On Tuesday, a jury found Hunter Biden guilty of federal firearms crimes, marking the first criminal conviction of a sitting US president’s kid. The 54-year-old son of President Joe Biden was found guilty on all three counts, according to CNN and other US media. Hunter Biden was accused of misrepresenting about his unlawful drug use when he purchased a weapon in 2018, which is a felony.
The verdict comes as his father seeks reelection and on the same day that the president is slated to deliver a speech on gun violence. It also comes less than two weeks after Donald Trump, the likely Republican presidential nominee in November, was convicted on corporate fraud charges.
The jury deliberated for around three hours over two days before returning a guilty judgement. Hunter Biden did not testify during the one-week trial held in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. Jill Biden, the First Lady, attended several days of the trial. The president did not, but stated that he and Jill were “proud” of their son.
“As the President, I don’t and won’t comment on pending federal cases, but as a Dad, I have boundless love for my son, confidence in him, and respect for his strength,” Biden stated in a previous statement. The hearings, combined with another case in which Hunter Biden faces tax evasion accusations in California, have hindered Democrats’ attempts to keep the race focused on Trump, the first former president to be convicted of a felony.
His legal issues have exposed emotional wounds for his family due to his drug addiction. His brother Beau died of cancer in 2015, and his sister Naomi died as an infant in a 1972 vehicle accident that also killed their mother, Neilia, Joe Biden’s first spouse.
The Yale-trained lawyer and lobbyist-turned-artist was charged with falsely claiming that he was not unlawfully using drugs when he purchased a.38 calibre revolver in 2018. He was also charged with unlawful possession of the firearm, which he had for only 11 days in October of that year.
The president’s son, who has written candidly about his addiction, stated that when he purchased the revolver, he did not consider himself an addict. He might face up to 25 years in prison, but as a first-time criminal, incarceration is improbable. Hard-right Republicans have long targeted him, and Trump allies have conducted extensive congressional investigations into claims of corruption and influence peddling.
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No charges have ever been filed. Hunter Biden’s business dealings in China and Ukraine have also prompted Republican senators to consider impeaching his father. Those efforts, too, proved futile. The White House has stated that there would be no presidential pardon for him.
