The legal troubles affecting President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, are about to heat up as the two cases against him go to trial next month.
The timeline puts his charges for illegally obtaining weapons and tax evasion center stage as the 2024 presidential election season heats up for his father.
It’s the latest judicial activity that could factor into the 2024 presidential election, as presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is also spending a significant amount of time in court and there is a possibility of more criminal trials this year.
Hunter Biden is charged in Delaware with three counts related to unlawful possession of a weapon. If he is convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison.
President Biden with his son Hunter Biden arrives in Syracuse, New York, on February 4, 2023.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika declined to dismiss the federal gun case against the president’s 54-year-old son, clearing the way for the trial to begin June 3.
The trial is expected to last up to nine days.
Also next month, Hunter Biden could go to trial on the opposite coast in the tax evasion case. That trial is scheduled to begin June 20.
If convicted in the case, Biden faces a maximum of 17 years in prison.
The timeline means that if convicted in either trial, the president’s son could face prison while his father runs for a second term in the White House.
Biden’s advisers and family are concerned about the weight the trial will put on the president, according to POLITICO report.
He also said that the president has expressed fear that his son could serve time in prison.
President Biden hugs his son Hunter after leaving a restaurant on Hunter’s birthday in Los Angeles on February 4, 2024.
An image from Hunter Biden’s laptop showed the first son, now 53, posing naked with a firearm.
Hunter Biden is charged in Delaware with three counts in the gun case. He is accused of lying about his drug use in October 2018 on a form to purchase a gun that he kept for about 11 days.
Special prosecutor David Weiss filed gun charges in September, when Biden became the first son of a sitting president to be indicted.
Hunter Biden has acknowledged battling crack addiction during that time, but his lawyers argued he did not break the law.
A federal appeals court also said last week that the case could move forward to trial.
Hunter Biden’s efforts to have the other criminal case he faces in California related to tax allegations dismissed have also failed.
It appeared the investigation into the president’s son would end last year with a plea deal, which would have resulted in two years of probation after pleading guilty to minor tax offenses.
But the deal fell apart after the judge who had hoped to approve it raised more questions.
In January, Biden pleaded not guilty to federal tax charges.
A court sketch of Hunter Biden alongside his attorney Abbe Lowell in federal court on Jan. 11, 2024. The president’s son pleaded not guilty to federal tax charges filed after a plea deal fell through.
Biden is charged with nine high and misdemeanor tax crimes.
Federal prosecutors accuse the younger Biden of a four-year scheme to avoid paying $1.4 million in taxes he owed to the IRS between 2016 and 2019 and instead spend the money on his extravagant lifestyle, which includes drugs. and alcohol.
Republicans, including Donald Trump, criticized the original plea deal, which failed as an “attractive deal.”
Hunter Biden’s lawyers have criticized the deal’s implosion, alleging congressional interference and accusing the special counsel of bowing to political pressure.
Under the initial plea agreement, Hunter Biden also would have avoided prosecution on the weapons charge had he stayed out of trouble.
Kevin Morris (left), a close friend of Hunter Biden, is said to have run out of cash after financially supporting his legal battles over the past four and a half years to the tune of $6 million. Hunter’s lead defense attorney Abbe Lowell, viewed correctly, is not cheap
Hunter’s lead defense attorney, Abbe Lowell, seen at right, charges between $855 and $1,500 an hour for his services.
Ahead of the looming trials, Hunter Biden’s ‘sugar brother’ Kevin Morris, 61, has run out of cash after financially supporting Biden’s legal battles for the past four and a half years.
Morris decided to intervene after believing Hunter had little support and loaned him more than $6.5 million.
But Morris has since confirmed that he will no longer lend money to his first son to fight his legal battles.
Hunter Biden’s problems are not a new headache for the president. Trump attacked him mercilessly during the 2020 campaign over his son’s business dealings and drug addiction.
The president’s son has acknowledged battling crack addiction during that period in 2018, but his lawyers have said he did not break the law.
Then-candidate Biden faced attacks over his son Hunter during the 2020 campaign. During the debate, he directly addressed his son’s drug addiction, saying, “He’s working on it and I’m proud of him.”
During a highlight of the first presidential debate of 2020, Biden responded about his son’s drug problem: “He’s fixed it, he’s working on it, and I’m proud of him.”
But it’s a new reality that the president’s son could face prison this year as the president seeks a second term in the White House.
While a president’s children and other family members have posed a number of challenges throughout history, prison time for the son of a sitting president during a campaign is unprecedented.
Meanwhile, Trump has also faced legal challenges this election season that have forced him to spend most of the past two months in court rather than on the campaign trail.
Donald Trump in Manhattan Criminal Court for his hush money trial on May 14
New York prosecutors could drop their case in the hush money trial next week. And jury deliberations could begin next week, as the former president faces 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Prosecutors accuse him of trying to cover up payment to a porn star.
He also faces charges in Georgia, Florida and Washington, D.C. for election interference and mishandling classified documents after leaving office.
Trial dates for those cases have not yet been set and could be postponed indefinitely as Trump prepares his presidential bid.
