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Hunter Biden guilty in firearms criminal trial
A jury convicted Biden Hunterson of the president Joe Bidenof all three counts in your criminal weapon trial in Delaware Federal Court on Tuesday morning.
Hunter Biden, 54, was found guilty of making a false statement in connection with the sale of a firearm, a false statement in a firearms transaction and possessing a firearm while a drug user or addict.
The criminal charges relate to your purchase of a Colt Cobra pistol from a Delaware gun store in October 2018 while he was a crack user and addict.
Biden, who admitted to being addicted to cocaine and alcohol, was accused of lying on a federally required form he filled out in connection with the sale, where he said he was not an illegal user of or addicted to narcotics.
He is the first son of a sitting US president to be tried in a criminal case. Biden faces another pending criminal case, over federal tax charges, in Los Angeles.
The verdict came nearly three weeks after former president donald trump – who will face President Biden in the November elections – was convicted in a New York state court of falsifying business records related to a secret 2016 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, departs the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on June 3, 2024, in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden is on trial on felony gun charges.
Money-making Anna | Getty Images
Hunter Biden looked directly at the jury and nodded slightly as three guilty verdicts were read, eight days into the trial and after only about three hours of juror deliberation.
First lady Jill Biden entered the courtroom after the verdict was announced, as did her aunt, Valerie Biden Owens.
Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, was in the room when the verdict was read.
President Biden flew Tuesday to Delaware to see his son, who greeted him at the state’s Air National Guard Base in New Castle.
The verdict came after a trial that included testimony from his ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, Hallie Biden, who is the widow of his brother Beau Biden and Hunter’s third former romantic partner.
U.S. President Joe Biden waves to his son Hunter Biden (R) upon arrival at the Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Delaware, June 11, 2024, as he travels to Wilmington, Delaware.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
Hallie Biden, who told jurors she smoked crack cocaine at Hunter’s suggestion while she was in a romantic relationship with him, testified that she found the gun he bought in her car 11 days after buying it. She testified that she threw the gun near a supermarket.
In a statement Tuesday, Biden said, “I am more grateful today for the love and support I received from Melissa, my family, my friends and my community last week than I am disappointed with the outcome.”
“Recovery is possible by the grace of God, and I am blessed to experience this gift one day at a time,” Biden said.
Courtroom sketch of Hunter Biden during the reading of the verdict from his trial on federal gun charges.
Courtesy: Bill Hennessy
Jurors began deliberating Monday afternoon after hearing closing arguments from prosecutors and Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, and instructions from Judge Maryellen Noreika.
Noreika said she would set Biden’s sentencing date later.
Biden faces a maximum possible prison sentence of 10 years on two of the felony counts and a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison on the third count.
Special Counsel David Weiss, whose office prosecuted Biden, said at a news conference: “Ultimately, this case was not just about addiction, a disease that haunts families across the United States, including Hunter Biden.”
“This case was about the illegal choices the defendant made while in the depths of his addiction, his choice to lie on a government form when he purchased a gun, and his choice to then possess that gun,” Weiss said. “It was these choices and the combination of weapons and drugs that made his conduct dangerous.”
“No one in this country is above the law,” the prosecutor said. “Everyone must be held accountable for their actions, even this defendant. Hunter Biden must be held no more accountable than any other citizen convicted of the same conduct. The prosecution has been and will continue to be committed to this principle and to the principles of federal prosecution and fulfilling its responsibility.”
Biden’s lawyer, Lowell, said in a statement: “We are naturally disappointed in today’s verdict.”
“We respect the jury process and, as we have throughout this case, we will continue to vigorously pursue all legal challenges available to Hunter,” Lowell said.
President Biden is scheduled to speak about gun control at an event Tuesday afternoon.
The president told ABC News last week that he would not grant his son a pardon if he were convicted in this case.
Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, and his wife Melissa Cohen Biden and US First Lady Jill Biden leave federal court after the jury finds him guilty on all three counts in his trial on criminal possession charges of gun, in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, June 11, 2024.
Hannah Beier | Reuters
In a statement Tuesday about Hunter’s sentencing, the president said, “As I said last week, I am the president, but I am also a father.”
“Jill and I love our son and are so proud of the man he is today,” said President Biden. “So many families who have had loved ones struggle with addiction understand the feeling of pride in seeing someone you love come out the other side and be so strong and resilient in recovery.”
“As I also said last week, I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal,” the president said. “Jill and I will always stand by Hunter and the rest of our family with our love and support. Nothing will change that.”
Hunter Biden is separately charged in Los Angeles federal court with failing to pay taxes on more than $1.4 million in income over several years.
In that case, he is scheduled to be tried in September, two months before his father faces Republican Trump in the election.
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in the money hush case on July 11 in Manhattan Supreme Court. He faces a maximum prison sentence of four years for each of the 34 criminal charges on which he was convicted.
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Biden’s gun case and the Los Angeles case were dropped last year after the collapse last summer of a plea deal between Biden and Weiss, who is also the U.S. attorney in Delaware.
Weiss, after being appointed special counsel by the Justice Department, brought the two separate cases against Biden after Judge Noreika questioned the terms of the deal, which likely would have resulted in Biden not receiving prison time after pleading guilty to crimes inspectors and enter into a so-called pretrial diversion agreement for the gun case.
The cases also emerged after Republicans in Congress suggested that Weiss, appointed U.S. attorney by Trump, had been too soft in prosecuting Biden.
In a statement released Tuesday regarding the verdict on the gun charges, the Trump campaign said: “This trial was nothing more than a distraction from the real crimes of the Biden crime family, who raised tens of millions of dollars from China , Russia and Ukraine. .”
“Corrupt Joe Biden’s reign over the Biden Family Criminal Empire will come to an end on November 5, and never again will a Biden sell access to government for personal profit,” said campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
Trump himself faces three other pending criminal cases in addition to the hush money case.
Two of those cases, one in federal court in Washington, D.C., the other in Georgia state court in Atlanta, charge Trump with crimes related to his efforts to undo President Biden’s victory over him in the 2020 election.
The third case, in federal court in Florida, concerns Trump’s retention of confidential documents after leaving the White House in January 2021, and his efforts to withhold them from government officials who requested their return.