In a special edition of “The Top 10 Stories You Need To Know This Week,” we focus on Hunter Biden’s conviction today in Delaware.
Here are 10 things you need to know about the big case:
1. What Was Hunter Convicted Of?
A Delaware jury convicted Hunter Biden of owning a gun while being a user of illegal drugs—in this case, crack cocaine.
2. How Was He Caught?
Biden purchased a Colt revolver at a Wilmington gun shop in October of 2018. He had it for 11 days before his ex wife threw it in the dumpster of a local grocery store. A scavenger who checks the trash regularly found the gun, and turned it over to police.
3. What Was His Defense?
Biden will appeal the conviction. His lawyers argued that the federal law barring drug users from having guns is unconstitutional under the Supreme Court’s increasingly friendly view of the 2nd Amendment’s right to bear arms. Judge Noreika rejected the argument. He did not take the stand.
4. Has This Happened Before?
No child of a sitting President has ever been convicted in a criminal trial before.
5. What Has Joe Biden Said?
Biden is said to be worried about Hunter going to jail, and becoming a crack addict again. However, Biden has said he will not pardon his son.
6. What Will Sentencing Look Like?
Judge Noreika has not set a sentencing date, but says it will happen within 4 months, by the beginning of October. Though facing up to 25 years, he is expected to get anywhere from probation to 2 years in federal prison.
7. Are There More Charges Ahead?
Biden also faces more charges later this year for allegedly failing to pay more than $1.4 million in taxes on time. A trial in that case is scheduled to begin in September in Los Angeles.
8. What Has President Trump Said?
President Trump has largely been silent about the trial and the verdict—so far.
“Crooked Joe Biden will do anything to distract from Hunter’s trial and the fact his family has raked in tens of millions of dollars from China, Russia and Ukraine. The Biden Family Criminal Empire is all coming to an end on November 5th, and never again will a Biden sell government access for personal profit,” Trump senior adviser Jason Miller said.
9. Wasn’t There A Plea Deal?
According to Politico, “Biden nearly avoided facing trials on both the gun charges and the tax charges. Last year, Weiss’ office and Biden’s legal team struck a tentative deal in which Biden would have pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and submitted to drug testing and other monitoring. Under the deal, prosecutors would have deferred the gun charges and eventually dropped them if Biden remained out of trouble.”
10. Who Is The Prosecutor?
Special Counsel David Weiss brought both the gun case and the tax case after years of investigating Hunter.
