First Lady Jill Biden attended the Delaware courtroom Monday where jury selection began in the trial of her stepson, Hunter Biden, on federal gun charges.
Hunter’s father, President Joe Biden, was not expected to attend the proceedings in Wilmington, though he did release a statement about his “boundless love for my son, confidence in him, and respect for his strength.”
“I am the president, but I am also a Dad,” he said. “Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today.”
Jill Biden, who is celebrating her 73rd birthday Monday, was accompanied in the courtroom by her daughter, Ashley Biden, and Hunter’s wife, Melissa Cohen.
“Happy birthday” Hunter said as he greeted Jill in the courtroom, according to The Washington Post, adding: “I got you a special event.” They both reportedly laughed at the joke.
Hunter, the first child of a sitting president to face a felony trial, is fighting three charges related to allegedly lying about his drug use during the purchase and possession of a gun in 2018. He allegedly lied to a licensed firearms dealer and made a false claim on a federal gun purchase form by saying he was not an unlawful user of a controlled substance. Hunter is alleged to have kept the gun illegally for 11 days.
Hunter’s history-making trial opens just four days after his father’s likely rival in the upcoming presidential election, Donald Trump, was convicted on 34 felony counts in his own landmark trial in Manhattan. Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records in order to hide a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels that was designed to protect his 2016 presidential campaign from being damaged by the emergence of Daniels’ claims of having an extramarital romp with Trump a decade earlier.
Hunter’s trial came after the collapse of a deal with prosecutors last year which would have seen him plead guilty to tax charges and enter into a pretrial diversion program on the gun charges. After the deal unraveled, Justice Department special counsel David Weiss brought two prosecutions against Hunter. In addition to the gun case, Hunter is set to face a second trial on tax charges in September in California.
If convicted in his firearms case, Hunter could theoretically face a sentence of up to 25 years in prison, according to the DOJ, though the department notes that actual sentences are typically more lenient than possible maximum sentences.
This post was originally published on Daily Beast
