5 months ago
30
WASHINGTON: The
criminal trial
of
Hunter Biden
kicked off on Monday in
federal court
in Delaware as Prez Joe Biden’s
son
faces
gun charges
in ahistoric case that begins four days after Donald Trump became the first former US president to be convicted.
Hunter Biden, 54, arrived at the courthouse for the first trial of the child of a sitting president, in which he will face three felony charges stemming from his purchase and possession of a revolver in 2018.
He has pleaded not guilty. It is one of two criminal cases he faces, with federal tax charges brought separately in California. First Lady Jill Biden, Hunter Biden’s wife Melissa Cohen Biden and his half-sister Ashley Biden were in attendance at the trial in Wilmington, before US district Judge Maryellen Noreika. “Jill and I love our son and we are so proud of the man he is today,” Joe Biden said in a statement, adding that a lot of families have loved ones who have overcome addiction.
Trump was convicted by a jury in state court in New York on Thursday of 34 felony counts of falsifying documents to cover up hush money paid to a porn star to avoid a sex scandal shortly before the 2016 US election that put him in the White House.
Hunter’s trial gives Republicans a chance to shift atten-tion away from Trump’s legal troubles. Trump is due to be sentenced on July 11. He has pleaded not guilty in three other pending criminal cases.
In the case brought by US special counsel David Weiss, a Trump appointee, last Sept Hunter was charged with lying about his use of illegal drugs when he bought a Colt Cobra .38-caliber revolver and with illegally possessing the weapon for 11 days in Oct 2018. Weiss, who has investigated Hunter since at least 2019, also brought the tax charges. If convicted on all charges in the Delaware case, Hunter faces up to 25 years in jail, though defendants generally receive shorter sentences, according to the justice department.
Noreika began screening potential jurors for their ability to commit to serving length of the trial, likely to run through end of next week.
