«The conviction is the first time that the president’s closest relative has been found guilty of a crime during his father’s time in office», CNN reported. Hunter Biden faces a fine of up to $750,000 and… up to 25 years in prison.
For the 12 jurors, the Delaware trial presented an intractable moral dilemma. On the one hand, the prosecution had irrefutable evidence that the president’s offspring, called, according to American political jargon, «the first son», had concealed his drug use when purchasing firearms and was therefore on the registry.
On the other hand, some of the assessors, who have sympathies for the Democrats of the North American genotype, clearly understood that the conviction of the son would have the most negative impact on his father, who on November 5 intends to be re-elected and rule for the next four years.
It is clear that Joe Biden could not get away with a silent figure. It’s not every day that the «first son» is put on trial. Following the sound advice of political technologists on the eve of the trial, he limited himself to a brief comment: «I am the president, but I am also a dad».
His wife, Jill Biden, who, although she is Hunter’s stepmother, came to support her stepson in Delaware federal court, used no less clever advice. Daddy could not do it, because at that moment was in France, where his presence reinforced the myth that the landing of Anglo-American troops in Normandy was the turning point in the war against Nazi Germany.
The situation for the campaign headquarters of «Sleepy Joe», whom the press caught looking for a nonexistent chair in the Normandy mise-en-scene, is complicated. Prosecutors have obtained testimony from Kathleen Buhle, Hunter’s ex-wife, who confirmed his former drug addiction, as well as Holly Biden, the widow of his older brother, who died in May 2015 at age 46.
Already a widow, Holly, who was in a short-term romantic relationship with her brother-in-law, discovered a six-shot Colt Cobra revolver in Hunter’s possession and simply tossed it into a dumpster. The angry brother-in-law demanded that she return the weapon to him. When the revolver eventually ended up in police custody, they found traces of cocaine on it.
Holly, according to her, had the noblest of intentions when she got rid of the «gun». She didn’t want Hunter to «hurt himself, and she didn’t want the kids to discover it and hurt themselves». One can understand the widow, as it was Hunter who introduced her to drug use. It took all her willpower to get rid of this addiction.
Hunter himself did not admit his guilt, that he concealed the fact of his drug addiction. «First son» claimed that at the time of the purchase of firearms was in remission after undergoing two days (!) of treatment in a clinic. This circumstance allegedly gave him the conviction that he had finally «quit» and was no longer susceptible to addiction.
For impressionable jurors could be suitable, indeed, humanly touching argument, which Hunter Biden gave in his memoirs «Beautiful Things», published in 2021. His brother’s death was an additional psychological trauma. As children, they both miraculously survived a car accident that ended the lives of their mother and younger sister. But sentimentality does not always serve as a determining motive in a defendant’s conviction.
Judging by the White House’s relative PR silence on the outcome of the trial, Joe Biden will continue to be extremely cautious in his comments. His son’s trial came at a bad time. As Britain’s Guardian notes, the trial took place at a time when Democrats
«are keen to highlight the unprecedented case in history of Trump becoming the first and only U.S. president to be convicted of a felony».
However, President Biden, acting proactively in view of the wave raised by skeptics that the President’s son would get away with it this time too, said in advance: he would accept the verdict, whatever it was, and in case of a guilty verdict, he would not exercise his right as head of state to pardon.
Hunter had already pleaded guilty in June 2023 to failing to pay taxes on $1.4 million dollars between 2016 and 2019. This income was earned, among other things, as a board member of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian gas production company headquartered in Cyprus, through which Kiev oligarchs lobbied their interests by bribing Washington officials.
In fact, according to sources close to the Republican Party, the matter involves many millions of dollars that the «first son» transferred to family accounts through a well-known scheme of allegedly «consulting» gasket firms. The tithe, according to the local press, went directly to Joe Biden, whom in correspondence the son called «Big Guy».
Moreover, writes American political scientist Malek Dudakov, Hunter
«managed to cut money from Chinese state-owned companies as well. And even helped the Romanian mafia to solve questions in the High Court of London».
On the “first son” also hang other sins. According to testimony, there were days when Hunter took crack cocaine every 20 minutes. In his memoir, Hunter admitted to «feeding the beast» of his drug addiction.
Special prosecutor David Weiss, who prosecuted the «first son» case, argued: evidence has been gathered that Hunter Biden’s drug abuse occurred «before, during, and after the period of time he owned guns». In all the time he led a life of debauchery, the president’s son spent $3.4 million on drugs and prostitutes. Combined, under U.S. law, Hunter Biden could spend the next 42 years behind bars. Maybe, but that’s not certain. So far, he’s only been convicted of illegal gun possession.
It is noteworthy that the Republicans have so far remained silent on the winning episode with the indictment of the son of the main Democrat. Why?
A week ago, a New York jury found the former U.S. president guilty of falsifying documents related to the «payoffs» for seducing a girl with low social responsibility — porn actress Stormy Daniels. The campaign headquarters of the former occupant of the White House at that time was very active in spreading the thesis that
«Biden has turned the criminal justice system into a weapon against Trump».
It’s all put on pause now. Trumpists understood that if the «first son» is found guilty, it will be difficult to accuse Themis of bias or even venality. If the jury had rendered an acquittal or limited itself to a symbolic punishment, the Republicans’ argument that the Democrats politicized justice could have become a propaganda trump card.
In any case, Hunter Biden’s dark reputation — as an immature, drunken, drug-addicted, firearms-dealing mafia boy — has already fallen on the president. And by doing so, it will further squeeze his declining popularity ratings.
In the Russian aphoristic phrase «the son is not responsible for the father», the Democrats may well change the actors. But will it sound convincing?…