More than 250 potential jurors have been called in Wilmington, Delaware, as Hunter Biden faces charges over lying on a federal form when he purchased a firearm in 2018. The jury of 12, and four alternates, will be selected from that pool after being asked if they are influenced by the fact the Hunter is Joe Biden’s son, if they have made financial contributions to any political parties, or have themselves run for political office.
Once the jurors are selected, the trial is expected to last two weeks.
The defense has already suffered a number of setbacks. It initially relied on a plea deal with the prosecution whereby the younger Biden would plead guilty to various tax-related charges if the gun charges were dropped. But that deal fell through, thanks to a ruling by the Trump-nominated judge in this trial, Maryellen Noreika.
Last night, Noreika made it even more difficult for Biden’s defense by disallowing an “expert” witness to poke holes in the prosecution’s likely claim that Biden knew what he was doing when he purchased the firearm. She also tossed the claim that the federal Form 4473 Biden completed had been altered by the gun store’s employees.
What’s left for the defense is how the actual question that Biden answered is worded, and whether he answered it truthfully or not. The question from the Form 4473 is: “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?”
Biden’s defense team will likely claim that he answered it “no” truthfully, since he had just completed an 11-day drug rehab session and was therefore “clean.” Noreika laid down the rules on May 24 when she decided that the jury may consider whether or not Biden was “generally” under the influence when he purchased the firearm.
Biden himself provided the answer in his ill-timed and highly revealing memoir, Beautiful Things, in which he admitted to using cocaine every 15 minutes during the time of his purchase of the firearm.
He is being charged with not only lying on the form, but also acknowledging that “making any false oral or written statement, or exhibiting any false or misrepresented identification with respect to this transaction, is a crime punishable as a felony under Federal law.”
If convicted, the younger Biden could spent 15 years in jail. As a first offender, though, he is likely to spend little time behind bars.
Why then would the trial take the estimated two weeks? He lied. He knew he lied. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. Go directly to jail.
First, he is the president’s son. He belongs to that special class of criminals and miscreants who can violate all manner of laws and get away with them.
Second, it’s political season. Everything is being done through that optic: Will a conviction serve the Biden family interests? Will his conviction affect the presidential election? The question of guilt or innocence likely will play only a secondary role.
Third, Biden the younger will immediately face a second trial for the much-more serious charges of deliberately and intentionally failing to pay taxes on more than $7 million he allegedly “earned” in 2017 and 2018.
And that is putting extreme pressure on the younger Biden’s defense team, headed up by Abbe Lowell. Not only does Lowell represent Biden today and for the next two weeks, he also will be defending him from the more serious federal charges of income tax evasion when that trial begins in California on June 20.
Lowell is already having trouble lining up witnesses in the present trial, likely due to lack of finances. Despite “earning” $7 million (we leave the question of just how the younger Biden earned that $7 million for another day and another discussion), he is essentially broke. Biden has had to lean on a close friend, Kevin Morris, a Hollywood entertainment lawyer, for financial assistance. At last count, Morris had admitted to “loaning” Biden more than $6 million over the past four years to help him pay his legal fees.
But now Morris is tapped out. This is according to a close personal, but unnamed, associate of Morris, who told Politico, “Four and a half years later … Kevin is completely tapped out. So just when Hunter is facing two criminal trials … he has no resources. It’s pretty dire.”
The witnesses typically would be paid up to $500 an hour for their testimony. And Lowell himself charges as much as $1,500 an hour for his own personal attention to Biden’s defense. CNN reported back in October that the younger Biden has racked up more than $10 million in legal bills over the years. And this doesn’t count the paternity suit he is facing and the lawsuit from his former wife, who claims that Biden has been derelict in paying her some $37,000 a month in alimony since their divorce.
Once selected, the jury will take the next two weeks to consider whether or not Biden the Younger really knew what he was doing when he filled out that notorious Form 4473.
