Hunter Biden’s criminal trial begins in aftermath of Trump conviction

Delaware – The criminal trial of Hunter Biden kicked off on June 3 in federal court in Delaware as President Joe Biden’s son faces gun charges in a historic case that begins four days after Donald Trump became the first former US president to be convicted.

Hunter Biden, 54, arrived at the courthouse for

the first trial of the child of a sitting president,

in which he will face three felony charges stemming from his purchase and possession of a revolver in 2018. He has pleaded not guilty. It is one of two criminal cases he faces, with federal tax charges brought separately in California.

First Lady Jill Biden, Hunter Biden’s wife Melissa Cohen Biden and his half-sister Ashley Biden were in attendance at the trial in Wilmington, before US District Judge Maryellen Noreika.

“Jill and I love our son and we are so proud of the man he is today,” Mr Joe Biden said in a statement, adding that a lot of families have loved ones who have overcome addiction.

Trump was

convicted by a jury

in state court in New York on May 30 of 34 felony counts of falsifying documents to cover up hush money paid to a porn star to avoid a sex scandal shortly before the 2016 US election that put him in the White House. Trump is the Republican candidate challenging Mr Joe Biden, a Democrat, in the Nov 5 US election.

Hunter Biden’s trial gives Republicans a chance to shift attention away from Trump’s legal troubles. Trump is due to be sentenced on July 11. He has pleaded not guilty in three other pending criminal cases.

In the case brought by US Special Counsel David Weiss, a Trump appointee, in September 2023, Hunter Biden was

charged with lying about his use of illegal drugs

when he bought a Colt Cobra .38-calibre revolver and with illegally possessing the weapon for 11 days in October 2018. Mr Weiss, who has investigated the younger Biden since at least 2019, also brought the tax charges.

If convicted on all charges in the Delaware case, he faces up to 25 years in prison, though defendants generally receive shorter sentences, according to the US Justice Department.

He spent the weekend with his father in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, with the pair biking and attending church together on June 1. The President, who had been expected to depart from Rehoboth Beach on June 3, travelled on June 2 evening to his home in Wilmington.

Potential jurors

Judge Noreika began screening potential jurors for their ability to commit to serving the length of the trial, which is expected to run until the end of next week.

“Do you think you can put aside your views on gun ownership,” she asked a potential juror, who responded that she could be impartial.

Other potential jurors were asked about addiction, convictions and run-ins with law enforcement.

All 12 jurors must agree he is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to convict.

The case is expected to centre on Hunter Biden’s years-long crack cocaine use and addiction, which he has discussed publicly and which was a prominent part of his 2021 autobiography Beautiful Things. He told Judge Noreika at a hearing in 2023 that he has been sober since the middle of 2019.

Prosecutors will seek to prove that he knew he was lying when he ticked the box for “no” next to a question on a federal gun purchase form asking if he was an unlawful user of a controlled substance.

Prosecution lawyers revealed in court filings that they may use details gleaned from his phone and iCloud account, including photos of him smoking crack and messages with drug dealers. They said they may call as a witness his former wife Kathleen Buhle, who accused him in their 2017 divorce proceedings of squandering money on drugs, alcohol and prostitutes.

Hunter Biden’s lawyers have indicated they may try to show he had completed a drug rehabilitation program before purchasing the gun and may have considered his answer on the gun purchase form to be truthful.

A plea agreement that would have resolved the gun and tax charges without prison time collapsed in 2023 after Judge Noreika questioned the extent of the immunity it extended to Hunter Biden. His lawyers blamed Republican pressure for the failure of the plea agreement.

Judge Noreika entered multiple orders at the weekend that were requested by prosecutors and that appeared to undercut Hunter Biden’s legal strategy.

The judge said Hunter Biden’s legal team could not introduce expert testimony that people suffering from substance abuse disorder might not consider themselves an addict.

That testimony could have helped him show that he did not know he was lying on the background check form. The government is required to prove that he knowingly lied.

Congressional Republicans spent years in vain trying to find evidence of a corrupt link between Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, including work for Ukrainian energy company Burisma, and his father’s political power. REUTERS