Less than two weeks after Donald Trump learned he had been convicted of 34 criminal counts in his hush money case, Joe Biden is enduring his own agonising vigil as his son, Hunter, awaits the outcome of his gun trial.
Jurors return Tuesday morning to consider evidence against the president’s son, who has pleaded not guilty to three charges related to his buying of a gun in 2018 that prosecutors say violated federal law, because he was addicted to crack cocaine.
The defence argued there was no direct evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he was using the drug when he got the firearm.
The two trials—one in Trump’s old patch of New York and the other in Biden’s country in Wilmington, Delaware—represent a remarkable departure from traditional presidential campaigns.
Never has a former president and presumptive major party nominee been convicted of a crime.
Nor has the child of a sitting president faced that possibility in a trial.
Trump pleaded not guilty in New York, as he has three other criminal indictments ahead of delayed trials.
The Hunter Biden and Trump cases are vastly different, as is the way the former and current first families have responded to the trials.
For instance, there have been no daily rants by the president’s son about a “corrupt” and “biassed” judge.
Trump’s conviction for falsifying financial records to cover up a payment to an adult film star, by contrast, prompted the ex-president to warn of retribution.
He’s also absurdly claimed he’s a persecuted political dissident who compares to South African anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela.
Joe Biden, who has said he is trying to restore faith in the justice system, after the Trump presidency, has pledged not to interfere in his son’s federal trial, and said in a solemn ABC News interview, that he won’t pardon his son.
This is especially significant, since Hunter Biden could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted, although a sentence for a first-time offender is unlikely to be that severe.
Source: CNN
(Editor: Ifeanyi Mark)
