I'm sure he gave them the password when he dropped it off.

I assume in this case the user was not using all the security features available.

Even if you did have some password or whatever; asking someone to recover files for you would include giving them that information to enable them to do the job you're asking them to do.

Seems like that "water-damaged MacBook Pro" belonging to Hunter Biden was not disinformation all this time.

Not really a surprise [0] since the media knows how to coordinate a professional cover-up of a story and scream: 'Fake News', 'Disinformation' or what ever when in fact they are the spreader of their own lies and biased propaganda.

So this is just another way for them to orchestrate a cover up and silence any criticism. So there you go.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24813673