OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
First son Hunter Biden’s legal problems are about to reach a crescendo in the coming months, which will add new anxieties for his family even as his father, President Joe Biden, eases his way out of the White House and into retirement.
On Friday, the federal judge presiding over his gun case set his sentencing hearing for November, roughly a week after the election.
In June, Hunter Biden made history as the first son of a sitting president to be criminally convicted. He was found guilty on three charges related to a 2018 gun purchase: lying on a federal form about his drug use to obtain a firearm, submitting a false statement into federal records, and unlawfully possessing the firearm for 11 days. He will appear at a Wilmington, Delaware, federal courthouse on Wednesday, November 13, for his sentencing, eight days after the presidential election.
The court filing detailing the court date also included additional instructions on logistics, such as the deadlines for submitting the presentence report and guidelines for communicating with the probation officer, the Washington Examiner reported.
“Biden’s legal troubles didn’t end with the gun trial, however. He will head to court next month over a federal tax evasion trial in California, where he faces six felony and three misdemeanor charges,” the outlet added.
U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi, a Trump appointee, “has scheduled a hearing for Aug. 21 to review the various requests about what evidence and testimony to permit at trial, while the trial itself is set to begin on Sept. 9.”
One of the 12 jurors who voted to convict Hunter Biden on three felony counts related to an illegal gun purchase revealed what led them all to their decision following the June trial.
A juror who spoke to the New York Post said that messages between Hunter Biden and Hallie Biden, who was the wife of his late brother, Beau Biden, with whom Hunter had a fling, were important in showing Hunter’s state of mind and condition at the time he bought the gun.
“[The text messages showed], in my opinion, he was training to get drugs,” said a juror whom the outlet described as a black 51-year-old woman from upper Delaware.
In her testimony during the trial, Hallie Biden was presented with a text message from October 13, 2018, which was one day after Hunter Biden purchased the gun. The text indicated that he was sitting in a car, waiting for a crack dealer named Mookie. Hallie testified that she believed “that he was buying crack cocaine.” A text the following day from Hunter said he was smoking crack and sleeping in a car.
According to the juror and others on the panel, a series of damning text messages between the first son and his sister-in-law were key to convicting him.
Two of Hunter’s former business partners, meanwhile, have jumped on the Trump Train.
Tony Bobulinski and Devon Archer were both business partners of first son Hunter, but not in the same businesses. The two men had never met each other until they started assisting investigations into Hunter’s business dealings and now they are close friends. The assassination attempt against Trump on July 13 are what finally convinced them to support the former president.
“I’ve been on the sidelines as a truth-teller for over a year,” Archer, Hunter’s former partner in Rosemont Seneca Partners and a friend from his Yale days, said. “After the events of Saturday, I’ve decided it’s time to get on the field because the truth matters,” he added.
Hunter Biden “looks kind of defeated. He looks kind of helpless to me,” the juror said. “I think he just needs to get away somewhere and get some real rehab if he hasn’t. Hopefully, he’s still not using.”
The Post reported that although the verdict was reached quickly on Tuesday, it didn’t seem that way on Monday following an informal vote, according to another juror. The juror noted that five jury members changed their minds overnight. Also, The Post noted that the final juror was uncertain Hunter was using crack at the time of the gun purchase, but reviewed the evidence again and concluded that he was.
The Delaware juror said the group “worked together really well.”
