WILMINGTON, Del. – In a tense moment outside the courtroom where Biden Hunter is on trial on gun charges, his wife, Melissa Cohen-Biden, confronted Trump’s former White House aide, Garrett Ziegler, who was in the courtroom.
Ziegler, who worked on trade policy in the White House, was part of an effort by Trump allies to make the contents of a laptop public to embarrass Joe Bidenson of in the final days of the 2020 election. Hunter Biden sued Ziegler and the company he founded, Marco Polo, in September of last year, alleging they violated state and federal laws in an effort to create a searchable online database of 128,000 emails.
Ziegler was present for both days of Hunter Biden’s criminal trial, where the first son is accused of lying on a federal form when he bought a gun, saying he was not addicted to drugs.
While the trial was on pause this morning, Ziegler and Cohen-Biden were in the hallway.
Cohen-Biden approached Ziegler, pointed his finger at him and said loudly, “You have no right to be here, you Nazi idiot.”
She then left. She eventually returned to the courtroom and sat next to First Lady Jill Biden.
Ziegler didn’t respond to her in the hallway.
Both the laptop and the gun charges served to make public Hunter Biden’s longtime drug addiction and brought to light embarrassing episodes in his life. Donald Trump and his allies have repeatedly tried to attack Joe Biden for his son’s actions, mocking his addiction and painting him as corrupt.
The laptop quickly became the subject of trial testimony. FBI agent Erica Jensen testified that the laptop was obtained by subpoena from the Delaware computer store, where Trump allies said it was abandoned and that they were also able to access it.
“This is the laptop that was recovered from the computer store,” she said. When asked how she was able to confirm this, Jensen said that the serial number on the back of the laptop matches the serial number provided in Apple Inc.’s response.
Asked later about the hallway confrontation, Ziegler told NBC News, “It’s sad. I sat here the whole time and didn’t approach anyone.”
He added: “For the record, I’m not a Nazi. I believe in the Constitution of the United States. I didn’t tell them anything.”
Ziegler said it was “prudent” of him to attend the trial.
Asked about the meeting, Cohen-Biden said Ziegler called her “the most horrible Jewish slurs,” adding that he should be asked why “he never called Jared Kushner any of those Jewish slurs,” referring to Trump’s son-in-law.
When asked about the ongoing litigation with Hunter Biden, Ziegler called the lawsuit “completely frivolous.”
Hunter Biden and Melissa Cohen-Biden were married in 2019. During opening statements, defense attorney Abbe Lowell told the jury that Cohen-Biden played an important role in Hunter Biden finally getting sober.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
