A week into Hunter Biden’s federal firearms trial in Delaware, one legal analyst sees the case leaning toward a conviction.
“Here’s the deal, there’s a strong chance that Hunter Biden will be convicted,” NewsNation legal contributor Jesse Weber told the network’s chief Washington correspondent, Blake Burman, this week.
“This is a really straightforward case,” Weber added.
Biden, the president’s 54-year-old son, is accused of falsifying documents when he purchased a gun in 2018 because he said he wasn’t a drug addict.
Prosecutors rested their case Friday, with the defense expected to call members of the Biden family as the trial moves forward. It’s unclear whether Hunter Biden will take the stand in his defense.
Jurors so far have heard testimony about Hunter Biden’s drug use. He has been open about his struggles with drug addition and wrote about his troubled past in a 2021 memoir.
Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter Biden’s brother, Beau, testified that she “panicked” when she discovered a gun in 2018 in Hunter Biden’s possessions, so she discarded it.
“I realize it was a stupid idea now, but I was panicking,” said Hallie Biden, who was in a brief romantic relationship with Hunter Biden at the time he purchased the firearm.
Hallie Biden also testified that Hunter Biden introduced her to crack cocaine.
“I regret that period of my life,” she testified.
If convicted, it could be several months before Hunter Biden faces sentencing, with some observers speculating that President Biden could move to pardon his son after the November election.
President Biden, however, rejected the notion this week that he would pardon his son.
When ABC News’s David Muir asked whether he would rule out pardoning his son, President Biden replied flatly “yes.” He also said he would accept the results of the federal trial, no matter what they are.
But Weber said he could envision a scenario in which the president pardons his son if convicted.
“It’s about the election, and it’s about letting this process play out,” Weber said. “I don’t think a lot of people would blame him.”
He added that he thinks the case wouldn’t have gone this far if Hunter Biden’s “name wasn’t Hunter Biden.”
The president’s firm anti-pardon stance this week echoed the official position held by the White House for months.
“I’ve been very clear; the president is not going to pardon his son,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters in December.
In a statement as the trial got underway, President Biden expressed support for his son but said he didn’t want to wade into a pending federal case or questioning the legal system.
“I am the President, but I am also a Dad. Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today,” the president said in a statement Monday. “As the President, I don’t and won’t comment on pending federal cases, but as a Dad, I have boundless love for my son, confidence in him, and respect for his strength.”
First lady Jill Biden attended the trial before traveling to France to for D-Day commemoration activities earlier this week. She returned Friday as the prosecutors wrapped their case.
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