Not sure that "sad" is the term I'd use. The idea that this this dude, drugged out of his mind at the time wanted to run around with a hand gun is chilling. Thank god his wife had the good sense to dispose of the gun when she found it, realizing that he was a threat when armed.
Of course Hunter's transgressions go much further. He's likely to be found guilty of selling access to his father to foreign actors. Joe will claim he was too out to lunch to know what was happening. I suppose that's his excuse for his entire presidency.
The Sad Case of Hunter Biden
The President helped put his son in this legal predicament.
By The Editorial Board, WSJ
June 5, 2024 5:41 pm ET
Hunter Biden’s felony trial on federal gun charges began this week in Delaware, and the opening arguments revealed the considerable jeopardy facing the President’s son. The sad political fact to keep in mind as the trial unfolds is the role President Biden himself played in getting to this unfortunate stage.
As a legal matter, the facts of the case are strong. Hunter Biden is charged with three felony counts related to his 2018 purchase of a .38 caliber Colt Cobra: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, lying on the application form when he said he wasn’t a drug user or addict, and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
On Tuesday defense attorney Abbe Lowell argued in opening statements that Hunter believed he wasn’t a user or addict on the day he filled out the form and therefore did not knowingly lie. Mr. Lowell also suggested the cocaine residue on the bag in which the gun was discarded might have belonged to Hallie Biden, his brother Beau’s widow and Hunter’s then girlfriend.
But the prosecution played excerpts of Hunter reading from his own memoirs describing his extensive drug use during that period. On Wednesday Hunter’s former wife, Kathleen Buhle, testified for the prosecution about his drug use, and Hallie Biden is also expected to testify.
Hunter’s defenders say he is being singled out for unfair treatment because few people are tried for lying on the gun application form. But former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy says that’s true only when the purchase isn’t fulfilled.
In this case Hunter purchased the gun and handled it irresponsibly. He would have retained it for more than those 11 days if Hallie Biden hadn’t found it and tossed it in a grocery store dumpster. A Republican Senate and Democratic House increased the penalty for this gun offense to 15 from 10 years in 2022, signaling that they want those cases prosecuted. Joe Biden signed that legislation.
It’s fair to ask why this case took six years to bring to trial. Thank U.S. Attorney David Weiss and the way the President handled the evidence of his son’s laptop when the New York Post reported it in October 2020. In a debate with Donald Trump, Mr. Biden repeated the lie that the laptop was a case of Russian disinformation.
The lie made it inevitable that Republicans would seek to pursue the truth if Mr. Biden was elected. The gun charge and the nine felony and misdemeanor tax charges that will go to trial later are one result.
As for Mr. Weiss, he took years to investigate and then offered a complicated plea deal that looked like special treatment. Mr. Weiss couldn’t answer basic questions from federal Judge Maryellen Noreika about the deal, which included no jail time and a blanket promise of no future prosecution. A former FBI supervisor told Congress that IRS and FBI agents had been hamstrung in pursuing the evidence.
A political uproar ensued, and Attorney General Merrick Garland made Mr. Weiss a special counsel. The AG had boxed himself into a political corner after he had named Jack Smith a special counsel to investigate Mr. Trump. Mr. Weiss followed with the gun and tax indictments against Hunter. As we warned when Mr. Smith was appointed, using the legal system against political opponents would inevitably hurt Democrats too.
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On Friday President Biden tweeted “no one is above the law” in response to Mr. Trump’s conviction in New York. So it must have stung when federal prosecutors used the same words on Tuesday to open their criminal case against his son.
The case is being heard in Wilmington, a city where the President is a favorite son, and Mr. Lowell’s strategy will no doubt appeal for sympathy for Hunter’s drug use. The defense may be looking for jury nullification, and first lady Jill Biden’s presence in court underscored the presidential family ties.
In days to come Americans will see photos and hear testimony that will prove embarrassing for the Bidens and friends. That’s especially true for his father, in the thick of a tight presidential race. But for all the talk of equality under the law, Hunter Biden has one advantage over other defendants. He knows his father the President can pardon him if he is found guilty.
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