‘This is their family’: Close-knit Bidens turn out for Hunter’s criminal trial

WILMINGTON, Del. — On October 12, 2018, former Vice President Joe Biden crowded into an SUV with a small group of advisers and headed to Bath County High School in Owingsville, Ky., for a campaign rally with a local congressional candidate. In Wilmington, Del., Hunter parked his father’s black Cadillac SUV outside a gun shop, and returned to it with a Colt Cobra revolver.

The elder Biden’s trip that day was one of dozens he made in the runup to the midterm elections as he built a political case that led him to the White House. His son’s outing more than 500 miles away may ultimately land him in jail.

That juxtaposition is at the heart of a distressing what-if for the Biden family: had Joe Biden not run for president, or sought a second term, might his son have avoided not only a potential prison sentence, but also a public deconstruction of one of the most difficult periods of his life?

Since Hunter Biden's criminal trial began on Monday, the Biden family has sought to send the message that for them this is a family affair, not a political one. While former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial in a New York, and subsequent conviction, became a rallying cry for his 2024 campaign, Hunter Biden’s trial in Delaware has prompted a blanket of support from close friends and family as his father’s campaign keeps a distance.

“Of course the family is there en masse” one close family friend who has been in court with the Bidens every day told NBC News. “Imagine if this was your son, your brother. This is their family. Their beloved family.”

The show of force began with First Lady Jill Biden taking a seat in the courtroom behind her son each day until leaving late Wednesday afternoon to travel to France to attend a D-Day