Hunter Biden found guilty on all counts in gun case

Last night the jury was split in half. Juror tells CNN what changed

03:49 - Source: CNN

A federal jury has convicted Hunter Biden on all three federal felony gun charges he faced, concluding that he violated laws meant to prevent drug addicts from owning firearms.

The conviction marks the first time a president’s immediate family member has been found guilty of a crime during their father’s term in office, though his crimes predate Joe Biden’s tenure as president.

The jury, which deliberated for just under three hours, returned guilty verdicts on all three charges, which stemmed from a revolver Hunter Biden bought in October 2018 at a Delaware gun shop.

Here’s what we know:

President Joe Biden hugs his son Hunter Biden upon arrival at Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Delaware, on June 11, as he travels to Wilmington, Delaware.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

President Joe Biden hugged his son Hunter Biden after the president landed at the Delaware Air National Guard base on Tuesday.

The embrace came hours after a jury found Hunter Biden guilty of all three federal felony gun charges he faced, concluding that he violated laws meant to prevent drug addicts from owning firearms.

After the plane landed, video showed Hunter Biden, his son Beau and his wife Melissa walking across the tarmac to greet the president.

The headline and post were updated with more details.

Senate Republicans uniformly said Tuesday that the guilty verdict in the Hunter Biden gun case shows the justice system worked and they brushed away questions that the conviction shows that GOP claims of selective prosecution are politically motivated. 

Here’s what some senators told CNN:

Sen. John Thune: “Hunter Biden’s not running for any political office. Donald Trump’s running for president. There are all kinds of different dynamics in two totally different cases,” he said. “The clear thing in the (Trump) New York case, I mean, there’s no argument. … This is politically motivated. The prosecutor ran, he got up there, got the job on the predicate of trying to prosecute the former president.”

Sen. Rick Scott: “First, in this case, this is existing law that people have been prosecuted before and they’ve been connected before, and they’ve been sentenced before,” he said. “In the case of (Donald) Trump, they’ve made up something brand new that nobody’s been prosecuted before. And it was complete political persecution.”

“No one’s ever been persecuted the way Trump was persecuted in New York. No one. No one in this country,” he said.

Sen. Josh Hawley: “Let’s remember that DOJ initially wanted to do a plea bargain (with Hunter Biden), had a plea bargain with him, as sort of a sweetheart deal and did not want to prosecute this case. I mean, so I think it exposes the fact that DOJ was ready to sweep this under the rug,” the Missouri lawmaker said. “And as it turns out, it was a slam dunk case, which, by the way, is nothing to celebrate. I mean, it’s like it’s not, it’s not a good thing that he’s guilty.”

With contributions from CNN’s Sam Fossum, Manu Raju and Kristin Wilson

A juror told CNN that the jury mainly focused on evidence, not Hunter Biden’s lifestyle, during deliberations in his trial on federal gun charges.

Juror 10 said he felt sad about how Hunter Biden’s life had turned out, even though it wasn’t discussed in detail.

The juror said he based his decision on the fact that Hunter Biden did not disclose that he was a drug addict when he bought the gun.

“When you look at that form, ‘Are you a drug addict, are you an unlawful user of drugs,’ and he said no,” the juror said quoting the ATF form Hunter Biden was convicted of lying on. “Clearly, he lied.”

Jurors thoroughly discussed each legal standard that needed to be met by prosecutors to find Hunter Biden guilty, they finally concluded that he was guilty, he said.

“Hunter did get a fair trial,” the juror said, adding that the Biden family was “not at all” discussed during deliberations.

“We didn’t use Jill. We didn’t use President Biden,” he said. The president’s “name was only brought up once during the trial.”

This post was updated with additional comments from the juror.

Sen. Mitch McConnell walks to the Senate Chamber at the capitol on Tuesday, June 11.

Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA

In a fairly dense Wall Street Journal op-ed, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell argued that special counsels are giving away too much power in the judiciary by transferring power to bureaucrats and decentralizing it from those who should have responsibility like Attorney General Merrick Garland.

As an example, McConnell appears to criticize the use of special counsels under Garland.

“This misbegotten trust in bureaucrats also undermines democratic legitimacy in the executive branch. Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed three different ‘special counsels’ who operate outside the normal chain of command at the Justice Department to ensure prosecutorial ‘independence,’” McConnell wrote.

He said, “What gives federal prosecution legitimacy is that it is vested in an elected branch of government.”

Meanwhile, the New York City Department of Probation officials have questioned former President Donald Trump about an additional gun that had been registered to him in New York and his access to firearms as part of their pre-sentencing interview, a city official briefed on the exchange said.

The former president was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records at the end of last month. Possession of firearms or ammunition by a convicted felon is a federal crime.

According to the official, Trump said that there was a gun in Florida, which is believed to be one of the three weapons listed on his New York City permit to carry concealed weapons. 

CNN has previously reported that two of the three pistols he was licensed to carry were turned over to the NYPD on March 31, 2023, and a third gun listed on Trump’s license “was lawfully moved to Florida.” Contacted by CNN last week, Palm Beach police said that they were unaware of any gun that Trump might have and that none had been turned over to the department since his felony conviction. 

Trump’s New York gun license was suspended after his arrest in 2023 by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and, now as a result of his conviction, his license is being revoked, according to New York City Police. A New York official briefed on the probation investigation said the information on the outstanding gun “will be referred to local authorities in Florida to take whatever steps are necessary.”

CNN has asked representatives for Trump about the status of the gun. 

Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attacked Republicans after the Hunter Biden guilty verdict and said that President Joe Biden’s handling of the case “shows the difference” between the two parties. 

Asked if she was concerned the guilty verdict would hurt the president, Ocasio-Cortez said: “I don’t think so. Because the president is not weaponizing” and abusing his power, instead he is “respecting the judicial system as it’s working and is accepting the outcome of the trial.”

House Republicans and Democrats debated Tuesday whether Hunter Biden’s guilty verdict on federal gun charges could be compared to former President Donald Trump’s conviction in his hush money trial.

During a House Rules Committee meeting Tuesday, Democrats said they respect the verdict and the rule of law, while Republicans argued the two cases could not be compared equally.

GOP Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming argued that because the judge overseeing Trump’s trial was “handpicked” and expert witnesses were excluded from testifying, there were “clear differences” between the two cases.

GOP Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia argued the jury pool in Trump’s New York case was already stacked against the former president compared with the jury in Hunter Biden’s case.

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland contrasted how Democrats have been largely silent in the wake of Hunter Biden’s guilty verdict with how Republicans have mobilized to attack the Department of Justice after Trump’s conviction.

CNN relied on a system of runners to get notes from reporters watching the Hunter Biden trial to the world in real-time. Here’s one runner’s description:

As a journalism student at the University of Delaware preparing for my final year of college before the real world, I jumped at the chance when one of my journalism professors sent me a text asking if I wanted to work for CNN.

There’s a very strict policy on electronics in the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building that prohibits the usage of laptops and phones inside. This policy may have been a hassle, but I’m ultimately grateful for it, as it’s the reason I had a job during the trial.

My title of runner was extremely literal. I took notes from reporters in the courtroom and delivered them to a team of producers on the ground. This is how CNN and many other media outlets maintained live updates during the trial — it was thanks to runners like me.

Day after day, I was tasked with carrying notes bearing the latest national news up and down three flights of stairs, which was a tedious task when the trial was slow and an utterly invigorating one when it wasn’t.

By the end of the trial, I was on a first-name basis with nearly all of the security guards. It all paid off though when we finally got to the verdict, and I believe I may have sprinted faster than I ever had to get that note to our producers on the ground.

If all goes according to plan, this will be far from the last court case I cover, but I would call this a pretty solid first trial.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday heralded the steps his administration has taken to strengthen gun laws in the United States and enhance the penalties for those who violate them — offering a somewhat awkward juxtaposition for a president whose son had been convicted just hours earlier on federal gun charges.

Speaking at an Everytown for Gun Safety event in Washington, DC, the president did not reference Hunter Biden’s conviction. He did briefly appear to become emotional while referencing the times he’s spoken with families who have lost loved ones in mass shootings.

The president is set to depart for Wilmington, Delaware, where his son is, after the event.

Joe Biden was not originally scheduled to travel to Wilmington on Tuesday, but the White House updated his schedule after Hunter Biden’s conviction.

House Oversight Chairman James Comer called the guilty verdict against Hunter Biden “a step toward accountability.” But Comer said he will not be satisfied until the Department of Justice investigates the Biden family’s business dealings even though his 18 months of work has yet to uncover any evidence that President Joe Biden was involved or financially benefited from it. 

“Hunter Biden’s sweetheart plea deal was smoked out after scrutiny by a federal judge,” Comer said in a release after the verdict.

Hunter Biden’s original plea deal fell apart in a dramatic exchange with a federal judge last year. District Judge Maryellen Noreika said she had “concerns” about the parties seemingly linking a tax plea agreement to resolving a felony gun charge. The judge, a Trump appointee unanimously confirmed by the Senate, declared that she wasn’t ready to accept the plea deal, and the president’s son then entered a not guilty plea.

Hunter Biden has also pleaded not guilty to tax evasion, filing false tax returns and failing to file his taxes on time, and his second case is scheduled to occur in September.

House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith credited two whistleblowers with the Internal Revenue Service who came forward last summer for bringing Hunter Biden’s guilty verdict to fruition.

IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who both worked on Biden’s criminal case, claimed that the Department of Justice mishandled the case against the president’s son and deviated from standard investigative procedure. Republicans have used the testimony from the whistleblowers to make broader accusations about the politicization of the DOJ. 

But Attorney General Merrick Garland and Weiss have repeatedly insisted that Weiss always had the powers he needed to bring charges, even as a US attorney, and that Weiss’ appointment of special counsel was not tied to the accusations from the IRS whistleblowers. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN that Hunter Biden’s conviction on federal gun charges doesn’t undercut the GOP narrative that there’s a two-tiered justice system designed to hurt Republicans.

Johnson also said he believed the guilty verdict was “appropriate.”

The speaker took a victory lap later on Tuesday, arguing that the House GOP’s investigative efforts helped pave the way for the verdict.

Last year, a House Republican-led committee heard testimony from a pair of IRS whistleblowers — who both worked on Biden’s criminal case — claiming that the Department of Justice mishandled the case against the president’s son and gave him preferential treatment, which the DOJ has strongly denied. After the plea deal between Hunter Biden and the DOJ fell apart, a special counsel was named to oversee the case, and it ultimately went to trial.

“Because whistleblowers spoke out and House Republicans sounded the alarm, Hunter was brought to court. Today he was found guilty of all charges,” Johnson wrote on social media.

Read Johnson’s full post:

This post has been updated with Johnson’s latest social media post.

President Joe Biden will depart for Wilmington, Delaware, just hours after a jury there convicted his son on firearms-related charges Tuesday.

Biden was not originally scheduled to travel to Wilmington on Tuesday, but the White House updated his schedule after Hunter Biden’s conviction.

The president will head to Delaware after delivering remarks at an Everytown for Gun Safety event scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET in Washington, DC.

Special counsel David Weiss thanked Attorney General Merrick Garland as well as the prosecution team that worked on the gun case against Hunter Biden.

Weiss, speaking at a news conference on Tuesday after a jury in Delaware convicted the president’s son on three charges, said it was a “difficult assignment.”

The special counsel did not take any questions, citing “additional trials and investigative work to be done.”

Hunter Biden also faces charges in a separate tax case set to go to trial in California in September. That indictment, also brought by Weiss, accuses Hunter Biden of repeatedly failing to file and pay his taxes on time and of engaging in a tax-evasion scheme by filing false tax returns and cooking the books on his company’s payroll.

This post has been updated with additional information about Hunter Biden’s tax charges.

Special counsel David Weiss said that no one is above the law, including Hunter Biden, after the president’s son was convicted on three federal gun charges Tuesday.

“No one in this country is above the law. Everyone must be accountable for their actions, even this defendant,” Weiss told reporters Tuesday.

He added, “However, Hunter Biden should be no more accountable than any other citizen convicted of this same conduct. The prosecution has been and will continue to be committed to this principle.”

Special counsel David Weiss thanked the jury for their service after jurors convicted Hunter Biden on three federal gun charge Tuesday.

Special Counsel David Weiss makes a statement at the US Attorneys office in Delaware following the Hunter Biden guilty verdict.

Pool

Special counsel David Weiss said this case was “not just about addiction” but about the “illegal choices” Hunter Biden made while he was using drugs.

“Ultimately this case was not just about addiction, a disease that haunts families across the United States, including Hunter Biden’s family. This case was about the illegal choices the defendant made while in the throes of addiction,” Weiss said.

It comes after Hunter Biden was convicted on three federal gun charges by a jury Tuesday.

Remember: The charges stemmed from a revolver Hunter Biden bought in October 2018 at a Delaware gun shop. The first two counts were for lying about his drug use on a federal background check form, and the third count was for possessing a gun while addicted to, or using, illegal drugs. 

This post has been updated with additional comments from Weiss.

Special counsel David Weiss and his team of prosecutors are holding a news conference.

Our reporters will bring you the latest updates as we get them, but if you want to watch Weiss speak live, click the play button in the video at the top of this page.

One juror who found Hunter Biden guilty of three federal gun charges on Tuesday told CNN that he does not believe the president’s son should serve jail time.

Hunter Biden could face up to 25 years in prison and a fine of up to $750,000 at sentencing, though he likely will receive far less than the maximum as a first-time offender. 

Before dismissing the parties, the judge told them sentencing is usually set for 120 days following a verdict, which means it is likely to happen before Election Day.

The juror pointed to the fact that Hunter Biden did not want the gun back after Hallie Biden took it out of his truck and threw it in the garbage near a grocery store.

“When he said he did not want that gun back and that gun sat in evidence for almost five years, I think that’s what may have been what led to his downfall. If he had taken possession of that gun, I don’t know if we would have even had a trial,” the juror said.

The juror said it didn’t make a difference for him that Hunter Biden did not take the stand in his own defense. In fact, he said he agrees that was “better off not testifying.”

“I didn’t think it would be a good idea for him to testify in his own defense,” the juror said.

He also added that inside the deliberation room, politics did not come up.

This post was updated with additional comments from Juror 10.

Hunter Biden could have grounds for appeal on a larger constitutional question, a CNN legal commentator said, pointing to the case regarding regulations around guns and drugs that was struck down by a federal appeals court last year.