After only three hours of deliberation, federal jurors in Delaware found Hunter Biden guilty on three gun-related charges. Sentencing is expected to occur prior to the November 5 election and Hunter Biden could face up to 25 years in prison and a $750,000 fine.
All three charges relate to the purchase and possession of a firearm while Hunter Biden was using and addicted to illegal drugs.
Of key importance to the prosecution was a laptop abandoned by Hunter Biden at a computer repair shop in Wilmington, Del. News of the laptop and the incriminating information it contained was initially reported by the New York Post Oct 14, 2020, in the days leading up to the presidential election. Hailed as a “smoking-gun” to Hunter Biden’s criminal behavior, the Post reported additional contents implicating then Presidential Candidate Joe Biden in pay-to-play and money laundering schemes connected to art sales and Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
More than 50 members of the intelligence community signed a letter attempting to discredit the laptop and Social media platforms censored and suppressed the story, but federal prosecutors verified enough incriminating data to enter it into evidence at his trial.
Some Republicans have viewed the entire Hunter Biden trial as an attempt to distract from deeper corruption allegations that implicate President Biden.
Mike Howell, executive director for a conservative watchdog group described the trial as a distraction. “What’s happening with Hunter [Biden] is essentially they picked the lowest level thing that didn’t connect to [President] Joe [Biden]…. What the American people really care about, what I care about, is … the corruption in the federal government, that Joe Biden and his family were running an international pay-to-play influence-peddling scheme in some of the most corrupt regions of the world”House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., has promised additional criminal referrals to the Justice Department that include influence financial crimes and government corruption.
