Experts: Hunter Biden conviction 'makes it much harder' for Trump to make 'rigged' claims

11 June 2024

On Tuesday, Hunter Biden became the first family member of a sitting U.S. president to be convicted on criminal charges. Various legal experts, journalists and commentators agreed that President Joe Biden's Department of Justice convicting his own son on felony charges may be a loss for Hunter, but a win for the rule of law.

Biden, who is 54 years old, was found guilty on three counts relating to his 2018 purchase of a handgun in Delaware while he was struggling with his crack cocaine addiction. On the form supplied by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the president's son lied on the portion of the form asking potential gun buyers if they are addicted to illegal drugs. Two of Biden's convictions were for lying on federal forms, and the third was for possession of the gun itself. His girlfriend disposed of the revolver after just 11 days, saying she was worried about him potentially harming himself due to his addiction. President Biden had previously vowed to not pardon his son if the jury convicted him. Politico legal correspondent Josh Gerstein reported that the three-hour deliberation had everyone expecting a guilty verdict.

In a post to the social media platform X, Financial Times associate editor Edward Luce argued that Hunter Biden's convictions are "politically useful" for Democrats heading into the November election, given the contrast with how former President Donald Trump has responded to his own 34 felony convictions.

"[Hunter Biden's verdict] Makes it much harder for Trump to argue the system is rigged against him," Luce tweeted.

Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner struck a similar chord in his own reaction to the verdict, noting that President Biden has left the process alone even though his own son now faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in federal prison.

"The jury convicted Hunter Biden in accordance w/the evidence. But what was really outrageous was how the judge & his staff were threatened throughout the trial, how the prosecutors were doxxed, how the witnesses were hounded, how the jurors were endangered," Kirschner wrote, sarcastically adding, "Oh wait..."

Adam Carlson, who is a former pollster with Global Strategy Group, noted that "no one" in the Democratic Party has called Hunter Biden's trial a "WITCH HUNT" or a "RIGGED TRIAL" as Trump did with his own criminal proceedings, and also observed the lack of Democrats sympathizing with Hunter Biden and calling him a "political prisoner."

"Because Democrats, for all of our faults, are the party of grownups," Carlson tweeted.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Florida) echoed that sentiment, tweeting that "unlike [Marjorie Taylor Greene] and MAGA no Democrat will call for Civil War." Vanity Fair special correspondent Molly Jong-Fast tweeted that "the law is the law for everyone" and columnist Michael Cohen (whose Twitter screen name includes the line "NOT TRUMP'S FORMER FIXER") wryly observed that "Joe Biden kind of stinks at weaponizing the justice system."

Former FBI general counsel Andrew Weissmann, who is a former assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said on MSNBC that Hunter Biden's guilty verdict symbolizes President Biden's commitment to the system.

"I'm more interested in what it tells us about the rule of law," Weissmann said. "You have the president making it clear that he will not pardon him…The big picture here is... that you have a president of the United States who is the living embodiment of the rule of law."

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