Hunter Biden, U.S. President Joe Biden’s son, has been found guilty on all counts by a public jury in Wilmington, Delaware, for having violated federal gun laws.
It marks the first time that a child of a sitting U.S. president has been convicted of a crime.
Biden, 54, had been charged with three different offenses: two counts of making false statements about his drug use and one count of possessing a gun while a drug user.
According to U.S. federal law, when purchasing a firearm, the buyer must officially declare that he does not have a habit of using illegal drugs.
According to the jury, Biden willfully lied when he filled out the necessary paperwork to purchase a Colt revolver, since he was using illegal drugs—in his case crack cocaine—at time of purchase.
Hunter Biden risks 25 years in prison and a maximum fine of $750,000. Yet it is unlikely that he will actually have to go to jail, since this is his first offense and he did not use the gun to commit violence.
His lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement the legal team would “vigorously pursue all the legal challenges available to Hunter.” His client also faces a separate tax case in California.
Soon after the verdict, U.S. President Joe Biden issued a statement saying he accepted the outcome of the case and would respect the judicial process as his son considers an appeal.
In an earlier interview with CNN, the president said he would not use his executive powers to pardon his son, should he have to go to prison.
The judge presiding over the case, Maryellen Noreika, has not yet set a date for sentencing, though sentencing usually occurs 120 days after the verdict. That would be in mid-October, just before the U.S. presidential election on November 5th.
A prison sentence would reflect poorly on Biden Sr., 81. Recent polls put him neck and neck with Republican competitor Donald Trump, who was himself found guilty last month at a heavily politicized New York state trial.
Meanwhile, Trump’s team has commented on the outcome of Hunter Biden’s trial. “This trial has been nothing more than a distraction from the real crimes of the Biden Crime Family, which has raked in tens of millions of dollars from China, Russia, and Ukraine,” Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
The Bidens have come under scrutiny for allegedly having operated a lucrative side hustle, earning millions in foreign payments, to which end Hunter Biden made use of his father (first as vice-president, now as POTUS) and his political connections.
In December 2023, House Republicans launched an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden and his family, for “high crimes and misdemeanors”—a crime that can lead to the accused’s removal from office if convicted in a Senate trial. The impeachment inquiry is ongoing.
