It should have been a matchup for the ages. In the red corner, a disgraced former elected official who is currently facing criminal charges and a $148 million ruling against him in a defamation case. In the blue corner, the son of a sitting American president who’s just made history by being found guilty for lying about his illegal drug use when buying a gun.
But the head-to-head battle of two of the most ignominious figures in American political life is no longer happening. Hunter Biden has agreed to drop his lawsuit accusing Rudy Giuliani of breaching his privacy, according to a court filing Thursday, giving both men the presumably blessed relief of one less looming legal fight to worry about.
The apparent climbdown is something of a surprise given the seriousness of what Biden accused the former New York City mayor and his former lawyer Robert Costello of when he filed the lawsuit in September. The complaint alleged they and other defendants were “among those who have been primarily responsible for what has been described as the ‘total annihilation’ of [Biden’s] digital privacy” over data they allegedly took from Biden’s infamous laptop.
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Attorneys for all three parties signed the agreement filed Thursday calling the whole thing off. U.S. District Judge Jessica Clarke will need to review the filing before it’s finalized, according to NBC News, which also quoted from a source shedding light on the reasons behind the move. “As Giuliani is in bankruptcy and agreed to have the case waiting for when he is done, it made no sense to continue it in a non-bankruptcy court until that happens,” they reportedly said.
Giuliani is nevertheless taking a rare victory lap over the lawsuit being dropped. His attorney, Joe Sibley, called the dismissal—along with Biden’s conviction “based on evidence from the laptop”—a “vindication” for Giuliani and Costello in a statement to the New York Post.
Giuliani’s other legal woes, however, remain legion.
He’s facing charges in the Arizona election interference case in which he and other are accused of conspiring to overturn the result of the 2020 election in the state for Donald Trump. (Giuliani was served notice of his indictment as he left his 80th birthday party last month, but his spirits didn’t seem to be dampened, judging from the grin he flashed in his mugshot released this week.)
He’s also been indicted in another election interference case in Georgia—the state whose election workers successfully sued him for defamation, resulting in Giuliani being ordered to pay $148 million in damages. Giuliani filed for bankruptcy protection following the devastating ruling.
But it doesn’t end there. Giuliani is also believed to be “co-conspirator 1” in the DOJ’s case against Trump over his allegedly unlawful efforts to cling to power after losing the 2020 election. On top of that, he’s also been sued for alleged sexual abuse, more defamation related to alleged election lies, and even Costello himself brought a case against Giuliani claiming he failed to pay more than $1 million in legal fees.
Biden, meanwhile, is facing a legal nightmare of his own. He dropped his lawsuit against Giuliani just two days after being convicted on three felony charges and is now awaiting sentencing as his father fights to secure a second term in the White House. The president’s son also set to face another trial over tax charges in September just weeks before the election.
So even though he’s canceled his face-off with Giuliani, one thing’s certain: There are no real winners here.
