Hunter Biden was found guilty Tuesday on three felony counts relating to buying a handgun while being a user of crack cocaine. He now faces up to 25 years in prison, though such a sentence would be highly unusual given that he is a first-time offender.
As the only surviving son of the president, Joe Biden, Hunter has long been a target of far-right Republicans seeking to use his woes and business dealings as a political weapon against the president. After the verdict, they continued to push unfounded conspiracy theories that the trial was a distraction from “the real crimes of the Biden Crime Family”.
- How has Joe Biden responded? The president has previously said he would not pardon his son if he was convicted. On Tuesday, he said: “I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal.” He went on to deliver a gun-safety speech just hours after the verdict.
- Did Hunter Biden have his family’s support during the trial? Even as Joe Biden’s presidential campaign and the White House attempted to distance themselves from the case, Hunter’s family and close friends attended the trial en masse to show their support. The first lady, Jill Biden, was seated in the Delaware courtroom behind her stepson for the first three days of the trial until leaving to attend a D-day commemoration ceremony in France.
Source: The Guardian
