Joe Biden’s son Hunter faces possible jail time after guilty verdict on gun charges

Joe Biden has flown to Delaware to be with his son after Hunter was found guilty of three gun-related charges, but says he won’t use his presidential powers to pardon him.

President Joe Biden’s son Hunter faces possible jail time after a jury found him guilty of three gun-related charges including lying about his drug use six years ago when purchasing a firearm, findings that will weigh on his father’s re-election campaign as he prepares to debate Donald Trump later this month.

In what was the first ever conviction of a sitting president’s child, a federal Delaware jury deliberated for a little over three hours on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) before finding Hunter, 54, guilty of all three charges brought by federal prosecutors following last year’s indictment of the First Son.

The younger Biden, who faces another trial in California later this year on income tax-related charges, could be sentenced to jail for up to 25 years jail and incur US$750,000 in fines, although legal experts doubt he will face jail time as a first offender.

Joe Biden’s son Hunter has been found guilty.

President Joe Biden, who last week in an interview promised not to pardon Hunter should he be convicted, said he loved his son and was “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,” he said in a statement after the verdict was announced, referring to his son’s well known drug problems.

Hunter was found guilty of three federal felonies: possessing a gun illegally obtained for 11 days in October 2018, lying to a licensed gun dealer about his drug use, and lying on a federal firearms application about his drug use.

“I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal,” President Biden added in his statement. The White House announced the president had altered his schedule to return to Wilmington, where the Biden family has a home.

Hunter’s once hedonistic private life and in particular his business dealings with foreign governments and business when his father was vice president have been the target of Republican politicians for years.

The prosecution successfully persuaded the jury that Hunter bought a ‘Colt Cobra’ revolver on October 12, 2018, at the time he was knowingly addicted to crack cocaine.

Much of the prosecution rested on material contained on the younger Biden’s laptop, which included numerous pictures, videos and correspondence that suggested Hunter was indeed taking drugs during the period of the gun purchase.

The laptop, which became public before the 2020 election in an article in the New York Post, was derided by the Biden family, most mainstream media and “Russian disinformation” and infamously censored by social media platforms.

Throughout the trial prosecutors also played experts from Hunter’s autobiography Beautiful Things, which contained passages that suggested Hunter was addicted to illicit substances around the time of the purchase, arguments none of Hunter’s family, who took the stand, including his daughter, and ex wife, dissuaded the jury of.

“All my energy revolved around smoking drugs and making arrangements to buy drugs — feeding the beast,” Biden wrote in the 2021 book.

Donald Trump’s campaign said the verdict was “nothing more than a distraction from the real crimes of the Biden Crime Family’’.

The younger Biden, who said he was “disappointed” by the verdict, “stood with arms crossed, grimly surveying the jury” as the verdict was read out about noon local time, according to New York Times reporters, who were present in the courtroom.

“After jurors left the courtroom, Mr Biden hugged his lawyers. Then he found his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, put his hands on her arms, looked her in the eyes, and said, “Hey.” He kissed and hugged her.” the Times reported.

“Jill Biden, the first lady and Mr Biden’s stepmother who attended most days of the trial, was not able to get to the courtroom in time for the verdict because of security delays. But she held Mr. Biden’s hand as he left the courthouse and got into a waiting vehicle without speaking to reporters”.

His family including aunt Valerie and uncle James watched as the verdict was read. The First Lady, who had crisscrossed the Atlantic between the US and France to be with her stepson, didn’t make it inside the courtroom for the verdict.

Hunter’s sentence won’t emerge until about October, or around a month before the presidential election, the presiding district court judge Maryellen Noreika, 57, said.

Special federal prosecutor David Weiss, who brought the charges against Hunter after an earlier plea-deal fell apart under judicial scrutiny, said “no-one was above the law”. “This case was about the illegal choices he made while in the throes of addiction,” he said in a statement.

The verdict came less than two weeks after former president Donald Trump, also making history, became the first current or former occupant of the White House to become a felon, being found guilty on 34 charges in New York related to hush-money payments in 2016.

Donald Trump’s campaign said the verdict was “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”.

“Crooked Joe Biden’s reign over the Biden Family Criminal Empire is all coming to an end on November 5, and never again will a Biden sell government access for personal profit,” the former president’s campaign said in a statement.