Hunter Biden trial reveals dark family moments and tests father’s campaign
Joe Biden is trying to balance his presidential duties with supporting his son Hunter, now on trial, and criticising the ‘convicted felon’ Donald Trump.
Joe Biden held his only living son close as Hunter Biden’s personal strife was laid bare this past week during a trial on gun charges, the latest episode of a broader legal saga that risks muddling a piece of the US President’s re-election message.
In the wake of former president Donald Trump’s conviction in a New York hush-money case, Mr Biden has escalated his argument that his likely November opponent is chaotic and dangerous to democracy.
At a political fundraiser this past week, he called Mr Trump a “convicted felon” for the first time, even as his son could soon carry the same label.
Hunter Biden’s legal troubles create a potential headache for his father. The trial in Delaware is airing embarrassing details about the President’s family, and Hunter Biden is expected to face another trial on tax charges in Los Angeles in September, which could feature exotic tales about his spending and lifestyle.
His wider legal problems have given Republicans an opening to portray the Biden family as corrupt, though they have failed to link the President to any wrongdoing.
The gun trial, which is expected to continue on Monday, also threatened to pull focus from Mr Biden’s trip to France, where he marked the anniversary of D-Day with speeches on democracy.
Mr Biden said in an interview with ABC News that he wouldn’t pardon his son, and that he would respect the outcome of the trial, after saying Mr Trump and Republicans were trying to undermine the rule of law by criticising the former president’s jury conviction. Last year, when asked about the investigation during an MSNBC interview, he said: “My son has done nothing wrong.”
Mr Biden flew to Wilmington this past Sunday night, where the trial is unfolding, and spent Monday there, issuing a statement saying he was “so proud of the man” Hunter Biden is now. The President flew to France on Tuesday.
The first lady’s travel underscored the extent to which the family is focused on the trial: Jill Biden appeared in the courtroom on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, flew to France to be by her husband’s side for events on Thursday, then returned to the US to be in the courtroom on Friday and was expected to be back in France on Saturday for a state dinner.
Hunter Biden’s legal woes have worried some close to the President. Presidential aides and allies have been uncomfortable at times with Hunter Biden’s approach to his legal problems and wished he would keep a lower profile. The President is devoted to his son and has sought to affirm that publicly, with Hunter Biden frequently visiting the White House and attending high-profile events.
The White House has sought to draw a line between President Biden’s role as a father and his position in Washington. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has declined to answer questions about how the proceedings are affecting the President personally.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in February found 23 per cent of respondents said Hunter Biden’s legal troubles made them less likely to vote for President Biden, while 58 per cent said the issue would have no impact on their vote.
A Biden adviser said the campaign doesn’t think voters will see Mr Trump’s legal concerns in the same light as Hunter Biden’s, arguing that voters know the difference between “a private citizen and a person who is going to be the Republican nominee”.
While Republicans have long been critical of Hunter Biden’s business activities, particularly his dealings with foreign companies, they have largely had a muted response to the gun trial, possibly because most Republicans broadly support gun rights.
Senator Lindsey Graham told HuffPost that he didn’t think the average American would have faced similar charges.
Mr Trump, who has attacked Hunter Biden for years, expressed sympathy for dealing with addiction during an interview on Fox News, recalling his late brother.
“Look, I feel very badly for them in terms of the addiction part of what they have right now,” Mr Trump said. “Because I understand the addiction world. And I have also – not only a brother. I have lost a lot of friends to addiction, drugs, alcohol.”
Mr Trump has railed against his conviction in the hush-money case in New York City, arguing without evidence that the proceedings were rigged. He faces three other prosecutions, though it is possible that none of them will go to trial before Election Day.
Mr Trump’s campaign indicated that it would be focused on other controversies attached to Hunter Biden, with campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt calling the President the head of the “Biden Crime Family” and questioning Hunter Biden’s foreign-business ties.
Republicans have sought to highlight the President’s son at times to draw attention from Mr Trump’s legal problems, and have used an impeachment inquiry to try to tie Hunter Biden’s actions to his father.
But they haven’t produced evidence that the President was involved in his family’s business dealings or took official actions related to them, and the impeachment inquiry has stalled.
Still, the House of Representatives committees leading that effort sent referrals to the Justice Department this past week, recommending charges against Hunter Biden and the President’s brother, James Biden, for allegedly making false statements to Congress.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell, said the referrals were “nothing more than a desperate attempt by Republicans to twist Hunter’s testimony so they can distract from their failed impeachment inquiry and interfere with his trial”.
Featuring painfully graphic testimony, the gun case under way in a Delaware courtroom exposed a dark period of betrayal and substance abuse in the Biden family. It played out with numerous family members present in the courtroom and on the witness stand.
In the early days of the trial, Hunter Biden’s own voice occasionally filled the courtroom as federal prosecutors played portions of his narration of his memoir, using his words against him to prove he lied about his drug use when he purchased a gun in October 2018.
His sister Ashley Biden wiped away tears as she sat in the courtroom and watched the proceedings on Tuesday. And the President’s sister, Valerie Biden Owens, attended on Thursday.
Hunter Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, offered her husband support, including scrapping with a Trump ally in the hallway. Kevin Morris, a Hollywood lawyer who has lent Hunter Biden millions of dollars, has also sat in the courtroom to show support.
Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, took the stand, as well as Hallie Biden, the widow of President Biden’s elder son, Beau Biden, who had a romantic relationship with Hunter Biden following her husband’s death.
Both testified in harrowing detail about Hunter Biden’s drug addiction and mental anguish after his brother died.
Hallie Biden recalled removing drug paraphernalia from Hunter Biden’s truck and, in a wrenching moment, said he had introduced her to drugs. “It was a terrible experience I went through,” she said.
“I’m embarrassed, I’m ashamed, and I regret that time period in my life.” In a critical portion of her testimony, Hallie Biden recounted finding Hunter Biden’s gun in the unlocked console of his truck, putting it in a leather pouch and driving to a grocery store, where she discarded it in a garbage bin.
“I panicked,” she testified, saying she worried he would kill himself or that her children would find the weapon and get hurt.
“I was afraid to kind of touch it,” she testified. “I didn’t know if it was loaded.”
Naomi Biden, Hunter Biden’s oldest daughter, testified on Friday on behalf of her father’s defence, recalling a visit to her father in 2018 when he was in rehab. Hunter Biden wiped away tears as she spoke.
– C. Ryan Barber and Annie Linskey contributed to this article.
Dow Jones Newswires
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