Hunter Biden Found Guilty Of Illegally Owning A Gun
A jury in Delaware has found the president’s son guilty of illegally owning a gun in 2018.
The government said Hunter Biden was addicted to drugs when he bought a pistol that October, and that he lied on a federal form when he checked a box saying he wasn’t an addict. Jurors agreed, and Biden now faces time behind bars.
The case has major political significance, coming as former President Donald Trump and the entire Republican Party mount an all-out assault on the U.S. justice system over its supposed “weaponization” by President Joe Biden against Trump, who faces federal charges for hoarding classified documents and trying to steal the 2020 election.
The Department of Justice has thrown the book at Hunter Biden, hitting him with illegal gun ownership charges that are rarely prosecuted as a standalone case without some other misconduct related to the firearm. The weeklong trial humiliated the first family, the guilty verdict could send the president’s son to prison for years, and he still faces another trial this fall for allegedly failing to pay his taxes on time.
During closing arguments on Monday, prosecutor Leo Wise reportedly gestured toward first lady Jill Biden and other members of the Biden family in the court gallery, saying: “Respectfully, none of that matters.”
Hunter Biden had originally struck a plea deal with prosecutors last year, but the agreement fell apart under questioning by District Judge Maryellen Noreika, which revealed a disagreement between Biden’s legal team and prosecutors about whether the government would still pursue other charges against Biden related to his international business deals.
So Biden pleaded not guilty, even though he didn’t deny buying the gun and he admitted in his 2021