Jury selection for Hunter Biden’s federal gun charge trial is set to get underway on Monday. Photo by Al Drago/UPI | License Photo
June 3 (UPI) — Hunter Biden‘s federal gun trial was set to get underway in Delaware on Monday with jury selection.
Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, has pleaded not guilty three counts in connection with possessing a firearm while using drugs.
The case comes on the heels of former President Donald Trump‘s conviction on 34 counts related to falsifying records to facilitate hush-money payments in New York with both trials facing extra scrutiny in the shadow of an election year.
Potential jurors will be called in groups of 50 until 12 who can prove they are impartial hearing a trial on the president’s son can be seated, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who is presiding over the case said.
Court filings show that jurors will be asked if their “views regarding the 2024 election or of any of the candidates for president in any way prevent you from being a fair and impartial juror in this case?” and if they believe Biden is being prosecuted “because his father is the president of the United States and a candidate for president.”
First lady Jill Biden, Biden’s stepmother, was in attendance for the start of the trial Monday.
The president issued a statement addressing the start of the trial.
“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,” he said. “Hunter’s resilience in the face of adversity and the strength he has brought to his recovery are inspiring to us. A lot of families have loved ones who have overcome addiction and know what we mean.”
Biden’s lawyers said the charges violate a previous diversion agreement, which they argue is still legally binding. However, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika has rejected numerous motions by the attorneys to get the charges dismissed.
Special counsel David Weiss, an appointee of Trump, brought the charges after he was named President Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate last year. Biden’s attorneys argued that Weiss “buckled under political pressure” after a plea deal crumbled last year.
“The charges in this case are not trumped up or because of former President Trump,” prosecutors said, according to CBS News. “They are instead a result of the defendant’s own choices and were brought in spite of, not because of, any outside noise made by politicians.”
Prosecutors plan to call Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, and Hallie Biden, widow of his late brother Beau Biden to testify against him. They are also expected to use excerpts from Biden’s memoir Beautiful Things to support their case.
Norieka on Sunday refused a request by Biden’s lawyers to admit a second version of the purchase form he used to buy the gun into evidence.
