WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) – President Joe Biden kept his distance from the courtroom where his son was Hunter Biden was on trial on weapons charges to avoid any appearance of interference, but his quick statement in response to the jury’s guilty verdict Tuesday spoke to where his heart has been all along.
“Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today,” Biden wrote. “So many families who have had loved ones who have battled addiction understand the feeling of pride when they see someone they love emerge on the other side and be so strong and resilient in recovery.”
Biden aides and allies privately worry about the toll a guilty verdict would take on the 81-year-old president, whose personal loss is deeply intertwined with his public life. They say the president is less concerned about any personal political costs he might incur and more concerned as the father of a son who is just a few years removed from the throes of serious drug addiction.
Joe Biden left Washington on Tuesday afternoon for his home in Delaware, where Hunter Biden, his wife Melissa and their toddler Beau waited for the president on the tarmac. Joe Biden gave his son a big hug, and Melissa too. He ran his hand through Beau’s hair and kissed the top of his head, the president’s emotions clearly visible on his face. The family stood on the asphalt for a few minutes before getting into separate cars and driving to the home.
Joe Biden had spent more time than usual in Wilmington during the trial, as part of a family show of support for Hunter. He will leave for Italy on Wednesday morning to attend the Group of Seven summit.
Federal law grants protection to Hunter Biden’s Secret Service unless he denies it. While the Secret Service routinely conducts background checks on those who come into close contact with the president, the conviction would not affect his ability to be close to his father.
It was clear that the president’s son’s legal drama had caused at least some confusion in the White House. After the verdict was announced, the White House canceled press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s planned briefing and announced that Biden would fly by helicopter to Wilmington, Delaware, for the unscheduled overnight visit with his family. A bus carrying Biden staff and reporters drove out of the White House with lights and sirens in an attempt to meet the president’s arrival in Wilmington.
The ruling came shortly before the president delivered a speech about his administration’s efforts to limit gun violence and strengthen enforcement of gun laws at a conference hosted by the Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund in Washington. Biden called for stricter rules on gun purchases in his remarks, without making any mention of his son’s conviction hours earlier on firearms charges.
First lady Jill Biden was in court almost every day — traveling back from France 24 hours a day to be there for testimony on Friday — but she just missed being there when the verdict came down on Tuesday. She returned to the courthouse just minutes after the front person said “guilty” three times. A collection of other family members were present throughout the process.
The president himself was not present at the court, but followed the proceedings closely, with updates often coming from the first lady. Yet every day at the courthouse, Hunter Biden passed a portrait of his father hanging on the wall as he walked through the doors.
Hunter Biden, like his father, spoke in his own statement about family ties and the process of recovery.
“Today I am more grateful for the love and support I have experienced this past week from Melissa, my family, my friends and my community than I am disappointed by the outcome,” Hunter Biden said in a statement, becoming the first to called woman. Recovery is possible by the grace of God, and I am blessed to experience that gift one day at a time.”
The trial was a deeply personal tour of Hunter Biden’s drug use and mistakes. Jurors listened to hours of testimony from Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, an ex-girlfriend and his brother’s widow, who together painted a picture of strip club trips, infidelity, habitual crack use and their failed attempts to help him get clean. Jurors saw images of the president’s son, bare-chested and disheveled in a filthy room and half-naked with crack pipes in his hand. And they watched a video of his crack cocaine being weighed on a scale.
Prosecutors argued that the evidence was necessary to prove to jurors that the 54-year-old was an addict when he bought the gun, and therefore lied on a gun purchase form when he said he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs. .
“The evidence was personal. It was ugly and overwhelming,” prosecutor Leo Wise argued. “It was also absolutely necessary.”
Wise encouraged jurors during deliberations to weigh the evidence. He then swept his hand around the room and instructed them to look at the gallery and at the group of Biden family members sitting in the courtroom.
“None of this is evidence,” he said. “People sitting in the gallery are not evidence.”
Meanwhile, Tuesday’s verdict hardly puts an end to the first son’s legal troubles. He will likely be sentenced sometime before November’s presidential election, and his lawyers have suggested he could appeal the verdict. And he will go on trial in September in California on federal tax fraud charges.
Even Republican critics acknowledged the pain for the Biden family.
“Anyone who has a child, I have children myself, anyone who has children, this is devastating for them,” said Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa.
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AP writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report from Wilmington, Delaware. AP’s Dan Huff contributed to this report.
