Within minutes of the news that President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden was convicted of three gun felony charges reaction poured in. Democrats reacted somberly but didn’t claim the verdict was rigged. Some Republicans rejoyced and didn’t call the verdict rigged or the Department of Justice weaponized. And some Republicans contended the whole thing was a set up by Joe Biden – to convict his only surviving son in order to posture himself as even handed.
Speculation instantly began on the conviction’s political impact on the close race between Biden and former President Donald Trump, a convicted felon. Some say:
3. It won’t have any impact on the actual race. There have been other instances were Presidents who had relatives who would up in embarrassing or tragic situations. 4. It will hurt Biden because voters will be more inclined now to consider the Biden family corrupt and lawless. 5. It will actually help Biden because he has vowed not to pardon his son and the conviction emasculates the GOP’s ongoing attacks on the legal system – attacks launched to defend Trump.
Hunter Biden was found guilty of felony gun charges in federal court Tuesday, ending a trial that exposed some of the ugliest moments in the life of the president’s son and put on national display the first family’s pain, heartache and regrets.
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The jury concluded that Hunter Biden, 54, lied about his drug use when he filled out a form to purchase a gun in October 2018 and then illegally owned that weapon as a drug user for 11 days.The jury deliberated for a little more than three hours before finding him guilty on all three counts. Biden nodded, but otherwise showed little emotion when the verdict was read. He then hugged each member of his legal team and said thank you.
Biden walked out past the defendant’s table, hugged and kissed his wife, Melissa Cohen-Biden, and left the courtroom, shaking the hands of friends and family along the way.
In a written statement after he left the courthouse, Biden said he was “more grateful today for the love and support I experienced this last week from Melissa, my family, my friends, and my community than I am disappointed by the outcome. Recovery is possible by the grace of God, and I am blessed to experience that gift one day at a time.”
The gun trial, which lasted just over a week, showcased years of internal behind-the-scenes drama in the Biden family, with relatives taking the witness stand. The proceedings also played out against the backdrop of President Biden’s reelection campaign, with Republicans seizing on Hunter Biden’s legal troubles to try to portray the entire Biden family as corrupt.
The trial also showed the wrenching reality of prosecuting a drug addict, particularly one who has been open about his battles and says he has been sober since 2019. After the verdict, one juror told The Washington Post that he didn’t believe Hunter Biden belonged in prison and that he felt bad that his daughter had to testify about her father’s drug use.
U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika and prosecutors had warned the jurors that “sympathy” shouldn’t play into their verdict. In the end, after a trial that included painful testimony from Biden’s romantic partners and readings of his text messages, jurors were asked to decide whether he lied on a form when he purchased a gun and then illegally owned it as a drug addict.
President Biden said in a statement that he loves Hunter and is “proud of the man he is today.” Biden said earlier that he would not pardon his son if convicted, and he repeated that Tuesday.
Politico notes that the conviction “throws sand” into the GOP’s attacks on the legal system:
Republicans are scrambling to prevent Hunter Biden’s conviction on felony gun charges from undermining their argument that the judicial system is being weaponized against Donald Trump.
They just can’t agree on how.
Trump’s campaign cast the conviction of his rival’s son on Tuesday as a “distraction from the real crimes of the Biden Crime Family,” while some hard-line supporters dismissed the proceedings as “fake.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson argued that Hunter Biden’s conviction “doesn’t” undercut Republicans’ claims of a two-tiered justice system because the evidence against him was “overwhelming.”
And still other Hill Republicans went so far as to describe the verdict as a “step towards ensuring equal application of the law.”
Republicans’ divergent responses to the verdict on Tuesday afternoon offered a real-time glimpse into the party’s struggle to reconcile what should have been a political win — the criminal conviction of the president’s son — with the guilty verdict rendered against their own standard bearer.
“It throws a bit of sand in the gears of people suggesting the Biden Department of Justice has been engineered to go after Trump,” said Jason Roe, a GOP strategist and former chair of the Michigan Republican Party.
But, Roe conceded, “one feature of the modern Republican Party is ignoring facts that don’t support the argument and sometimes embracing the conspiracy theories that do.”
And:
Trump’s team made no mention of either Hunter Biden or the former president’s own legal troubles in its response to the Delaware jury’s decision.
“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,” Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a prepared statement. “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.”
The statement appears to be a modified version of one initially provided to CNN, which included well wishes for Hunter Biden “in his recovery and legal affairs.”
Trump and his allies have long accused the president of profiting off his son’s business dealings, even as they have struggled to substantiate the charges. A GOP impeachment inquiry in the House has stalled. House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), who has been leading investigations into Biden, called the verdict a “step toward accountability” but blamed the Department of Justice for not investigating his business dealings and providing the president cover.
The rendering of a guilty verdict against the president’s son less than two weeks after a jury convicted Trump of 34 counts of falsifying business records in a Manhattan criminal trial appeared to mollify other Hill Republicans — at least a little.
“Today’s verdict is a step towards ensuring equal application of the law, regardless of one’s last name,” Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) posted on X.
Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) wrote on X that he is “glad to see that justice has been served. Nobody is above the law, including the President’s son.”
But others were conspiratorial, suggesting without evidence that the Department of Justice did not proceed with other cases against Hunter Biden that could potentially tie back to the president. Hunter Biden is facing a separate trial in California on federal tax charges. That case isn’t expected to go to trial until the fall.
Graphic: Dreamstime
