WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden kept his distance from the courtroom where his son Hunter was tried on felony gun charges to avoid any appearance of intrusion, but his quick statement reacting to the jury guilty verdict Tuesday talked about where his heart has been all along.
“Jill and I love our son and are so proud of the man he is today,” Biden wrote. “So many families who have had loved ones struggle with addiction understand the feeling of pride in seeing someone you love come out the other side and be so strong and resilient in recovery.”
After the verdict was announced, the White House canceled press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s scheduled briefing and announced that Biden would spend the night in Delaware.
Biden aides and allies have been privately concerned about the toll a guilty verdict would take on the 81-year-old president, for whom the personal loss was intimately intertwined with his public life. They say the president is less concerned about any personal political cost he might incur than he is concerned as the father of a son who is just a few years removed from the agonies of serious drug addiction.
The ruling came just before the president was scheduled to give a speech about his administration’s efforts to limit gun violence and toughen enforcement of gun laws at a conference hosted by the Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund in Washington.
From there, Biden will travel to his home in Delaware on Tuesday afternoon, where he was expected to reunite with his family, including Hunter, before departing for Italy on Wednesday morning to attend the Group of Seven summit. Biden spent more time than usual in Wilmington while the trial was underway, as part of a family show of support for Hunter.
First Lady Jill Biden was in court almost every day – and made a 24-hour journey back from France to give evidence on Friday – but she missed being there when the verdict was released on Tuesday. She returned to court a few minutes after the assessor chanted “guilty” three times. Several other family members were present throughout the trial.
The president himself did not appear in court, but followed the proceedings closely, with updates often coming from the first lady. However, every day when Hunter arrived at court, she would pass by a portrait of her father hanging on the wall as she walked through the doors.
Hunter Biden, in his own statement, like his father, spoke about family ties and the recovery process.
“I am more grateful today for the love and support I received from Melissa, my family, my friends and my community last week than I am disappointed in the outcome,” Hunter Biden said in a statement, first mentioning his wife. Recovery is possible by God’s grace, and I am blessed to experience this gift one day at a time.”
The trial was a highly personal tour of Hunter Biden’s drug use and mistakes. Jurors heard hours of testimony from Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, an ex-girlfriend and widow of her brother, who painted a picture of trips to strip clubs, infidelity, habitual crack use, and her failed efforts to help him get clean. Jurors were shown images of the president’s son bare-chested and disheveled in a filthy room and half-naked holding crack pipes. And they watched a video of his crack being weighed on a scale.
Prosecutors argued that the evidence was needed to prove to jurors that the 54-year-old was suffering from addiction when he purchased the gun and therefore lied on a gun purchase form when he said he did not use drugs illegally or was addicted to drugs. . .
“The evidence was personal. It was ugly and overwhelming,” argued prosecutor Leo Wise. “It was also absolutely necessary.”
Wise encouraged jurors during deliberations to evaluate the evidence. Then he swept his hand around the room, directing them to look at the gallery and the group of Biden family members sitting in the courtroom.
“All this is not evidence,” he said. “The people sitting in the gallery are not evidence.”
Even Republican critics acknowledged the Biden family’s pain.
“Anyone who has a child, I have my own children, anyone who has children, this is devastating for them,” said Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
