(Headline USA) In a stunning move that may reaffirm some faith in the judicial system for those jaded by the overt double-standard that has been exposed by lawfare attacks on former President Donald Trump, a Delaware jury convicted Hunter Biden of all three felony charges in a federal case that he lied about his drug addiction while purchasing a firearm.
The evidentiary record—including Hunter’s own notorious laptop and a memoir in which he openly acknowledges his drug addiction—made the case somewhat cut and dry from a legal standpoint, in stark contrast with the “frankencase” that Manhattan prosecutors used against Trump relying on novel legal theories and unspecified charges that a notoriously corrupt and biased judge nonetheless enabled to proceed.
Yet, despite the difference in the two cases, one concern underpinned both of them: the possibility that the jury in such politically charged cases might be unable to put aside personal biases.
In Trump’s case, the jury’s unanimous decision has raised serious questions about its impartiality—particularly following a scandal that exploded Friday when it was revealed that a Facebook post, reportedly from the cousin of a juror with advance, inside knowledge about the verdict, had been discovered on one of the court’s pages.
Such a case would be difficult to make for the Delaware jury that decided Hunter Biden’s guilt in the heart of Biden country—a state where his father served as senator for decades and his brother was once the attorney general.
Jurors found Hunter Biden guilty of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer in his 2018 purchase of a revolver, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
He faces up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced by Judge Maryellen Noreika, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether she would give him time behind bars.
But with Hunter’s legal troubles closely paralleling Trump’s, Noreika’s decision may be responsive, in part, to the disposition from Judge Juan Merchan as to whether he will seek jail time for Trump in the Manhattan case—a move that some say could trigger a constitutional crisis and force immediate intervention from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Joe Biden has insisted he will not pardon his son, although he said nothing of the possibility that he might commute his sentence. 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 already faced considerable pressure to exit the presidential race due to his waning public approval and routine blunders, which suggest a sharp cognitive decline.
If anything were to lend the president a needed opening to make his graceful exit, the conviction would be it, perhaps allowing him to broker a deal with his successor, Kamala Harris, that would allow her to pardon Hunter.
Biden previously based his decision to drop out of the 2016 presidential race on the ongoing grief he felt surrounding the loss of his other son, Beau, although the decision to drop out did not come until months after Beau’s death.
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. Meanwhile, congressional Republicans have recently filed a recommendation that the Justice Department charge him and his uncle James Biden with perjury over their testimony in an ongoing impeachment probe.
The prosecution devoted much of the trial to highlighting the seriousness of Hunter Biden’s drug problem, through highly personal testimony and embarrassing evidence.
Jurors heard Hunter’s ex-wife and a former girlfriend—who also happened to be Beau’s widow, Hallie Biden—testify about his habitual crack use and their failed efforts to help him get clean.
Jurors saw images of the president’s son bare-chested and disheveled in a filthy room, and half-naked holding crack pipes. And jurors watched video of his crack cocaine weighed on a scale.
Prosecutors felt the evidence was necessary to prove that Hunter, 54, 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.
Hunter Biden did not testify but jurors heard his voice when prosecutors played audio excerpts of his 2021 memoir Beautiful Things, in which he talks about hitting bottom after Beau’s death, and his descent into drugs before his eventual sobriety.
Nonetheless, some have remained skeptical that Hunter is fully sober as he has continued to enjoy a party lifestyle. Speculation ran rampant last year that a bag of cocaine discovered at the White House likely belonged to him, although the Secret Service clamped down on the investigation, offering no public resolution.
That echoed the agency’s earlier complicity in Hunter’s gun felonies, where it was revealed in text messages from his laptop that Secret Service agents had assisted in retrieving the gun and covering up the scandal.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell had argued that Hunter Biden’s state of mind was different when he wrote the book than when he bought the gun—when he didn’t believe he had an addiction.
Lowell pointed out to jurors that some of the questions on the firearms transaction record are in the present tense, such as “are you an unlawful user of or addicted to” drugs.
And Lowell suggested Hunter might have felt he had a drinking problem at the time, but not a drug problem. Alcohol abuse does not preclude a gun purchase.
The revelation from IRS whistleblowers that the Justice Department had been slow-walking the cases while hoping to allow their statutes of limitations to expire put added pressure on then-U.S. attorney David Weiss and his investigating prosecutors to pursue the cases in good faith.
Hunter had hoped last year to resolve the long-running investigation federal investigation under a sweetheart plea deal with prosecutors that would avoided the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election. Under the deal, he would have pleaded 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.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss as a special counsel last August, and a month later Hunter was indicted.
Despite the evidence that several agencies appeared to be colluding with the Biden family and the White House to cover up the crimes, Hunter has claimed the Justice Department bowed to pressure from Republicans over the special treatment.
The reason that law enforcement raised any questions about the revolver was because Hallie Biden, Beau’s widow, found it unloaded in Hunter’s truck on Oct. 23, 2018, panicked and tossed it into a garbage can at Janssen’s Market, where a man inadvertently fished it out of the trash. She testified about the episode in court.
Hallie eventually called the police. Officers retrieved the gun from the man who inadvertently took the gun, along with other recyclables from the trash. The case was eventually closed because of lack of cooperation from Hunter Biden, who was considered the victim.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
