office is on Center Street, Newburyport, so I really was down the wrong rabbit hole. Plum Island village, a 4 mile drive, is a reasonable place for a residence or vacation let; I just remember it coming up earlier in his context. I still think it would geolocate to Newburyport via broadband. But I hope the IP diversion helped either explain or eliminate some innocent possibilities.

        • emptywheel says:

          I think one source of confusion is that Ablow had a cottage in town that was named Plum Island. Or I think that’s right.

          I really really appreciate the questions. I quite far down this rabbit hole and I really need people to check my work.

        • Sue 'em Queequeg says:

          Plum Island is a tiny beach community. Not a town in itself but part of the (very small) city of Newburyport.

      • emptywheel says:

        Adding, in retrospect, I think the more likely thing that happened is SOMEONE else logged into his account, possibly using the XS that would one day be pitched as his phone.

        But among his log-ins, that one was pretty notable.

      • jdmckay8 says:

        Does it always alert you as a new device connection?

        Not iPhone user, but my wife is. I’ve plowed through setting on her phone(s) a few times when she’s had problems. I’m sure I’ve seen settings in there to disable alerts.

        • jdmckay8 says:

          I’ve been going through Apple OS/iOS docs cause I want clarfication on how somethings work before joining others in this rabbit hole. As to this “function” (eg: notifications if another device connects to the account): Answer: only the first time new device connects, and assumes this device is accepted as “Trusted”.

          As long as its trusted, no notice sent (no message, no email). Its a simple matter to remove a device from “Trusted Devices”. 2FA complicates this further, but AFAIK right now HB’s Mac did not do 2FA.

        • emptywheel says:

          He did. He seems to have tried to upgrade security after 2016. But he turned it on and off at different times.

          One thing you see is him taking. phone numbers off and then some time later putting them back on the 2FA list. Not sure what happens if you’ve taken all the phones off on 2FA.

          Also not sure how Apple regards a MAC it has seen after a password reset.

          Also REALLY not sure how interlocking iCloud accounts work, which is what we’re dealing with.

  4. WilliamOckham says:

    This is fascinating, even though I’m barely keeping up with you on this one. I’d love to dig in deeper. Unfortunately, at the day job I’ve got tens of millions of Kafka* messages that aren’t going to read themselves.

    *The messaging service from Apache, not the author.

    • sohelpmedog says:

      Izzy Stone!!!!!
      The epitome of the Fourth Estate at it’s ideal.
      Where have all the flowers gone?
      Some are here.

  5. Bay State Librul says:

    Chicken @ 10:30 AM

    I too have been on “moderation watch” for six months.
    I think they believe “I am a few clowns short of a circus.🤗” (They may be right)
    In any case, I need to petition them for a pardon. Can I call on you as a witness?

    • Fancy Chicken says:

      Well, if you look again, Rayne has given a very reasonable explanation- I can’t speak to your situation, but I’m not “being” moderated; I’M using words that sometimes put me in moderation.

      Maybe if you read Rayne’s reply to me you will get a better understanding of their process and not feel like something is being done to you, rather you’re just inadvertently tripping the keyword wire. I can handle that. I write the way I write and I actually find it amusing that I trip that wire rather than persecuted.

      So just keep trying and accept you’re like me, and I’m sure quite a few others who just have a brain full of unintentionally trolly words.

      Hope that gives you some peace,

      Chicken

  6. earthworm says:

    i am such a speculative jerk —
    is it possible to mount such a (purported) stealth hacking attack without leaving ANY digital fingerprints?
    it is hard-to-impossible for an earthworm to follow the high-level digital f_ckery.
    The plotting that these posts surmise exists is a diabolical abyss for anyone to navigate, let alone HB behind multiple eight balls.
    does this site’s community not include ANY forensically skilled tech-heads, who can deconstruct the work and timelines already posted above, and in the four posts at the foot here?
    how was Hunter Biden steered into Ablow’s clutches to start with? would that be a grand jury or DOJ question?
    who was that pet tech-head Bannon was extolling?

    • emptywheel says:

      I’m pointing to digital footprints. That’s the entire point.

      I don’t have subpoena power, so I won’t be able to prove this, but all this stuff is what a hack looks like.

    • Ravenous hoarde says:

      Reading all this now reminds me of Manafort’s “hacked” messages via his daughter. Supposedly the work of “Ukrainian hackers”. I remember reading some salacious details from those “messages” that MSM didn’t touch but off brand gossip sites did.

      Manafort is disgusting and I wouldn’t be surprised if any/all of the texts were real. But it drives me nuts that a convicted felon with a documented history of working for blood money that was officially hired (albeit for “free”) by the incumbent president was given more deference and leeway than HB gets.

      I don’t repeat Manafort’s most salacious shit because I didn’t see it reported in a definitive way by anyone with credibility. It’s galling that congressmembers and pundits throw all the same type of stuff at HB without a moment of pause.

      The work EW is doing here is fascinating. I would love to see the name of the individuals or groups that so heavily invested in this smear. From the marco polo dweeb to Herschmann and the usuals like Giuliani. Unlike Manafort, HB was never a presidential hire. He just happens to be someone’s unfortunate son. And these ghouls spend this much capital to unravel him.

      I hope for a comeuppance on the perpetrators.

      https://www.vice.com/en/article/zm5ebj/manafort-daughter-lawyer-twitter-hacked-phone-messages-remove

  7. zscoreUSA says:

    Suspected typo

    “November 22, 2018 — the same day the laptop that would one day end up at John Paul Mac Isaac’s shop was set up,”

    Your previous article says 10/21/18 is date the Mac Isaac laptop was setup.
    “10/21/18: Your Apple ID ([email protected]) was used to sign in to iCloud on a MacBook Pro 13″. Date and Time: October 21, 2018, 5:50 AM PDT”
    From: https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/07/08/the-laptop-everyone-knows-as-hunter-bidens-appears-to-have-been-deleted-starting-february-15-2019/

    I’m struggling with keeping everything straight, but is that a typo?

    • emptywheel says:

      No, you’re right. Thanks! I really really appreciate it.

      Like I said, I’m close to ready to redo the timeline, hopefully with a bit more now that I’ve filled in some stuff.

      • zscoreUSA says:

        Still a typo. It looks like you edited to say the next day, but it’s still the wrong month. The Mac Isaac laptop was purchased and set up in October, not November.

        • zscoreUSA says:

          Well, maybe it’s not a typo, it’s an error in fact. The Mac Isaac laptop was purchased and set up in October not in November.

          I don’t understand why people would prefer that inaccurate information is presented than to call out an error. Especially in an article that is an analysis of a digital timeline.

        • bmaz says:

          Yeah, you have been here less than a week and consider yourself content and typo police. I do not know you, and, frankly, don’t care. Step back.

        • earlofhuntingdon says:

          Thanks for inviting me to your free party, but could you add more salt to the appetizers, avoid anchovies, serve drinks with less fizz, open the windows, and put on different music? What?

        • Shadowalker says:

          You might want to cut her some slack. Think of it as a work in progress. There is a lot we don’t know and we may never know. I myself am wondering what the hell Apple is doing in all this, it’s not exactly a good look when a customer gets hacked and then gets targeted politically with the hacked material.

        • zscoreUSA says:

          This article is an analysis of computer activity and a timeline of events. Why would it be a good idea to leave inaccurate information in this article? I don’t think it helps anybody to have inaccurate data. Iron sharpens iron.

          I am extremely grateful that emptywheel is covering this. These articles and the hard work to put in are amazing. No mainsteam journalists are covering this, and in that vacuum, biased right wing outlets are controlling a narrative that is possibly false. The Hunter Biden laptop could be a massive hack and dump operation, with foreign assistance, and the mainstream media are just staying out of it.

        • Rayne says:

          The Hunter Biden laptop could be a massive hack and dump operation, with foreign assistance, and the mainstream media are just staying out of it.

          This describes for the most part what happened when Russia hacked the DNC while trying to damage Hillary Clinton’s 2016 candidacy. What coverage the majority of mainstream media provided of the hack was weak, consisting mostly of amplifying Trump’s disinformation (ex. the mythic single server). Mainstream media response was to avoid covering disinfo related that revolving around technology instead of digging in to pick it apart leaving even fewer individuals informed about the truth.

          All the more reason why more eyeballs are necessary — it’s Linus’s Law at work.

        • zscoreUSA says:

          I think part of the reason this laptop is so consequential is that attacking Burisma is a priority for Putin. Trump extorting Zelenksy to investigate Ukraine and Biden, is a move to support Putin just as much as it was to help his own chances in the election.

          The US supporting Burisma was a national security objective to keep Ukraine less dependent on Firtash/Russia.

        • Shadowalker says:

          The problem with using the iCloud log is there is not enough info. Apple knows the ID of every device that connects with it, so unless we ever get a look at their internal security logs which would have this info (including the IP address and not only logins via browser but devices as well), there is no way to definitively state that a “MacBook Pro 13″” in the log is the same device that ended up with the FBI taking custody of by means of subpoena (standard operating procedure).

          Don’t hold your breath on MSM picking this up, because the sad truth is the majority of the general public doesn’t care, and will only care when it effects them personally.

        • Rayne says:

          Apple knows the ID of every device that connects with it

          This is why it bothers me that U.S. government personnel investigating Hunter Biden, relying on data on device(s) which included WhatsApp messages, didn’t also ask for similar data from Meta/WhatsApp.

          The general public would care — at least a majority would — if the mainstream media did a better job of explaining this as part and parcel of the war on Ukraine.

        • Shadowalker says:

          I’m not sure Apple would turn over that info, at least not without a court battle. This is the same Apple that fought the FBI in unlocking the iPhones of two mass shooters (husband and wife), which ended up with the FBI getting an outside expert to crack them.

          I’ve been thinking about the FBI and this case.

          Either they have feeling about Rudy, are scared of blowback or are just incompetent. In any case they seem to want nothing to do with it almost from the beginning.

        • Rayne says:

          It’s called a search warrant and/or a subpoena, not a court battle; there’s also big difference between asking for encrypted content of messages and unencrypted metadata.

          You’re kidding yourself about the ability of the government to obtain metadata from Apple and other platforms using tools like subpoenas and National Security Letters.

        • Shadowalker says:

          Search warrant would require a judge’s signature. Though they did get a warrant for the iCloud material, not sure if that would have covered the Meta/WhatsApp message or not since it was discovered in that material. Subpoenas are only good up to 180 days in the past.

          I’m also not sure what the reason behind investigating that message was, since any legal action would require that the one threatened as a victim/witness in court. And it helps to identify the correct victim/witness, which Lowell has already informed them that they don’t even have the correct company. Pretty sure he has plenty of proof to backup his claim as well.

        • Shadowalker says:

          I saw that. Didn’t they also discover the PW to unlock the encrypted container? I guess it would depend on how broad the warrant to Apple was written. Ultimately it would be up to the courts to decide if another warrant was needed for the ‘lock box with key’.

        • zscoreUSA says:

          I see your note in the article lol. Thanks for paying attention to details and willing to make a correction.

          “Update: After several tries, I’ve taken out errors regarding when the Uber for the XS was set up. Thanks to zscoreUSA for the persistence.”

          Though, I must say my correction was about the date when the Mac Isaac laptop was setup, which I have been following very closely. I had not paid much attention to the Uber accounts until you wrote this article. Good thinking to analyze.

        • emptywheel says:

          Yup. Trying to get through a few things before Wednesday’s hearing, in case anyone reads this humble blog.

          But I’m close to trying to do a new timeline.

  8. jdmckay8 says:

    but that obviously involves proving that he was not operating the devices in question.

    Several times in last +/- 10 days, I’ve read your posts and thought “impostors” (or conspirators) were doing stuff while using one of HB’s devices, attempting to leave trail suggesting it was Hunter. Didn’t mention it, ’cause it seemed a little too far fetched at the time. Doesn’t seem so far fetched now.

    I’m 12 years removed from doing this kind of work (forensics). No promises, but I’ll try and plow through some of that and see what I can see.

    As crazy as some of this (your theories reflected in accrued evidence) seems, my gut says you are on the right track. Riggleman also said he’s been working with HB’s legal team since (I think ???) November. He also said his role was helping to get “data” organized.

    Seems likely, or at least possible (given Riggleman’s professed disdain for much of Trump’s behavior and damage, team Hunter may already be on this same path.

    Thx again for all you do. Really glad you are on our side. :)

    • emptywheel says:

      Thanks. I’m doing this in significant part to entice folks who do have experience on this stuff to look closer. I know what hacks look like (for example, the restoration of contacts is REALLY intriguing to me), and this feels a LOT like someone prepping two devices (the laptop and the iPhone), then digitally blinding Hunter while he is also physically and mentally blinded due to the Ketamine treatment to download his iCloud, set up the other phone, and then restore everything so he won’t notice.

      There are several tools on these devices, I think, that would make it easy for “Hunter” to get a call on “Hunter’s” phone after dropping it off.

      BUt really, it’s too soon to make that argument. I’m just trying to lay out what I see in hopes that someone smarter will test it.

      • Shadowalker says:

        This may not be of much help.

        Years ago I had a system message from iCloud stating that a device in Barcelona was trying to access my account and if I wanted to allow access and enter it as a trusted device. After the shock wore off, I signaled no and immediately went to the iCloud control panel and changed the password. Five minutes later I get a call from the iCloud server informing me the password had been changed and that I had 5 minutes to enter into the phone an 8 digit number displayed in the iCloud control panel.

        In Hunter’s case they gained access using a trusted device, by first breaking its security if it was set. But still, any unusual activity on the account should have raised flags that required a human to look into. Especially if he’s been setting up new devices in a particular way.

        • emptywheel says:

          At least given the public emails, there were times Hunter had 2FA on his devices turned on and other times he did not. But it looks like he didn’t always clean up after compromises — possibly even going back to 2016. And the multiple iCloud account thing may have made things more difficult.

      • Rayne says:

        Jesus…”digitally blinding Hunter while he is also physically and mentally blinded” kind of hits the gut.

        I mean, I knew what the Ablow ketamine therapy meant (and possibly some of the drugs and sex workers) but it didn’t click that if this entire likely hack was aided and abetted by hostile foreign entities, this is a level up from the 2016 DNC hack because it was a physical attack on an American citizen on U.S. soil, not just another computer hack.

        • NkcEd2023 says:

          Doing my best to keep up, but how are you concluding that potentially this was a foreign actor? I would think that a domestic actor playing the root of hack then punting to someone else is more plausible.
          I am very much interested in understanding better who is behind the hack hence the questions. Thanks in advance.

        • Rayne says:

          Commenter zscoreUSA explains the foreign policy implications in their comment at 7:04 p.m.

          When I first read zscoreUSA’s comment, I thought it was a bit obvious this was the primary motivation for the attack(s) on Hunter Biden. You make it clear I shouldn’t assume every reader here understands this.

          Are you at all making the connection between Paul Manafort, the GOP’s 2016 platform changes, Trump’s election with Russian help, Trump’s eventual impeachment because of his quid pro quo call, and the sustained disinformation operation attacking Joe Biden through Hunter Biden? The entire arc is about Putin wanting all of Ukraine under his control.

          ADDER: I’m going to suggest you take a seat in the shade and just follow along until you figure this out. Someone new with only 13 comments under their belt “just asking questions” who hasn’t grasped the big picture isn’t going to be of help in the deep weeds. You’re more likely to annoy folks with what looks like JAQ-ing off because this site doesn’t operate at entry level.

        • zscoreUSA says:

          I started putting together a detailed Hunter laptop timeline about a month ago. That’s when I realized it goes back to Crimea, at least. Firtash’s charges unsealed shortly thereafter. I didn’t pay attention to Crimea and Ukraine until Trump/Manafort/2016 Russiagate investigation. And now we have a threat of a full scale or nuclear war.

          Trump/Russia/Putin vs US/Ukraine/The West

          “Big stuff” to quote that diplomat from the impeachment hearings. Trump cares about “big stuff”.

          It makes sense from a national security perspective to support Burisma, despite the corruption. You go to war with the army you have not the army you want right?

          Hunter and Archer come across as grifting off their family connections and that may be true, but were they being used as intelligence assets? Did his actions have approval from the intelligence community? I think it’s possible and I think it’s possible that Joe pushed Hunter beyond what he was psychologically capable of, and he breaks down, combined with losing his brother, he went off the deep end.

          Hunter was probably targeted and penetrated by multiple foreign intelligence services, and the US counterintelligence probably knows a lot of it that they cannot discuss. When Senator Johnson called Mac Isaac back after he put in the whistleblower complaint on the website, he said Johnson’s office handed the phone off to 2 NSA agents! NSA? How often do they get involved with political scandals? Sheesh

        • P J Evans says:

          I doubt that Joe would have pushed Hunter to do that. And Ron Johnson is one of those who went to Moscow for the 4th, so his allegiance is questionable (and I doubt he had any NSA people handy).

        • zscoreUSA says:

          It’s easy to dismiss. There was an email from Hunter to Joe after Joe received an award in the White House, and thanked Jill for saving the family. Hunter then sent an email venting to Joe that he is tired of holding back, saying Joe is making a huge mistake about what really saved the family, among other things to vent about. Hunter’s sister texted Joe , I think roughly the same time that what’s going on with Hunter is going to come back and bite him if he doesn’t address it now in an honest way.

          Just my 2 cents. But I think we are making a mistake if we just dismiss this stuff as partisan GOP attacks.

          Johnson was also getting defensive briefings from the FBI that he could be used to launder Russian disinfo. And he was working with Grassley, who has been supportive of whistleblowers. Did Mac Isaac make up that anecdote about the NSA agents? I dunno, I guess that’s possible.

        • Shadowalker says:

          “ Did Mac Isaac make up that anecdote about the NSA agents?”

          I wouldn’t give much credence to anything he says, at least not while he’s not under oath. Not after he described in detail the problems he had accessing the laptop drive because it was soldiered to the motherboard, and the one that the FBI subpoenaed had no touch bar and a drive connector as would be expected since that model only had a drive connector, while the other models in that series that had the touch bar had permanently attached drives.

        • emptywheel says:

          Mac Isaac made up a lot.

          And there’s far more evidence that Burisma was cultivating Hunter than vice versa.

        • Rayne says:

          This operation probably started from the moment Hunter Biden was a potential Burisma board member before April 2014, after Obama made Joe Biden the go-to on Ukraine after the Euromaidan protests and the Maidan Revolution. Same time frame as the annexation of Crimea; same year as MH17 was shot down. In hindsight this was already a war and Hunter Biden ongoing collateral damage.

        • Shadowalker says:

          “ This operation probably started from the moment Hunter Biden was a potential Burisma board member before April 2014”

          If not right after Hunter recommended (and accepted by the board) that they decrease the reliance on Russia which was about 90%, and put more effort into domestic exploration and production. They managed to reduce dependance to 25%, with Hunter even recommending some contacts to US firms. Don’t know if they accepted or went with someone in the EU. I heard that Putin was getting a billion a year (unconfirmed, but I’m sure he was getting something)

        • jdmckay8 says:

          Hi. Just want to say you’ve made some illuminating posts. Glad you are participating.

          I started putting together a detailed Hunter laptop timeline about a month ago.

          Care to share? :) I’m just preparing my battle plan for some of this, every little bit helps!!! Also would be nice if we had 1 list of sources for emails/logs/IP data, and where it was sourced from (eg. Isaac’s copy, HB’s machine(s), or direct iCloud hack and which iCloud account).

          Hunter was probably targeted and penetrated by multiple foreign intelligence

          That’s 1 too many rabbit holes for me.

        • emptywheel says:

          FWIW, I’m pointedly not sharing more bc the privacy impacts of this, even with what Garrett Ziegler has already done, are pretty alarming.

          It’s shocking all these details on the family of the President have been released.

        • emptywheel says:

          The emails show that after the 2016 election, Hunter tried to harden things, setting up 2FA and the link.

          But during that exact period, per Gus, there were a bunch of error logs.

          I don’t know who did the hack if that’s what happened. I’m really agnostic on that front. But it’s clear there were serial attempts to compromise him, including likely foreign actors.

          And let’s be clear: both CEFC and Burisma were huge influence operations, and both targeted him hard.

  9. zscoreUSA says:

    *Jan 3 email service:
    “If Hunter wasn’t accessing his cell service in this period, that might help to explain why he was sending messages that their recipients weren’t getting.”
    Ablow received Hunter’s emails. 2 minutes after Hunter’s “guys are you getting my emails?”, Ablow replies yes. Hunter misspelled email “kablolow” in first email causing the undeliverable, then errors involving the external hss . edu emails from the doctors. I don’t see how an error in cell service would be involved as he’s still seeing Ablow’s emails and Ablow sees his.

    * not responding to Bartholomew on 1/15/19
    “He failed to respond to Ablow’s practice manager when she tried to respond to his droidhunter88 account on January 15”
    According to the Safari History on the Marco Polo site, Hunter was non stop on porn websites since 12:03am, including creating droid8892 profile on a porn site and creating an album and uploading content. Followed by web cam, Skype, PayPal, wells Fargo through 2:35pm. In between, Hunter replies angry, he’s in his room the whole time. If the search history is accurate can plausibly be explained as distracted and not interested in the wellness appointments on his schedule, and also using the Droidhunter88 account

    In the middle, at 12:14pm, Hunter changes Microsoft password account using IP address 73.61.., same as the last heartbeat. At 1:19 pm, Hunter downloads a selfie of a woman, this download is geolocated to Ablow’s Cottage. This seems to confirm that the last heartbeat address of the Mac Isaac laptop was indeed at Ablow’s Cottage

    Is there any data to determine the dates of last heartbeats? It seems like something that the forensic examiner would have come across while making the report. And weird that it was not included in the table in the report with the IP address. And Ziegler would 100% be aware that the least heartbeat of the Mac Isaac laptop was at Ablow’s property. He said he personally viewed every email and also interviewed Ablow for a couple hours.

    * And the Ubers and Lyfts, really interesting. I need to reread this article and compare to my notes, look through the Marco Polo Report again and emails for comparison.

    Data points to consider: Mac Isaac writes in American Injustice that Hunter drove his Ford Raptor truck to drop off the laptops, sitting in the truck in the parking lot as Mac Isaac walks home (ie didnt take an Uber to the Mac Shop). Also, Hunter ordered Ubers for escorts, so in those instances, maybe it’s more practical to order from a laptop. Including 1 instance where he ordered 3 for the same escort due to passenger not being ready. Since he is not the passenger, the Uber won’t need his GPS ping.

    • emptywheel says:

      Gus seems to leave out a lot of things from his reports that would make all this a lot easier. Why not continue the device logins through March 15? Why not include all apps purchased onto the phones, which would make the spyware more obvious. He doesn’t note that Dr. Fone was loaded onto the XS in this period.

      But all those things would make it easier to see if these were actually hacks.

      • zscoreUSA says:

        What date was Dr Fone added? Per MPR page 360, Dr. Fone was used to back up Hallie and the niece’s phones to Hunter’s laptop. These images were what Giuliani said made him give the laptop to Wilmington PD.

        In Laptop From Hell, Devine says the images came from
        “There is one photo of potential concern in Hunter’s image library, of a topless pubescent girl. It is a blurred snap of three teens, taken in the mirror of what looks like a school bathroom. One girl is putting on makeup, another is taking the photo. The third is in the background, reflected in the mirror as she gets dressed, with one breast visible.

        The photo was uploaded to the laptop among thousands of images on a shared iCloud account, which included shots of dozens of kids playing sport and clowning around with friends.”

        Was it iCloud or Dr. Fone?

        • emptywheel says:

          It’s in the MarcoPolo set. It is sent to him on Jan 30, 2019, so right in the middle of everything else.

          The thing is if HUNTER wanted to download all that onto his drive, he set up Family Share in the summer.

          I think Gus is dismissing the obvious reason Hunter would want Dr. Fone — for privacy, even if it was just with sex workers. And I think he ignores the potential applications of Dr. Fone if you’re trying to pretend to be Hunter Biden.

          I’m really baffled by the Hallie Biden stuff. Some of it is sent in ways and at times I think it’s a set-up. Plus, I’m not 100% sure what the evolution of her account is.

        • zscoreUSA says:

          Thanks.

          BTW, have you found the IMG_1772 that Hunter emailed multiple times to an nypd email address on 1/4/19?

          I found an IMG_1772 that was dated 1/7/19, and don’t know if this is the same one. The one I found is photo #410/674 in one of the file sets. It appears to be Hallie in front of a mirror in skimpy clothing.

        • emptywheel says:

          On the picture, no, though I haven’t looked that hard. I AM interested in it, but if my suspicions about whether he was really driving the keyboard at that point, then the content of the picture becomes interesting for other reasons (like the collision report in DC that Hunter doesn’t appear to know about).

        • Shadowalker says:

          “ It appears to be Hallie in front of a mirror in skimpy clothing.”

          Dude. Seriously. Stop. These people have been through enough. There are other things we can investigate that don’t impinge on personal privacy.

      • DinnerAtAntoine's says:

        I thought the reason for the 3/15/19 date was that supposedly per the report IIRC the data ends March 17th or March 18th. Which, again, is odd considering the iCloud should be auto-updating & because, again, JPMI claims he downloaded data off the iCloud some time after the 4/12/19 dropoff because he claims he waited the time period (I forget 30-60 days or so?) permitted to legally take the hardware as his own (dubious legal claim in multiple ways).

    • DinnerAtAntoine's says:

      On that last point, another note about place & time, though it may have already been caught:
      – In the 5/20/22 Dimitrelos report (no. 96) it states that 7/26/18 HB texted (someone) that he was “At the apple repair store.”
      – So there HB took his devices personally. Also I’m just curious if that event can be cross-referenced vs date of other events and the location, because it seems like that sounds like a “store,” not a repair shop. In fact it sounds like an Apple store.

  10. Datnotdat says:

    Emptywheelers,
    Hunter on K street.
    “No need for Police report
    My dude” someone said.

    Hat tip Rayne

  11. Jared Shoemaker Jr says:

    Could the using of a computer for Uber be explained by him ordering Uber Eats? I know they are two separate apps but maybe their website is together? I’ve done Uber work and rides would need a phone but not necessarily of your ordering food

  12. arbustotoo says:

    Totally captivating post. EW, how’s your script writing skill. HBs adventures since meeting Ablow could be a killer mini series on Netflix or some such.

    [Thanks for updating your username to meet the 8 letter minimum. /~Rayne]

  13. ThomasJ7777 says:

    Thank you very much. I’m very grateful that you are on this earth. Someone dedicated to seeking the truth and avoiding error is a blessing to us all.

  14. CJCJCJCJ says:

    > […] the iPhone XS that would be stored to iTunes (registered to the rhb iCloud) had an Uber account showing a modified date on November 22, 2018, a created date of January 22, 2019 — right in the thick of events, and an accessed date of February 3, 2019

    I think I’m missing something here: how would one account have been modified two months before it was created?

  15. zscoreUSA says:

    ok, finally had a chance to sort through the details written about Uber and the collision on 2/6 in DC. Really interesting idea that someone could hijack an Uber account, to give forensic evidence Hunter was at a location he was not actually located at. If that’s the theory you are looking at.

    * the .1 mile ride
    “Some of the rides during this period are pretty interesting, too — such as a 50-minute, 15-mile drive (with no wait time) to go .1 mile around the corner on a key day of the account takeover.”
    Having driven for Uber, this is a fairly common situation. Passenger says, take me to my friends apartment, or atm at Chase, or liquor store, then take me back home. Given Hunter’s dependency, this type of ride seems plausible.

    * 2/19/19 account restored
    “The first trip showing that Uber had been set back to the way it had been was on February 19, 2019.”
    Hunter orders 3 Ubers for an escort in Milford, CT. Approx 11:30pm, Hunter email the pimp from droidhunter88 “where the f*** are youi? this is hunter i don’t have your # call me please”. The issue may have been Hunter getting the address wrong, ie providing Uber with wrong pickup location, Milford vs New Haven. Or maybe there was a problem with his account being hijacked. (Marco Polo Report p 336)

    * where was Hunter actually on 2/6/19 evening during the Lyft collision in DC?
    “Now, certainly, it was possible that Hunter Biden drove from MA to DC to be present for a car accident on February 6, 2019. Maybe the trip — by whomever — served to pick up those skis.”
    11/4/18 12:20am Welcome to Lyft confirm your email
    1/24/19 5:19pm Greg email Hunter about Gunstock resort in NH (maybe thats why he needed skis?)
    2/3/19 at 1am, Hunter text escort he is at The Cottage (Marco Polo Report)
    2/4/19 gas purchase in Closter, NJ (Marco Polo Report pg 340)
    2/5/19 gas purchase in Greenville, DE (Marco Polo Report pg 340)
    2/6/19 8:38am, Hunter at Fairview Inn, Wilmington, recorded a movie (Marco Polo Report pg 317)
    2/6/19 atm transactions in Wilmington (Marco Polo Report pg 340)
    2/6/19 11:39pm rhbdc Apple ID phone number changed
    2/7/19 [I got no data on location. its possible he drove the 2 hrs to DC from Wilmington prior day, def not coming from MA directly]
    2/8/19 4:19am texts about getting drugs on a street corner in Wilmington (Marco Polo Report)
    3/1/19 Hunter in NH (Marco Polo Report) [maybe he’s already or about to go skiing at that resort Gunstock]
    3/5/19 Hunter stuck in NH due to snow storm, an escort texts him that her pimp has Hunter’s truck driving it around town because Hunter is on the run (Marco Polo Report)

    Thats all I got, I don’t see Lyft at all in the Marco Polo Report. And there is plausibly him ordering a Lyft/Uber for some one else in DC on 2/6. Perhaps a daughter or Hallie or an escort or drug source. And it is possible that Hunter deletes Uber/Lyft notifications most of the time but forgets to other times. Who keeps their Uber emails after a ride? Normally I delete immediately

    • emptywheel says:

      RE: 1/21: I agree he may have just gone for a ride. But note the no stopping time. I assume if he asked an Uber driver to wait well he ran inside to pick up drugs, it’d show as wait time.

      But in any case, that kind of absence in that time period is of interest.

      RE: Lyft: the driver was driving Lyft. “Hunter,” or whoever it was, was driving his own car.

      The accident itself was on 2/6 in the evening. Definitely time to get there from DE.

      • CJCJCJCJ says:

        > I assume if he asked an Uber driver to wait well he ran inside to pick up drugs, it’d show as wait time.

        No, “wait time” per se is the time a driver spends waiting for you before you start the trip; once you’re en route, any time spent waiting at an intermediate stop is just lumped in with the overall fare on the emailed receipts.

  16. ShallMustMay08 says:

    The ski equipment thing (based on your remark about Uber ride time and length and winter there) is my rabbit hole. No way. He didn’t ship his own gear for a day trip. And the only day trip from North Shore at that time of early season making snow is a West Berkshire’s. Can’t see it myself no matter how rich or messed up. Day trips rentals are equivalent to renting mountain bikes … you do to enjoy for experience. I have more. Just hesitant. But there is a trail. EZPass northeast. Car rentals. GPS. Resorts or even prodigy (cyber rental, Airbnb, home away etc) aren’t renting for one night. So if the trip was real … there’s a trail. And last … ski mountains resort if accommodations are booked … the lift passes are included (pushed actually as owner we lost money) so there’s another trail. Where’s the emails confirmation all that? Instead nudes of whatever. Disgusting ratfucking.

    • StellaBlue says:

      Rental boots are the problem. Either too loose to be precise enough or a painful fit. With proper fitting boots you can learn what a pair of rental skis are capable of quickly.

  17. John Paul Jones says:

    What catches my attention is “a 50-minute, 15-mile drive (with no wait time) to go .1 mile around the corner on a key day of the account takeover.”

    Maybe I watch too many movies but what about somebody testing their access, or trying to use some kind of scanner to see what Hunter’s devices are doing and how they’re doing it? Like those old-time Russian “fishing boats” collecting sigint?

    Like I say, I probably love spy movies way too much; and I definitely lack the tech ability to flesh out this script. So – for what it’s worth.

  18. bgThenNow says:

    I have a ride service for a family member that operates through Uber. I receive a notice for a return trip that tells me that the drop off has been made and is .1 miles from the original pick up location. So it may be that “HB” went out on a ride that was 51 minutes long and was returned to same location as picked up. I am not aware that they allow someone to get out of the car to pick something up while the driver waits, but that might explain that trip.

    • Ravenclaw says:

      Yes. If you add a stop to a trip and ask the driver, they’ll often let you run inside and pick something up. Did that once when I accidentally left behind a poster while en route to present at a conference ha ha. Somebody else might do the same thing to pick up, say, a bottle of wine or some cocaine.

  19. Ravenclaw says:

    An amazing post & I am late to the parade, but I have one potentially useful shred of information and one (I hope) relevant thought.

    Info first: One is most likely to use a computer to access Uber or Lyft when cell phone reception is poor. Locations near the ocean, especially capes and islands, often have poor reception even now & the situation would have been worse 5 years ago. When I search Newburyport, everyone reviewing the situation says it’s terrible. {https://www.cellreception.com/***search.php?zip=01950&page=1} Link broken with three stars.

    Thought: We already know Hunter was probably staying in Dr. Ablow’s cottage the week of 11/10-11/16. We also know he received intensive treatment (including ketamine) in January. These December Uber calls suggest to me that he was on the island (not that it was some weird hacker). Combined with the other information in Marcy’s amazing post, it looks like Hunter was in an extremely disoriented state of mind during this period. He may have been lapsing into drug use between sessions, or, if a number of poorly controlled ketamine treatments were involved, he might have been disoriented iatrogenically. Whether this was accidental (Ablow doing “wild therapy”) or intentional (nobbling the lad while extracting information) is more than I can say. Ski trip? Maybe he knew he was going skiing but had no idea where because he couldn’t process that much information. Reduced to the status of a preschooler at the time.

    • emptywheel says:

      As noted above, my first inclination was cell reception. So yeah, that’s definitely a possibility.

      He was disoriented and talking about sky diving.

      And yet someone who was not was doing a whole lot of work on all his devices at once.

      • Sue 'em Queequeg says:

        Adding my voice to the chorus of the awestruck. The past few weeks of posts have been simply astonishing. Thank you. (A bit of cash is about to thank you as well — not as much as either of us would like, but something anyway.)

        A question. The timing of the hanky-panky seems to align very neatly with a period of high personal dysfunctionality for HB. Is there anything specific that suggests either that the hanky-pankists had a source for direct knowledge of HB’s condition or that they may have had a hand in creating that condition?

        • emptywheel says:

          Not that I’d be willing to share publicly. I have theories. I’m going to stay far away from making any accusations.

          But consider that if Hunter’s account was compromised in the summer, than no one would need to ask — they’d have it.

  20. Lisboeta says:

    Hunter Biden was addicted to drugs and alcohol, and seeking a way out. He went for treatment to Keith Ablow, who had a rather questionable record, despite his media fame. On May 15 2019, Dr. Ablow’s license was suspended in Massachusetts after an investigation determined that his continued practice was a threat to the “health, safety and welfare” of the public. Ablow appealed that ruling (I don’t know the result).

    The treatment regime that Ablow oversaw for Hunter Biden included Ketamine: an anaesthetic, also used to treat severe depression. Ketamine does have various other off-label uses (some nefarious, all with known side-effects), but addiction treatment doesn’t seem to be one of them: Ketamine itself can be addictive. Did Hunter’s ‘treatment’ acerbate his problems, rather than alleviate them?

    • Ravenclaw says:

      Hunter was being treated by Ablow for depression, and Ablow was deploying what at the time was a promising off-label treatment (ketamine, which was approved by the FDA soon thereafter). Whether Ablow was addressing Hunter’s drug addiction is uncertain, but it would be surprising if he didn’t consider it in his treatment planning. (Although a bit of a maverick, he was basically well trained.) And psychedelics have a history of being used experimentally in addiction treatment (LSD back in the 1960s, yohimbine today). Also, the mere fact that ketamine is a psychoactive drug with what are often described as “extremely pleasant” effects (that’s a quote from an old edition of the PDR by the way) makes it an appealing option for a drug user ambivalent about quitting.

      Ablow’s license suspension had nothing to do with ketamine treatment per se. It was due to several complaints of sexual misbehavior with patients, including (if memory serves) during sessions they paid for. Much worse, really, than just trying unproven therapies on a tough case.

      • earlofhuntingdon says:

        Ablow lost his license for abusing his patients’ trust, when providing a medical service with a distinctive power imbalance between doctor and patient.

  21. vinniegambone says:

    I can’t keep up. I only have two brain cells left and they’re fighting with each other. The dumber one is winning.
    Hoping this exercise leads to better guards/ alarms/ recognition when these forays happen again.
    Little doubt if Hunter was screwing w Putin’s income, that Putin would have him targeted.

    Logical they’d seek to hack him to plant evidence could hurt him and his father – a landmine they could detonate at an optimal time that served them .
    If they simply wanted to retaliate against him seems like they could have just done a ransom ware operation to get some of his $300 million.
    His wealth astounds me for a guy who doesn’t seem too bright, and whose only benefit to a company would be his access to his father and his fathers orbit.

    I guess this is the motivation to run for president / Senate now. Hunter didnt score as nicely as Jared did with Saudis, but how many other elected officials children are at similar troughs ?
    Makes me sick to think about it.

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