Hunter Biden will go on trial on gun charges in Delaware within walking distance of his father’s campaign headquarters in Wilmington, less than a week after former President Donald J. Trump was indicted in New York.
A year ago, the younger Mr. Biden seemed unlikely to be tried on the weapons charges he faced over a firearms application that prosecutors said was falsified, or on the more serious charge of failing to pay taxes on his business activities abroad while he was there. excessive drug and alcohol use and extravagant spending.
But a plea deal, which provides immunity from prosecution and does not include prison time, was struck in July. The judge in the case poked holes in the agreement, to the delight of Mr. Trump’s allies in Congress who are trying to scuttle the deal and foreshadowing Hunter Biden’s legal problems with the party’s 2024 presidential candidate in an attempt to impeach the President. Biden.
However, it is the son – not the father – who will be on trial twice during the election year. On Monday, he will report to Judge Maryellen Noreika’s fourth-floor courtroom when jury selection begins at 9 a.m. in a trial expected to last three to five days. The other, which will begin in September, includes several tax violations related to the failure to file returns for several years.
Last September, a federal grand jury indicted Mr. Biden on three felonies: defrauding a federally licensed gun dealer, making false claims on a federal firearms application used to screen applicants and possessing an illegally obtained gun for 11 days, beginning on October 12. until October 23, 2018.
“Hunter Biden possessed a firearm while knowing he was an illegal user or addicted to a stimulant, narcotic drug or other controlled substance, in violation of federal law,” prosecutors said.
If convicted, Mr. Biden could face up to 25 years in prison and a $750,000 fine. But nonviolent first-time offenders who haven’t been accused of using a weapon in another crime rarely get serious prison time for those charges. In fact, legal experts say there are sentences that could include a key element of the original plea deal — mandatory enrollment in a gun diversion program intended to reduce incarceration rates for the least serious gun crimes.
It is possible that the parties could reach another plea agreement, narrower than the first, although Mr. Biden’s legal team believes that prosecutors have decided to go to trial to avoid accusations that he showed special treatment.
After digs and baseless accusations, Republicans in Congress have yet to prove that President Biden profited from his son’s troubled dealings with a Ukrainian energy company. Now, he has abandoned his goal of impeaching the president, who he claims, without evidence, is the leader of the “Biden crime family.”
But the spectacle of Hunter Biden’s trial, and its timing, created significant headaches for the Biden campaign, as it sought to maximize the effect of Mr. Trump’s conviction without the distraction of having family members on the day of the trial after Mr. Trump was officially nominated. a criminal.
It also promises to be a harrowing personal ordeal for the president. The special counsel overseeing the prosecution, David C. Weiss, has signaled that he will air some of the Biden family’s most embarrassing secrets by calling Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, who is locked in a long legal battle with him over unpaid alimony. according to prosecutors.
A top representative for Mr. Weiss, Leo P. Wise, has filed court papers indicating that he also plans to call Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter Biden’s brother, Beau. Biden was dating Hunter Biden when he bought the gun in 2018 while struggling with drug addiction.
The gun charges relate to whether Mr. Biden lied on a standard form issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, when he bought a .38 pistol. Prosecutors say he falsely claimed he was not taking any drugs at the time.
Mr. Biden had the gun for less than two weeks, he said, before Hallie threw it in the trash, fearing he would harm himself.
It is relatively rare for such gun charges to be brought against first-time non-violent offenders like Mr. Biden, unless they are used as leverage to plead guilty to other crimes, such as drug trafficking, current and former prosecutors say.
ATF officials who initially reviewed Mr. Biden’s form believed the case would not have been prosecuted if it had been anyone other than Biden, especially since Mr. Biden had taken steps to overcome his addiction, according to former officials who spoke about the condition. anonymously to discuss details of the investigation.
Mr. Biden has been around for years and has written about his struggles with crack addiction and alcohol dependence in a memoir, which could be used as evidence in both trials. Since the plea agreement fell through, he has submitted to a drug test and passed it, according to his attorney Abbe Lowell.
How Mr. Biden plans to pay for high-profile, high-priced legal representation in both trials remains an open question.
His main benefactor, who has issued a loan of almost $7 million to the president’s son, told his friends that he was running out of liquid assets. This has led to a chronic cash crisis that has left Mr. Biden’s lawyers working for little or no compensation. Efforts to create a legal defense fund have been defunct.
Judge Noreika, a Trump appointee, had indicated in early court that he wanted the process to be quick and focused on Mr. Biden’s conduct in completing his firearms application.
They also ruled that Mr. Biden’s lawyers could not mention that local authorities declined to prosecute him when the gun was recovered. They also barred Mr Weiss from making reference to the tax case when giving evidence in Delaware.
Last month, the federal judge in Los Angeles presiding over the tax case agreed to push back the start of the trial from later this month to September 5, giving Mr Biden’s lawyers room to prepare.
While the move comes as a relief to President Biden’s son, it’s a test that may highlight Hunter’s Biden efforts to use his family name to his advantage in the campaign season.
Mr. Biden has pleaded not guilty to charges of evading tax assessment, failing to file and pay taxes, and filing false or fraudulent tax returns.
