WASHINGTON — Over the years, I’ve written a lot about drug offenders sentenced to decades in federal prison, even life without parole, for first-time nonviolent offenses.
Many were Black men with few resources and limited prospects.
None of them had the clout or sophistication of Hunter Biden, a Yale Law School graduate who was found guilty Tuesday on three felony counts involving his purchase of a gun in 2018 while he was addicted to and using crack.
If the president’s son goes to prison, there will be only one person Hunter should blame for the outcome: himself. (For the record, I hope the president’s son does not have to do time, as he appears to have turned his life around.)
But the evidence against Hunter Biden in this case was overwhelming. If you read his memoir, “Beautiful Things,” you know that Hunter Biden was guilty, and he knew he was guilty. Which makes me wonder why he pleaded not guilty.
The younger Biden apparently thought he would snow a courtroom — and charm jurors into not believing the mountain of evidence gathered against him.
Cable TV talking heads talk about this story as a cautionary tale about the scourge of drug addiction, when really, it’s also about the younger Biden’s sense of entitlement and failure to accept responsibility.
There’s a pattern here with Hunter Biden. In 2014, the then vice president’s son was discharged from the U.S. Navy Reserve — after he tested positive for cocaine. No criminal charges were filed.
This was different.
“No one in this country is above the law,” special counsel David Weiss proclaimed after the verdict. The outcome recognized the “illegal choices the defendant made.”
Weiss also noted that it was “the combination of guns and drugs that made (Biden’s) conduct dangerous.”
It was President Joe Biden’s misfortune that he was scheduled to speak at an Everytown for Gun Safety event Tuesday afternoon. Later in the day, the Bidens flew home to Wilmington, where they could be with their son.
After the guilty verdict, Biden reacted appropriately.
“As I said last week, I am the president, but I am also a dad,” he said in a statement. “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.”
That’s an improvement over what the president has been saying for years: “My son did nothing wrong.”
You see, there’s another issue that follows the first relative of a president to be convicted of a felony — greed. The president’s son raked in more than $2 million in 2013 and 2014 as he served on the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma while his father was in charge of the White House policy toward Ukraine.
That doesn’t pass the smell test.
Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at [email protected]. Follow @debrajsaunders on X.
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Sorry, what a crock!!! He probably won’t do any time but will get a Presidential pardon in the end just in case. Most of us know that this family needs the book thrown at them and their assets seized but this does not happen to the Elite unless their usefulness is no longer required. The fight of “Good vs. Evil” continues and Evil is winning.
And guess who else is just as guilty, even more so? Yep, you guessed it! The apple didn’t fall too far from the tree. Hunter learned it honestly from his parents, enabling him all the way, never punishing him when things went south. My grandma used to say years ago, “you make your bed, you lie in it”. It’s time for Hunter to man-up & grow up.
In recent years after watching hardened criminals walk on a sign and skip, I would find it very difficult to imagine Gunter being given 25 years. Just look at the system.
And as for the Don being found guilty of all 34 counts of white collar “crimes” by a flim flam trial that even had TWO “lawyers” on the jury is very questionable.
Who is being fooled with all the smoke and mirrors? Easiest trial we have seen in a long time. It makes very good MSM press to shout that Hunter is not above the law. He was certainly above most MSM public scrutiny, unlike another case that has been headline news for months. What about other crimes? Does anyone really believe there is a chance that Hunter Biden will serve any time behind bars? He will live long enough to spend most of the bribery and collusion money.
Please enough We know that the whole process was just a show,being a lady I will not say what kind We all know it Also those putting it on know that we know it and are not ashamed That says it all Let’s not forget Jan 6 That takes a prize What should be done and will be done are two different things Unless there is a Soviet or Chinese style process against the Biden family, in which case many should shake in their boots, it’s business as usual for now I don’t think there is an iron fist ready to come down too hard on the swamp
Actually, Hunter was ready to plead guilty to the gun charge in a sweetheart plea that would get him off the hook for much more serious crime and ending with a slap on the wrist sentence of probation. He is still facing the far more serious charge of income tax evasion and should be facing charges (though he is not) of being an unregistered foreign agent.
“For the record, I hope the president’s son does not have to do time, as he appears to have turned his life around.” I don’t agree with this. There are many people who got their acts together but still have had to pay for their crimes in prison. If Hunter HAS bettered himself, then good for him. On the other hand, he and his dad are pretty good at conning folks. You do the crime; you serve the time.
The reason he pled not guilty is that he’s a Biden and he hoped the jury would give him a pass because of that.
The young Biden’s addiction was a byproduct of his foul upbringing by the most abberant, “foul ball” of a President in our History. Children should not have children.
Okay, here comes the thumbs down… I do not want him to go to jail ON THIS even fined for what is an unconstitutional law. If being addicted or even using drugs is not a reason to take away a right! He’s being prosecuted on leftist laws I know we’ve all opposed; celebrate him and you condemn yourself to the same someday. Now the tax evasion is different: get him just like they did Wesley Snipes! And what about financial evidence on that “Russian disinformation” computer?