Hunter Biden's guilty verdict upends a top Trump talking point

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump's argument about the "weaponization" of the justice system just ran smack into a Delaware jury's conviction of President Joe Biden's son Hunter.

The result, according to some Republicans, is a major blow to one of Trump's favorite talking points — and a boost to Biden's case that he respects the rule of law.

“Hunter Biden’s conviction definitely weakens the argument,” said Dan Eberhart, a major Republican donor who backs Trump and thinks he should be focused on the economy rather than court cases. “To me, the justice system is working.”

The younger Biden, 54, was found guilty Tuesday on three counts related to his illegal purchase of a handgun when he was using narcotics. The elder Biden was a major proponent of the so-called Brady Bill, which made it a crime for addicts to buy guns, and it was a special prosecutor working under his Justice Department who prosecuted his son.

Last month, Trump was convicted by a Manhattan jury on 34 counts related to falsifying business records to cover up hush-money payments to a porn-film actress in order to help his 2016 campaign. He faces charges in federal court over his retention of classified documents. And in separate cases in Georgia and at the federal level, he has been indicted on charges related to his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

He has routinely accused Biden — without evidence — of directing a multi-jurisdictional legal campaign to take him off the political battlefield through criminal trials.

“This is all done by Biden and his people,” Trump said in a statement the day after he was convicted in New York. “This is done by Washington. No one has ever seen anything like this.”

His allies on Capitol Hill