WILMINGTON, Del. Lawyers will give opening statements on Tuesday at the federal gun case against President Joe Biden’s Son, Hunter in a trial that is expected to feature testimony from her ex-boyfriends and highly personal details about her struggle with addiction.
Biden Hunter He was accused of three crimes arising from the purchase of a firearm in 2018, when, according to his memories, he was at the height of his crack addiction. He was accused of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer by making a false statement on the application that he was not a drug user and had possessed the gun illegally for 11 days.
Hunter Biden arrived at the courthouse with his wife, Melissa, on Tuesday morning, getting out of an SUV. First lady Jill Biden and her sister Ashley Biden joined him again in court.
The lawsuit comes after the failure of a deal with prosecutors that would have avoided the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty and argued that he is being unfairly targeted by the Justice Department after Republicans condemned the now terminated plea deal as special treatment for Democratic president’s son.
The trial is taking place just days after Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was convicted of 34 crimes In New York City. The two criminal cases are unrelated, but their proximity highlights how the courts have taken center stage during the 2024 campaign.
Jury selection changed quickly on Monday in the president’s home statewhere Hunter Biden grew up and where, the elder Biden often says, the family is deeply established. Joe Biden spent 36 years as a senator in Delaware, commuting daily to and from Washington, D.C.
People simply know the story of how Biden’s two young sons, Hunter and Beau, were injured in the car accident that killed his wife and daughter in the early 1970s. And Beau Biden was the former state attorney general before he died at age 46 from cancer.
Some potential jurors were dismissed because they knew the family personally, others because they had positive and negative political opinions about the Bidens and could not be impartial. Even so, it took just one day to find the jury made up of six men and six women, as well as four female substitutes, who will decide the case.
One potential juror who was sent home said she didn’t know if she could be impartial because of the opinion she formed about Hunter Biden based on media reports.
“It’s not a good thing,” she said.
Another was let go because he was aware of the case and said, “It seems like politics is playing a big role in deciding who gets charged with what and when.”
But much of the questioning centered on drug use, addiction and gun ownership, as attorneys sought to test potential jurors’ knowledge of the case and rule out those with strong thoughts about drug use, or who might want to. regulate firearms. some of the same people Biden counts as constituents.
The 12-person panel was chosen from around 65 people. Their names were not disclosed.
Hunter Biden will also face trial in California in September on charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes. Both cases should have been resolved through a deal with prosecutors last July, the culmination of a years-long investigation into his dealings.
But Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was appointed to the court by Trump, questioned some unusual aspects of the deal, which included a proposed guilty plea to resolve tax crimes and a deal to divert the gun charge, the That meant as long as he stayed out of trouble for two years and the case would be dropped.
The lawyers were unable to reach a resolution on their issues and the deal fell apart. Attorney General Merrick Garland then named the lead investigator, a former U.S. attorney in Delaware, David Weiss, as special counsel in August, and a month later Hunter Biden was indicted.
The opening statements come as Garland faces members of the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee in Washington, which has been investigating the president and his family and whose chairman has been at the forefront of a stalled impeachment inquiry arising from Hunter Biden’s trade negotiations.
The Delaware trial does not address Hunter Biden’s foreign business affairs, even though the proceedings would likely bring up dark, embarrassing and painful memories.
The president’s allies are worried about the toll the trial could take on the older Biden, who has long worried about her only living son and his sobriety and who must now watch as the painful mistakes of her son’s past are publicly examined. And the president must do so while campaigning under anemic poll numbers and preparing for an upcoming presidential debate with Trump.
In a statement released on Monday, the president said he has “unlimited love” for his son, “trust in him and respect for his strength.”
“I am the president, but I am also a father,” he said, adding that he would not comment further on the case. “Jill and I love our son and are so proud of the man he is today.”
The first lady sat in court all day Monday, her 73rd birthday, watching the proceedings silently from the front row behind the defense table, as did Hunter Biden’s wife, Melissa, and her sister. Ashley. The president was nearby most of the day, camped out at his home in Wilmington. He left after court adjourned for a campaign reception in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Aboard Air Force One on Monday night, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked whether the case could affect the president’s ability to do his job, and she responded: “Absolutely.” no”.
“He always puts the American people first and is able to do his job,” said Jean-Pierre, who declined to say whether Biden received updates on the trial throughout the day or spoke to his son after the trial concluded. process.
Biden traveled to France on Tuesday night and will be gone for the rest of the week. The first lady is expected to join him later this week.
The case against Hunter Biden stems from a period when, by his own public admission, he was addicted to crack. His descent followed the death of his brother in 2015 of cancer. He purchased and possessed a gun for 11 days in October 2018 and indicated on the gun purchase form that he did not use drugs.
If convicted, Hunter Biden could face up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders don’t get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
Trump is set to be condemned on July 11 by Judge Juan M. Merchan, who raised the specter of prison time during the trial after the former president racked up thousands of dollars in fines for violating a gag order.
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Long reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington and Fatima Hussein aboard Air Force One contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s coverage of Hunter Biden at https://apnews.com/hub/hunter-biden.
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