Hunter Biden gun trial: 'Politics never came into play,' juror says after guilty verdict
The president's son was convicted of unlawfully purchasing a firearm.
President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden has been found guilty on three felony counts related to his purchase of a firearm in 2018 while allegedly addicted to drugs.
The younger Biden, who pleaded not guilty last October after being indicted by special counsel David Weiss, denied the charges. The son of a sitting president had never before faced a criminal trial.
The trial came on the heels of former President Donald Trump's conviction on felony charges related to a hush money payment made to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
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'Politics never came into play,' juror tells ABC News
A member of the jury in Hunter Biden's gun case told ABC News that "politics never came into play" in deliberations and that "the verdict absolutely was not politically motivated."
The juror said "it wasn't that hard" to reach a verdict, but said the panel of 12 had to overcome a six-six vote on yesterday afternoon when deliberations began.
When jurors returned this morning and deliberated further, he said they determined that prosecutors had met their burden of proof.
"If you're an addict, you're an addict," he said.
The juror said evidence that placed Hunter Biden at a 7/11 convenience store -- a place where he repeatedly said in his memoir and in text messages that he purchased drugs -- days prior to his gun purchase tipped them over the top.
Officials to discuss security plans should Hunter Biden be jailed
A senior official who has been briefed on the matter tells ABC News that the Secret Service has not started planning for the possibility that Hunter Biden could be sentenced to prison. Those discussions with the Bureau of Prisons will start now.
As the son of a president, Hunter Biden gets Secret Service protection but can opt out of that protection if he wants.
As of now, he continues to have USSS protection and, for as long as his father is president, that would continue, even in prison, unless he waives the privilege.
When sentenced, he could face up to 25 years in prison -- though legal experts believe he will not serve time as a first-time and nonviolent offender.
-ABC News' Josh Margolin
President Biden to go to Wilmington
President Joe Biden's schedule has been updated and he will now travel to Wilmington, Delaware, on Tuesday afternoon.
The president was originally scheduled to remain in Washington, D.C., but will instead head to Wilmington where he makes his home and where his son's trial just concluded.
Special counsel says Garland gave him independence to investigate
Special counsel David Weiss, whose office prosecuted Hunter Biden, said following the verdict that Hunter Biden should be held no more accountable than any other citizen regarding the charges.
Weiss said while much of the testimony in the case was about Hunter Biden's abuse of drugs and alcohol, "Ultimately this case was not just about addiction, a disease that haunts families across the United States including Hunter Biden's."
This case was about "illegal choices [the] defendant made while in the throes of addiction, his choice to lie on a government form when he bought a gun, and the choice to possess that gun," he said.
It was also about "the rule of law," Weiss said. "No one in this country is above the law," he said.
Weiss, a Trump appointee, thanked Attorney General Merrick Garland for "ensuring that we have the independence to appropriately pursue our investigations and prosecutions."
Prosecutors introduce infamous laptop as evidence
Prosecutors have introduced Hunter Biden's infamous laptop as evidence while questioning FBI agent Erika Jensen, their first witness.
Prosecutors asked Jensen about email messages found on the laptop and in Hunter Biden's iCloud account that appear to be about his drug use in 2018.
The government had said in pretrial court filings that it was planning to introduce materials on the laptop as evidence in the case.
The laptop has become a symbol of the legal and political controversy surrounding the president's son in recent years. Attorneys for Hunter Biden had previously attempted to preclude the laptop as evidence in the trial, arguing that they have "numerous reasons to believe the data had been altered and compromised before investigators obtained the electronic material."
But special counsel David Weiss argued in court filings that attorneys for Hunter Biden had not "provided any evidence or information that shows that his laptop contains false information," and the judge agreed to admit it as evidence.
Data from the laptop was purportedly obtained and later disseminated in 2019 by a Wilmington, Delaware, computer repairman after the laptop had been dropped off at his shop for repair.
With that context in mind, prosecutors did not rely on the laptop on its own; investigators said they cross-referenced every email, WhatsApp message, iMessage, and text message with Apple Inc. to establish the credibility of the data.
"Ultimately, in examining that laptop, were investigators able to confirm that it was Hunter Biden's laptop?" prosecutor Derek Hines asked Jensen.
"Yes," Jensen said.
"How?" Hines asked.
"Among other things, there was a serial number that's on the back of this laptop that matches the Apple subpoena records that they obtained in 2019, so it matches the registration of this particular device to the iCloud account at a particular date," Jensen said.
"So from the data from the laptop and the hard drive, did you -- what did you do next, or what did the FBI do next when assessing the addiction evidence?" Hines asked.
"So from the data that was extracted from both the iCloud back ups and this -- the laptop, investigators were able to go through largely WhatsApp messages, iMessages, and text messages, and found evidence of addiction within the messages," Jensen said.
Prosecutors also showed jurors an invoice for $85 from the computer repair shop where Hunter Biden dropped off the laptop for repair, which had been sent to an email address belonging to Hunter Biden.
"You said Apple Inc. provided that ... from the iCloud?" Hines asked.
"Yes," Jensen said.