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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President meets with family, embraces son hours after conviction

President Joe Biden hugged his son and spent several minutes with him on the tarmac at Delaware Air National Guard Base, hours after Hunter Biden was convicted in court.

The president spent several minutes with Hunter Biden, his wife Melissa and their infant son Beau on the tarmac.

The infant hugged his grandfather, who took the child's face in his hands and appeared to give him a kiss.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle


'Too many patterns' of drug use to acquit, juror tells ABC News

A juror in Hunter Biden's gun trial told ABC News that he did not know who Hunter Biden was before the trial started, and that his proximity to power made no difference to the jury.

"Everyone is human and everyone makes mistakes," the juror said. "And those mistakes can have serious consequences -- not just for them, but for everyone else."

The juror -- whose father was killed by gunfire when he was young -- said prosecutors successfully showed that Hunter Biden's drug use around the time of his gun purchase was "too close for me to consider him not a user or addict at that point."

"There's too many patterns that I can see that showed that he was using it when he purchased the gun," the juror said.


'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


Witness acknowledges Hunter Biden's drug use was not continuous

Attorneys for Hunter Biden, in their cross-examination of FBI Special Agent Erika Jensen, attempted to push back on prosecutors' contention that Hunter Biden was abusing drugs at the time he said on a gun-purchase form that he was drug-free.

A key piece of evidence comes from Hunter Biden's 2021 memoir, in which he described his "relapse" just weeks after leaving rehab in August -- just six weeks before purchasing the firearm.

"I stayed clean for two weeks then relapsed," Hunter Biden wrote in his book.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell, on cross-examination, questioned the assumption that Hunter Biden's relapse implied that he was referring to his drug use -- suggesting instead that he was referring to his alcohol addiction.

"When he was referring to that in his book, was he talking about relapsing to drugs and alcohol, or do you know what he meant?" Lowell asked.

"I can only state what was stated," Jensen said.

"Which is, 'Then I relapsed?'" Lowell asked.

"Just what it says, 'I relapsed,'" Jensen replied.

Jensen also acknowledged that she could not verify that Hunter Biden was continuously using drugs from 2015 to 2019, saying, "My recollection is that there are excerpts where he was principally occupied with smoking crack cocaine. I didn't get the sense that it was the entire history."

"Meaning that there were periods of time that he was not?" Lowell asked.

"I think there -- including the period in August where we have some invoices for rehab, that there were periods where there was not," Jensen said.

It was an important moment for the defense, as Lowell managed to establish that Hunter Biden's use of drugs was not consistent -- cuing up his argument that the president's son was not on drugs at the time of his firearm purchase.

Prosecutors also entered into evidence records related to enormous cash withdrawals Hunter Biden made -- more than $150,000 from September through November of 2018, including a $5,000 withdrawal on the day he purchased the gun. Prosecutors suggested this cash was used to procure drugs; Lowell, on cross-examination, established that Hunter Biden paid $900 in cash for the weapon and accessories.

Court was subsequently recessed for the day, with Lowell's cross-examination of Jensen scheduled to resume Wednesday morning.

Prosecutors suggested that Hallie Biden would be the next witness after Jensen, making it likely that the first Biden family member to testify will take the stand at some point tomorrow.