WILMINGTON, Del. — Hunter Biden was convicted Tuesday of all three felony counts related to the purchase of a gun in 2018 while addicted to crack cocaine, dealing a serious blow to his father, President Biden, amid a tough reelection campaign.
Biden, 54, kept his gaze forward and did not look at the federal jury of six men and six women as the court clerk read the verdict aloud. He is the first child of a sitting U.S. president to be convicted in a criminal trial.
The jury deliberated for three hours. After the verdict was announced, Biden hugged his attorneys and kissed his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden. He left the courthouse holding hands with his wife and stepmom, first lady Jill Biden.
Scandalous details of the week-long trial, coupled with the guilty verdict, hover as a political liability to the 81-year-old president struggling with a bruising reelection campaign. In a statement, the president said he accepted the verdict and will “continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal.”
Hours after his son was convicted of lying on a federal firearm application, the president spoke to a gun safety group in Washington and called for stiffer background checks for gun purchases. He did not mention his son’s case publicly.
The president, whose son’s gun had been discarded in a grocery store trash can, described gun violence prevention as “a passion of mine for a long, long time.” Mr. Biden is making gun control a cornerstone of his reelection campaign, pointing to the scourge of mass shootings and betting the issue will win over voters he desperately needs to win in November.
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“It’s time we establish universal background checks,” Mr. Biden said to cheers.
The president abruptly changed his schedule later in the day to fly back to Wilmington, apparently to comfort his son. Mr. Biden is expected to leave Wednesday for the Group of 7 summit in Italy.
The jury’s verdict doesn’t end the legal hot water for Hunter Biden, who will go on trial in a separate case in federal court in California accusing him of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes on time. That trial is expected to start in September, just weeks before Election Day. Prosecutors have already documented his lavish lifestyle while allegedly not paying taxes.
Hunter Biden, who did not testify at his trial, said he was “disappointed” by the verdict but was “grateful” for the love and support of his family and friends. He faces up to 25 years in prison, but he is a first-time, non-violent offender, so a sentence of jail time is uncertain.
U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika did not set a sentencing date, but they typically take place within 120 days of the guilty verdict.
Hunter Biden almost avoided trials on both the gun and tax charges. Last year, the Justice Department and Hunter Biden’s legal team struck a deal in which he would have to submit to drug testing and probation in exchange for pleading guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges. Under the deal, the gun charges would’ve been deferred and then dropped if Hunter Biden stayed out of trouble.
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But the deal fell apart after Judge Noreika heavily scrutinized it, raising questions about certain details.
The conviction closed the curtain on a trial that laid bare some of Hunter Biden’s most embarrassing escapades while in the throes of a crack addiction.
Jurors were shown tawdry photos of the president’s son with drug paraphernalia in a bubble bath. A trio of former romantic partners testified about Hunter Biden’s reckless spending and how his drug use destroyed their relationships.
Both the tax and gun cases were brought by special counsel David Weiss, who was appointed last year by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“No one in this country is above the law,” Mr. Weiss told reporters after the verdict. “Everyone must be accountable for their actions.”
The verdict comes just weeks before the first presidential debate, scheduled for June 27 in Atlanta. It also complicates Mr. Biden’s labeling of Mr. Trump as a convicted felon who should not return to office. A New York jury last month found Mr. Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to alleged mistresses. He is the first former president to be convicted of a crime.
Neither candidate seems to have suffered tangibly from the criminal trials so far. GOP lawmakers are rallying around Mr. Trump, whose campaign fundraising soared in the wake of his guilty verdict.
The gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety on Tuesday gave Mr. Biden a hero’s welcome and chants of “four more years” despite his son’s conviction for circumventing background checks.
Republicans immediately signaled Tuesday that they were not satisfied with the trial’s outcome, arguing that Hunter Biden was convicted of the wrong crimes. They have tried to link Hunter Biden’s business dealings to his dad, and those attacks will only increase after the verdict.
“This trial has been nothing more than a distraction from the real crimes of the Biden crime family, which has raked in tens of millions of dollars from China, Russia, and Ukraine,” said Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, who did not address the merits of the case.
“Crooked Joe Biden’s reign over the Biden family criminal empire is all coming to an end on November 5th, and never again will a Biden sell government access for personal profit,” she said.
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik of New York also ignored the gun charges to focus on the Biden family’s business dealings. She vowed to continue the House investigation into the Biden family.
While Republicans wanted to highlight that Mr. Biden’s son is now a convicted felon, they also had to be careful not to undercut their own arguments that the Justice Department has it out for Mr. Trump. It was Mr. Biden’s Justice Department that brought charges against Mr. Trump and his own son.
Hunter Biden’s legal problems have long been a major focus for Republicans. Upon winning the House in 2022, GOP lawmakers went to work on an investigation into Hunter Biden’s ties to foreign businesses in China and Ukraine. They allege that the president benefited from his son’s business deals and folded that investigation into the impeachment inquiry of the president.
The gun charges stemmed from Hunter Biden’s purchase of a Colt revolver at a Wilmington gun shop in October 2018. At the time, prosecutors said, Hunter Biden was addicted to crack cocaine.
He falsely signed paperwork claiming he did not use illegal drugs, and then unlawfully possessed the weapons for 11 days. It is illegal for drug users to possess guns and it is illegal to lie on gun-purchasing forms.
Hunter Biden is expected to appeal the conviction. In pretrial motions, his lawyers have argued that the federal law barring drug users from having guns is unconstitutional. Judge Noreika rejected that motion, but it will likely be the basis for the defense team’s appeal.
“We respect the jury process, and as we have done throughout the case, we will continue to pursue all the legal challenges available to Hunter,” defense attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement.
The president said he will always stand by his son.
“I am the president, but I am also Dad,” Mr. Biden said. “Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today. So many families who have had loved ones battle addiction understand the feeling of pride seeing someone you love come out the other side and be so strong and resilient in recovery. Jill and I will always be there for Hunter and the rest of our family with our love and support. Nothing will ever change that.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.