A Wilmington computer repair shop owner has filed a defamation suit seeking half a billion dollars from the Twitter social media platform.
John Paul Mac Isaac filed the suit in U.S. District Court in South Florida and is seeking a jury trial. Mac Isaac operated The Mac Shop in Wilmington’s Trolley Square neighborhood.
Mac Isaac stated that the president-elect’s son-elect left the hard drive at the shop that repairs Apple Macintosh computers but did not pay for repairs or pick up the hard drive.
He further stated that he was contacted by the FBI and an attorney for Rudy Guiliani, who in turn is a personal attorney for President Donald Trump.
The contents of the hard drive were later used in a story published by The New York Post. The shop owner stated that he had no knowledge that the contents were to be used in the story, nor did he know that his business would be identified.
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The suit claims Mac Isaac’s reputation was damaged by Twitter when the social media platform limited access to a link to the Post story, with the claim that the piece was suspected of being based on hacked content.
Mac Isaac said he was authorized to examine and take possession of the hard drive when Biden did not take possession.
Both Twitter and Facebook took actions to limit access to the Post story, which was always available on the Post website and appeared on search engines.
Mac Isaac stated that he was forced to close the store following threats and negative reviews.
The Post story, published in the waning days of the election campaign, was viewed by Trump supporters as a “smoking gun” that would change the race’s outcome.
However, the story failed to gain traction, with Biden winning an electrical college victory and the popular vote. Trump continues to contest the election, charging voter fraud.
The U.S. House had earlier impeached Trump over claims of improperly seeking damaging information on Hunter Biden. The Senate failed later cleared Trump.
Guiliani later traveled to the state to drop off the computer and/or hard drive New Castle County Police. The state Department of Justice later turned over the hard drive to the FBI.
Hunter Biden later confirmed that he is an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Delaware. Republican U.S. senators are also studying allegations of Hunter Biden’s activities with a Ukrainian gas company and a Chinese business.
Outgoing U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr declined to appoint a special prosecutor in the Hunter Biden case. Barr also confirmed he did not disclose the existence of an investigation of Hunter Biden during the election cycle.
The six-page suit cited a Twitter office in the Florida district as the reason for filing the lawsuit in that venue.
A Twitter spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit.
