The guilty verdict, and another trial starting in September, threaten to hang over the US president’s campaign in the coming months.
Hunter Biden, like Donald Trump, is now a convicted felon – a personal and political blow to his father, US President Joe Biden, that complicates his 2024 campaign for re-election.
The younger Biden is the first child of a sitting US president convicted of a felony. He was found guilty of violating federal laws for illegally buying a gun during a period he was taking crack cocaine. Jurors delivered their verdict after deliberating for three hours, capping a one-week trial in a prosecution brought by his father’s own Justice Department.
That outcome, and another trial for Hunter – on tax charges starting in September, just two months before voters head to the polls – threaten to hang over Biden’s campaign, posing a painful messaging test in his race against Trump.
The president has assailed Trump as a “convicted felon”, to capitalise on the first former US president found guilty of a felony for falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments.
“I am the president, but I am also a dad,” Biden said in a statement moments after Hunter’s verdict.
“Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today. So many families who have had loved ones battle addiction understand the feeling of pride seeing someone you love come out the other side and be so strong and resilient in recovery.”
Biden, who has said he would not pardon his son, said he would “respect the judicial process” as Hunter considers an appeal, adding that he and the first lady, Jill Biden, “will always be there for Hunter and the rest of our family with our love and support. Nothing will ever change that.”
How the conviction impacts the president’s campaign against Trump, whom he has cast as a threat to the rule of law, as well as the effect on voter perceptions of both candidates remain unclear.
What is certain is Hunter Biden and Trump’s cases are poised to run on parallel tracks during the campaign as they face sentencing and potential appeals, another twist to an already close race.
