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Jury selection for the trial of President Biden's son, Hunter Biden

2024-06-03 19:20:11, Kosova & Bota CNA

Jury selection for the trial of President Biden's son, Hunter Biden

Jury selection for the trial of President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, began today. This follows the breakdown of a deal with prosecutors that would have avoided the spectacle of a trial so close to this year's November elections.

Hunter Biden, who spent the weekend with his father, has been charged in Delaware with three felonies related to purchasing a gun in 2018 when he himself said he was addicted to drugs. He is accused of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on a form that he was not a drug user and that he had illegally possessed the gun for 11 days.

He has pleaded not guilty and argued that he was unfairly targeted by the Justice Department, after Republicans condemned the deal with prosecutors, calling it special treatment for the son of a Democratic president.

The trial comes just days after former President Donald Trump, who is expected to be the Republican presidential candidate in this year's elections, was convicted of 34 criminal offenses in New York. A jury found the former president guilty of a scheme to conceal a payment to buy the silence of pornographic actress Stormy Daniels, intended to avoid damaging his 2016 presidential campaign. The two criminal cases are unrelated each other, but their closeness puts the criminal trials in the spotlight during the campaign for the November elections this year.

Hunter Biden will face another trial in California in September on charges that he failed to pay $1.4 million in taxes. Both cases were slated to be resolved through a plea deal with prosecutors last July, at the culmination of a years-long investigation into his businesses.

But Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was appointed to the post by former President Trump, questioned some unusual aspects of the deal, which included a guilty plea to misdemeanors to settle tax crimes and an agreement to drop a gun-carrying case. permit, if Hunter Biden would not commit any further offenses for two years. Lawyers for both sides were unable to reach a new settlement and the deal fell through. Attorney General Merrick Garland then appointed a special prosecutor in August of last year, and a month later Hunter Biden was indicted.

This trial is not about Mr. Hunter Biden's business ties to foreign countries, which Republicans say prove the Biden family's ties to corruption. But the trial will highlight some of Mr. Hunter Biden's darkest moments.

The president's allies are worried about the impact the trial could have on President Biden, who has long been concerned about the well-being and sanity of his only living son, whose painful past now will go public. He also protected his son. Hunter Biden spent the weekend with his son in Delaware, riding his bike and going to church.

Allies of Mr. Biden are also worried that the trial could draw attention away from the Democratic president's efforts to improve poor results in the polls and preparations for the first presidential debate, which is expected to be held later this month.

Prosecutors hope to prove that Hunter Biden was a drug user when he bought the gun and therefore lied on the form. They have said they plan to use his published stories as evidence and may also introduce documents found on a laptop he left at a repair shop in Delaware. Data stored on the laptop was frequently cited by Republicans in 2020, including a personal photo of him shirtless and doing drugs.

The judge will ask the candidates a series of questions to determine whether they can serve impartially on the jury, including whether they have given funds to political campaigns or run for political office. She will ask juror candidates whether their views on the 2024 presidential campaign will impede their ability to be impartial.

The judge will also ask if they believe Hunter Biden is being prosecuted because his father is president. Also, she will ask about gun purchases and drug addiction issues, including: "Do you believe that someone who is addicted to drugs should not be charged with a crime?"

The accusations against Mr. Hunter Biden focus on a period in which he himself has admitted that he was addicted to drugs. He began using drugs and drinking heavily in 2015, following the death of his brother, Beau Biden, from cancer. He bought and possessed a gun for 11 days in October 2018, but stated on the gun purchase form that he was not a drug user.

Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty in both cases, and his attorneys have suggested they could argue that he did not see himself as a drug addict when prosecutors say he said on a form that he was not a drug user. They will also attack the credibility of the gun shop owner.

Meanwhile, prosecutors are also planning to call Mr. Hunter Biden's ex-wife and his brother's widow, Hallie, with whom he had an intimate relationship, as witnesses.

If convicted, Hunter Biden could face up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders almost never receive anything close to the maximum, and it's unclear whether the sentence will include imprisonment./ VOA





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