(New York) On this first Monday in June, Hunter Biden will perhaps wonder why the rigging of justice of which Donald Trump and his allies accuse his father does not work in his favor.
After all, he will become the first offspring of a sitting American president to have a criminal trial, in federal court at that. And, if he is found guilty, his chances of receiving a prison sentence of several years will be greater than those of the former Republican president, whose trial in New York ended last Thursday with a guilty verdict historical.
That said, Hunter Biden would not be the only major Democrat these days to find Republican accusations of “instrumentalization of justice” exaggerated, even absurd, as we will see later. But his case eclipses the others. His family connection with the occupant of the White House obviously has a lot to do with it.
But we must add to this the intimate or scabrous details which will be disclosed during this trial which will open in Wilmington, the first city in Delaware, with the selection of the jurors. Stormy Daniels can almost go get dressed.
Crack, Colt and Cloud
Hunter Biden, 54, is accused of committing three crimes related to the purchase of a firearm (a Colt Cobra) on October 12, 2018: lying on a federal form about his drug use; have allowed this form to be federally registered; and possessing the firearm while a drug user.
Among the expected witnesses: Kathleen Buhle, ex-wife of Hunter Biden and mother of three of his five children; Lunden Roberts, ex-flame of Hunter Biden with whom he had a daughter born in August 2018; and Hallie Biden, widow of Beau Biden, who was romantically involved with Hunter Biden, her brother-in-law, after her husband’s death.
According to the suit, Hallie Biden played a key role in the affair by throwing the Colt Cobra into a trash can behind a supermarket. The weapon was found in its holster and handed over to the police by a recyclable waste collector.
Federal prosecutors plan to show jurors excerpts from Beautiful ThingsHunter Biden’s memoirs published in 2021, as well as text messages and other digital documents found on his iCloud accounts or on his famous laptop – extracts and documents according to them proving the crack addiction of Joe Biden’s son in the months that preceded and followed the purchase of the firearm.
One of the extracts from Beautiful Things withheld by federal prosecutors reads: “I was addicted to crack. I had no plan beyond the incessant calls of crack pipes. » Federal prosecutors will also try to demonstrate that traces of cocaine were detected in the Colt’s holster.
The defense will argue that Hunter Biden did not consider himself a drug user or addict when he purchased the firearm.
“Someone, like Mr. Biden, who had just completed an 11-day rehabilitation program and then lived with a sober partner, could certainly believe that he was not an addict or drug user,” wrote Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, in a court document filed last month.
The defense also intends to attack the prosecution’s material evidence, including this case where traces of cocaine were detected. It will show that these traces were analyzed in 2023, five years after the discovery of the firearm.
Resurrected trials
This trial was not even supposed to take place. Last July, the United States Attorney in Delaware, David Weiss, appointed by Donald Trump, and Hunter Biden’s lawyers reached an agreement by which the president’s son would avoid prison by pleading guilty to two crimes: tax fraud and illegal possession of a firearm.
However, Delaware federal judge Maryellen Noreika, also appointed by Donald Trump, refused to approve this agreement which had been strongly criticized by Republicans.
Result: Hunter Biden finds himself today with two trials on his back. That of Wilmington and another in California for tax evasion, scheduled for September.
In Delaware, Hunter Biden faces a maximum prison sentence of 25 years for an offense that rarely goes to trial if it is not related to violence or another alleged crime.
As a prominent Democrat, the president’s son certainly does not feel like he is receiving preferential treatment from the Department of Justice, any more than two elected officials from his party, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez and Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, both facing charges these days for receiving bribes from foreign entities.
The irony is that Hunter Biden could get away with it thanks to one of the Republicans’ favorite judges on the Supreme Court, in this case Clarence Thomas. In June 2022, the latter signed a major ruling on the Second Amendment, ruling that restrictions on the right to own a firearm must be linked to historical precedent.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer has already signaled that he could rely on this ruling to challenge a possible guilty verdict. “Because people protected by the Second Amendment can no longer be denied gun ownership simply because of their past drug use – a practice inconsistent with this nation’s historic tradition of gun regulation. fire,” Abbe Lowell argued in a court document.
Would Joe Biden and the Democrats approve of this reasoning? Not sure.
Joe Biden accused of witness tampering
Joe Biden appears to have escaped efforts by congressional Republicans who wanted to impeach him for allegedly profiting from his son’s business and using the levers of power to help him. But Hunter Biden continues to attract criticism. Last Monday, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz accused him of witness tampering. The day before, he had visited the home of Hallie Biden, widow of Beau Biden, who should be called to the stand during Hunter Biden’s trial in Wilmington. “Joe Biden decided that a little bit of witness tampering was a good way to start this trial,” Senator Cruz said during an episode of his podcast. The White House said the president visited Hallie Biden in anticipation of the ninth anniversary of Beau Biden’s death, marked last Thursday. Joe Biden spent the last days with members of his family, including his son Hunter.