Hunter Biden set to be first child of sitting US President to be tried for crimes

WILMINGTON, Delaware – Just days after a historic guilty verdict against Donald Trump, Hunter Biden is set to become the

first child of a sitting US president to be tried

for crimes – two events that may inject fresh uncertainty into the 2024 White House race. 

Jury selection begins on June 3 in the first of two cases Biden has tried to avoid for years, and stay out of prison and spare his father, President Joe Biden, political and personal turmoil as he runs for a second term most likely against Trump. 

The trial in Wilmington, Delaware, on three federal gun violations is expected to plumb the depths of the younger Biden’s drug use. During that period, prosecutors allege he lied about his substance abuse on a federal form to illegally purchase a firearm. 

Special Counsel David Weiss has indicated he plans to raise painful events related to Hunter Biden’s conduct and events that involve the President.

Still, White House officials largely view the trial as a private matter for Hunter Biden tied to his personal behaviour from years ago. The President, who is expected to travel to France during part of the trial, will be monitoring it primarily as a parent who has supported his son’s recovery from addiction, according to a person familiar with his thinking.

There are no plans for the White House to publicly engage with the trial, said the person, who requested anonymity. But those plans could change, and the person did not rule out the President reacting to developments in real time.

While a possibility exists of a last-minute plea deal between the two sides, Hunter Biden’s legal team is prepared to argue the charges are unconstitutional and violate the Second Amendment, as well as point out flaws in the government’s evidence.

Mr Dick Harpootlian, a former South Carolina prosecutor, said jurors in Hunter Biden’s home state might wonder why prosecutors brought the criminal case against him now that he has shaken off his drug addiction. 

“It only takes one for a hung jury, and I can definitely see one or more jurors questioning the propriety of bringing this case,” added Mr Harpootlian, who now serves as a state senator.

The trial represents another highly politicised spectacle following former president Trump’s criminal trial in New York. That ended on May 30 with his

conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records

to cover up an affair with a porn star during the 2016 race.

Hunter Biden also has been charged by Mr Weiss in Los Angeles for nine federal tax violations and is scheduled to go on trial in that case in September.

The gun trial is expected to be short but dramatic, with prosecutors airing details about Hunter Biden’s drug-laden years that include excerpts from a book he wrote about it, Beautiful Things: A Memoir.

“His book is replete with admissions that establish he knew he was an addict and knew he was using crack cocaine throughout 2018, including in October 2018 when he purchased and possessed the gun,” prosecutors wrote in a May 20 trial brief.

Fordham University law professor Cheryl Bader, an ex-assistant US attorney who now runs the school’s criminal-law clinic, said Hunter Biden’s chances of winning an acquittal are slim given his acknowledgment in his memoir.

The latter has been open about his struggles with alcohol and drugs but said he has remained sober since mid-2019.

Federal prosecutors “only bring cases that they are confident they can win”, Ms Bader added.

Two of the gun counts carry maximum prison time of 10 years; another is punishable by as much as five years. However, judges rarely impose maximum sentences.

Hunter Biden’s lawyers plan to challenge the government’s charge that he bought the gun while he was a drug addict as constitutionally vague. They are set to argue that he was not using drugs when he purchased the weapon.

They also plan to contend that the seller did not comply with legal requirements in the gun sale and documentation.

“Intoxication from too much alcohol or using drugs, legal or illegal, may make it too dangerous for people to drive a car, operate heavy machinery, or possess a firearm one day, but they may be perfectly sober enough to do all those things the next day,” according to a May 23 trial brief by Hunter Biden’s lawyers. 

Mr Weiss was nominated by Trump to serve as the US attorney for Delaware and kept on by Mr Joe Biden. He was appointed as a special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2023 to manage the cases against Hunter Biden.

Hunter Biden and Mr Weiss agreed to a plea deal in 2023 to resolve both allegations, but the agreement fell apart under questioning by a federal judge overseeing the case.

Hunter Biden’s lawyers and supporters have argued that Mr Weiss then bowed to political pressure by Trump and conservatives in bringing the charges. BLOOMBERG