The trial in the austere courthouse in Wilmington (Delaware) had all the ingredients for a blockbuster spectacle: lies, sex, love, drugs, tears. But above all, this American drama took place at the center of world power, in the inner circle of the “First Family.” The man convicted of violating gun laws is Hunter Biden, the only surviving son of the US President.
The fact that the 54-year-old was found guilty on all counts is a sensation in several respects. Never before in US history has the child of a sitting president been convicted of a crime. Hunter Biden illegally bought a revolver in 2018 because he was addicted to crack at the time and had concealed this when he bought the weapon. He faces up to 25 years in prison, and the sentence will be announced in the coming weeks.
The case further fueled political tension in the USA because Donald Trump and his Republicans have been accusing the Biden clan of corruption for years. Now they have finally received their first conviction. But judging by the polls and reactions, the hoped-for shot at the official has backfired. The conviction of Biden Junior has no influence on the decision of the large majority of voters on both sides.
The father’s campaign team nevertheless picked up the ball that the twelve-member jury in Wilmington had passed to them. Joe Biden is trailing in the decisive states in the race against Trump for the presidency. Up until now, Biden had not made any public comments on the trial against his son. That changed after the verdict.
“I am the president, but I am also a father. Jill (Biden’s wife and Hunter’s stepmother, ed.) and I love our son and we are so proud of the man he is today. We will always be here for him. Nothing can change that,” said the emotional statement. “Hunter’s resilience in the face of many adversities and the strength he showed in rehab are an inspiration to us.”
Statements that millions of American voters can relate to, who have or have had painful experiences with drug addicts in their families. Of the 65 citizens who were selected as jurors in Wilmington, two dozen had drug addicts among their friends or family members. Statistically, 17 percent of US citizens have an addiction problem.
The public fascination with the trial, however, came not only from the “fallen” president’s son, but above all from the female protagonists who had to testify in court as witnesses: Hunter Biden’s daughter, his ex-wife and two ex-lovers – one of them, moreover, the widow of his own brother Beau Biden, who died of a brain tumor in 2015.
After her husband’s death, Hallie Biden began a relationship with her brother-in-law, who seduced her into smoking crack. She said she regretted and was ashamed “of that time in my life.” It was also Hallie Biden who found the revolver in her then-partner’s car in October 2018 and threw it into a garbage can at a supermarket “in a panic.”
Hunter Biden’s daughter Naomi also testified about her father’s drug addiction. In tears, she reported how Hunter seemed to be overcoming his drug addiction for a while, but then kept relapsing. When he once asked for her car at two in the morning, she sent him a desperate text message. “Dad, I’m sorry, but I can’t take this anymore.”
As she left the courtroom, she hugged her father. As Hunter left the building after his conviction, two women held his hand: his second wife Melissa Cohen and his stepmother Jill Biden, who was in the courtroom on several days and left the D-Day celebrations in France early to be present at the verdict. Her husband has already ruled out using the power of his office to pardon his own son.
