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| President's Joe Biden & Son |
Hunter Biden was
convicted Tuesday of all three felony charges related to the purchase of a
revolver in 2018 when prosecutors argued, that the president's son lied on a
mandatory gun-purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to
drugs.
Hunter Biden,
54, stared straight ahead and showed little emotion as the verdict was read
after jury deliberations that lasted only three hours over two days in
Wilmington, Delaware. He hugged his attorneys, smiled wanly, and kissed his
wife, Melissa, before leaving the courtroom with her.
President Joe
Biden said in a statement issued shortly after the verdict that he would accept
the outcome and "continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter
considers an appeal."
Now Hunter Biden
and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, the president's
chief political rival, have both been convicted by American jurors in an
election year that has been as much about the courtroom as about campaign
events and rallies.
Hunter Biden
faces up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced by U.S. District Judge
Maryellen Noreika, though as a first-time offender, he would not get anywhere
near the maximum, and there's no guarantee the judge would send him to prison.
She did not set a sentencing date.
Defense attorney
Abbe Lowell said they would "continue to vigorously pursue all the legal
challenges available." In a written statement, Hunter Biden said he was
disappointed by the outcome but grateful for the support of family and friends.
The jury's
decision was read swiftly after the announcement that it had reached a verdict.
First lady Jill Biden sat through nearly every day of the trial but did not
make it into the courtroom in time to hear the verdict. Hunter Biden walked out
of the courthouse holding hands with the first lady and his wife before they
got into waiting SUVs and drove off.
Joe Biden
steered clear of the federal courtroom where his son was tried and said little
about the case, wary of appearing to interfere in a criminal matter brought by
his own Justice Department. But allies of the Democrat have worried about the
toll that the trial -- and now the conviction -- will take on the 81-year-old,
who has long been concerned with his only living son's health and sustained
sobriety.
Hunter Biden's
conviction came just weeks after Trump was found guilty of 34 felony charges
related to a hush money payment to a porn actor in the 2016 campaign. The cases
are in no way the same, and Hunter Biden is a private citizen who is not
running for office. But they have both argued they were victimized by the
politics of the moment.
Trump, however,
has continued to falsely claim his verdict was "rigged," while Joe
Biden has said he would accept the verdict involving his son and would not seek
to pardon him.
In his statement
Tuesday, the president said he and the first lady are proud of their son, who
says he has been sober since 2019, and will always be there for him with
"love and support."
Trump's campaign
called the verdict "nothing more than a distraction from the real crimes
of the Biden Crime Family." Trump and his allies have pressed
unsubstantiated or debunked allegations that Joe Biden acted while vice
president to advance his family members' foreign business interests.
The verdict came
down as the president prepared to give a speech at a conference hosted by the
Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund in Washington. He did not mention his son
as he spoke about his administration's efforts to stop gun violence and the
need to ban so-called assault weapons.
Hours after the
conviction, President Biden hugged his son after landing in Wilmington to spend
the night with family before leaving Wednesday for the Group of Seven leaders
conference in Italy. Hunter Biden, his wife, and their child greeted the
president on the tarmac, and the president lingered to visit with them for
several minutes.
Jurors found
Hunter Biden guilty of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false
claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having
the gun for 11 days.
The trial played
out in the president's home state, where Hunter Biden grew up and where the
family is deeply established. Joe Biden spent 36 years as a senator in
Delaware, commuting daily to Washington, and his other son, Beau Biden, was the
state attorney general before he died of cancer.
The proceedings
put a spotlight on a dark time in Hunter Biden's life, including his spiraling
descent after Beau's death in 2015. The trial featured deeply personal
testimony from former romantic partners and embarrassing evidence such as text
messages and photos of Hunter Biden with drug paraphernalia or partially
clothed.
In his closing
argument on Monday, prosecutor Leo Wise acknowledged the evidence was
"ugly." But he told jurors it was also "absolutely
necessary" to prove Hunter was in the throes of addiction when he bought
the gun and therefore lied when he checked "no" on the form that
asked whether he was "an unlawful user of, or addicted to" drugs.
Before the case
went to the jury, the prosecutor urged jurors to pay no mind to members of the
president's family sitting in the courtroom, telling them: "People sitting
in the gallery are not evidence."
David Weiss, the
prosecutor who has led the long-running investigation into the president's son,
told reporters the case was about Hunter Biden's "illegal choices"
and "dangerous" conduct.
"No one in
this country is above the law," said Weiss, the Trump-nominated U.S.
attorney for Delaware, who was named special counsel by Attorney General
Merrick Garland in August. "Everyone must be accountable for their
actions."
Hunter Biden's
lawyers had argued that he did not consider himself an "addict" when
he bought the gun. They sought to show he was trying to turn his life around at
the time, having completed a rehabilitation program at the end of August 2018.
Hunter Biden's
legal troubles aren't over. He faces a trial in September in California on
charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes, and congressional Republicans
have signaled they will keep going after him in their stalled impeachment
effort into the president. The president has not been accused or charged with
any wrongdoing by prosecutors investigating his son.
Just last year,
it appeared that Hunter Biden would avoid the spectacle of a trial so close to
the election. Under a deal with prosecutors, he was supposed to plead guilty to
misdemeanor tax offenses and avoid prosecution in the gun case if he stayed out
of trouble for two years.
But the deal
fell apart after Noreika, who was nominated by Trump, questioned unusual
aspects of the proposed agreement, and the lawyers could not resolve the
matter.
Hunter Biden has
said he was charged because the Justice Department bowed to pressure from
Republicans who argued the Democratic president's son was getting special
treatment.
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