What A Day - Hunter Biden's Guilty Verdict

Episode Date: June 12, 2024

A Delaware jury on Tuesday convicted Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, on three federal felony gun charges. The verdict makes Biden the first member of a sitting president’s immediate family to be convicted of a crime. A sentencing date hasn’t been set yet, but the president’s son is facing up to 25 years in prison. Alex Thompson, national political correspondent for Axios, was in the courtroom during the trial. He breaks down the verdict and the reactions in Washington.And in headlines: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was back in the Middle East to put pressure on Hamas to formally agree to a ceasefire deal with Israel, embattled Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is in hot water again after a secret recording caught him agreeing with Christian conservative viewpoints, and a federal judge struck down Florida’s ban on gender-affirming care.Show Notes:What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Wednesday, June 12th. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. And I'm Juanita Tolliver, and this is What A Day, the show where we don't know how to feel about a New York judge allowing disgraced former representative George Santos to summer in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains as he awaits trial for a slew of criminal charges. Yeah, doesn't the judge know that there is no good that can come from allowing George Santos to have a hot girl summer? Joanne the Scammer is on the loose, y'all. Tara Ravosh is on the loose. On today's show, Justice Samuel Alito is caught on tape agreeing with Christian conservative viewpoints. Big shocker there. Plus, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will testify before Congress in July about Trump's hush money trial. But first, a Delaware jury on Tuesday convicted Hunter Biden on three federal felony gun charges. The verdict makes Biden the first member of a sitting president's immediate family to be convicted of a crime. A sentencing date hasn't been set yet, but the president's son is facing

substantial prison time, up to 25 years. Hunter Biden did not speak to reporters after the decision, but he did release a statement saying he was more grateful for the support of his family than disappointed in the verdict. He also said, quote, recovery is possible by the grace of God, and I am blessed to experience that gift one day at a time, alluding to his lifelong struggle with addiction that was at the heart of his gun case. Right. So can you remind us of some of the details of this case? What exactly was President Biden's son Hunter found guilty of doing here? Biden was convicted of lying about his drug use on an application to buy a gun back in October 2018, and then illegally possessing that gun while he

was actively addicted to illegal drugs. Around the time in question, he was in the throes of his addiction to crack cocaine. He wrote about it in a 2021 memoir, and excerpts from the audiobook were even used as evidence against him during the trial. It really showed a level of inhumane treatment towards someone who was struggling with addiction issues, honestly. Yeah, not good. Republicans have, you know, spent the last two years really just beating up on Hunter Biden and trying to use that by extension to beat up on President Joe Biden, his father.

What did they have to say about all of this? They were actually kind of muted about the whole thing. Florida Congressman and all-around troll Matt Gaetz tweeted the verdict was, quote, kind of dumb. Wow, okay, that's not what I would have expected from, like, the most craven people in the world. But maybe they decided to look in the mirror for a moment. House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN the verdict did nothing to disprove their baseless claims that the Justice Department is rigged against former President Donald Trump,

also now a convicted felon. Every case is different. And clearly the evidence was overwhelming here. I don't think that's the case in the Trump trials. And all the charges that have been brought against him have been obviously brought for political purposes. Hunter Biden is a separate instance. I hope he stretched before that reach because that was wild. And I guess that's a preview of how Republicans are going to continue to contort themselves about this. I'm sure he's trained something. And the head of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, said in a statement the Biden verdict was a step toward accountability,

but then kept banging the proverbial gong about House Republicans ongoing impeachment investigation into the president, which has so far turned up nothing. Right. They're going to keep turning up nothing. So I don't know how much longer they want to keep spinning their wheels. On the Democratic side, the response was also muted. New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told CNN that the responses show the stark difference between the parties. Democrats are willing to accept when our justice system works as functioned and as designed. We're not here contesting the results. We're not here trying to defund the FBI or the Department of Justice because we don't like the

outcome of a given trial. For more on Hunter Biden's trial and the reaction to the verdict, I spoke with Alex Thompson. He's a national political correspondent for Axios, and he was in the courtroom during the trial. I started by asking him about the reaction inside the courtroom when the verdict was read. You know, it was really interesting. So in part because the jury deliberated for such a short amount of time, it was only really three hours in total across two days, that a lot of Hunter Biden's family who had been in town, including the first lady, didn't even make it in for the verdict. Oh, wow. Yeah, so essentially you had his wife and his uncle, and there were a few family friends because they just didn't anticipate that it would be so soon.

In terms of Hunter, you know, he has usually a looseness to him, even in bad situations. But as it was being read, you know, it could have been a portrait. He didn't move at all. He was perfectly still. And then he did could have been a portrait. He didn't move at all. It was, he was perfectly still. And then he did sort of like three very small nods and stood up, hugged his lawyers, kissed his wife and walked out. You know, it was very much, okay, what's next sort of vibe.

What does the verdict mean practically for Hunter Biden, given the crimes he could be facing up to 25 years in prison? Is it likely that he'll receive that sentence? No. He's a first-time offender. It's very unlikely. There's even a possibility there's no jail time or probation. The bigger consequence from this is about the next trial. There's a tax trial that begins in Los Angeles on September 5th. And if he is found guilty on that, then now he has a criminal record. And that could actually

create more consequences for him from a prison point of view. Now, sticking to this first verdict, President Biden said in a statement after the verdict Tuesday that he will, quote, accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process. He's also said previously that he would not pardon his son. What do we know about how the president has been privately processing and handling this trial and now the verdict? I mean, this weighs on the president really heavily, in part because I think the president feels guilty for this happening to Hunter at all. I mean, like, let's face the facts, like Hunter, all the events that happened in this

trial were in 2018. It is a crime that's very rarely prosecuted. And if Joe Biden had not run for president and won the presidency, then it's very unlikely that this would have been charged. Now, the evidence probably shows that Hunter did break the law. But I think Joe Biden rightly feels that Hunter would not be facing this and is being put under an incredible amount of stress at a moment when he is finally sober. I think that weighs on it. I think Joe Biden is always scared of Hunter relapsing. And it also makes him sad. And I think that was captured in the president's statement when he said, I'm the president, but I'm also a dad, right? Like that's where that through line resonated. But how does Biden's response here compare to the response that Trump and the

Republican Party had when he was convicted last month? I mean, they're very different. You know, part of the difference is the fact that we're talking about the president's son versus an actual candidate. Trump obviously, you know, railed against the system, tried to make himself into a martyr for his cause and basically said that the whole thing was junk. You know, in this case, obviously,

Joe Biden has said that he's respecting the rule of law, that, you know, he won't pardon Hunter and that this is an important part of the system. And in truth, when Hunter was in the spirals of his crack cocaine addiction from 2015 to 2019, he did a lot of bad things. And speaking of that context, because being president means attacks from the opposing party. And so far, Republicans have been downplaying this verdict and the president's response to it. And instead, they're continuing to point to former President Donald Trump's conviction as proof that the Justice Department is corrupt. The Trump campaign even called the Biden verdict a distraction. To what extent does the Biden verdict dent Republicans' arguments about fairness in the courts?

I find this Republican response so interesting, in part because it's the complete opposite of what you saw just four years ago. I mean, if you remember four years ago, Trump basically every rally couldn't talk about Hunter enough. But I think the thing that Trump's pollsters have probably told him, I don't know for sure, but you also see this in the public polling. You know, I don't think that voters really are going to make up their vote based on what Hunter Biden did or didn't do. And as a result, you see them trying to pivot away from focusing on Hunter in the same way they did before. I also think to your point, there's some MAGA people that are being like, oh, well, they only attacked Hunter on the gun thing so they could get away with the bigger conspiracy.

But those are sort of like outside agitator voices or, you know, like staffer level voices. And that's why I've always felt the most interesting part about this case is not about the horse race politics of it all. It's really about the family drama. And, you know, it's simultaneously sort of a family tragedy and a love story. Let's talk about that. Because there was a lot of embarrassing information that came out during this trial. You mentioned all the evidence they had that included the relationship Hunter started with his sister-in-law, Hallie, after her husband and Hunter's brother, Beau, passed away. How they smoked crack cocaine together, how she threw away the gun at the center of these crimes in a grocery store trash can when she found it.

Like now, President Biden wasn't implicated in any of this. But what kind of political damage could this do to him as he faces a tough bid for reelection? You know, I feel like the biggest political toll is just going to be on his temperament, really. Because the thing about Joe Biden and the Biden family is they're so close-knit. And the prosecution was very good at sort of extracting embarrassing information on the family out into the open. You mentioned the fact that he introduced Hallie Biden, Beau's widow, to crack cocaine. The fact that Hunter was smoking crack cocaine in the home where there were two young children, you know, Beau and Hallie's kids. He talked about, you know, Hunter Biden dating a 24-year-old stripper

who's around the same age of his oldest daughter and giving her money to buy gifts and clothes for his daughters. You know, there was lots of like really embarrassing family dirty laundry. And anytime Hunter has had a significant setback in his legal stuff, you see Joe Biden's schedule get lighter. And I think that's the biggest like political consequence is how much mental energy and mental space is this taking up. Hunter's defense team has hinted that they may appeal the verdict on Second Amendment grounds. They tried to make that very argument during pretrial motions. But do they have a case here for appeal? They really do. In fact, even before they get to appeal,

there is actually a case already working its way through the courts and might be heard by the Supreme Court as soon as next year. A very similar case, which basically argues that this question about are you an unlawful user of substances is inherently unconstitutional. So if you read the actual language of the text, it basically says if you are a unlawful user, not just crack cocaine, but marijuana, can you own a gun? And basically, there's an argument that the Second Amendment says, well, you can be a user of marijuana and still own a gun. So there are significant constitutional questions.

Ironically, the sort of conservative aspect of the Supreme Court could end up helping get Hunter out of this case. I'm curious to know what else should we keep an eye out for as this progresses? Not only the potential appeal in this case, but also the federal trial in September. What else should we be looking for? You know, I think there are a few different things. The September trial is going to be longer and messier because it has to do with his taxes. Wait, we just went through all of the family drama and it's going to be messier than that? Yes, because when you're dealing with someone's taxes, you're dealing with everything they spent money on. In Hunter's case, for instance, in the indictment

and also subsequently in some of the materials they've said that the government intends to produce, you have tax forms and financial forms from London Roberts, who you may remember is the woman that Hunter allegedly had a relationship with who had his child. And this trial begins in September, the most critical period of the election. That was my conversation with Alex Thompson, national political correspondent with Axios.

And we'll be sure to keep following this story and the potential appeal from Hunter Biden's legal team. That is the latest for now. We'll get to some headlines in just a moment. But if you like our show, please make sure to subscribe and to share it with your friends. We'll be right back after some ads. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli leaders on his eighth visit to the Middle East since October 7th. His goal this time is to put pressure on Hamas to formally agree to a ceasefire deal with Israel. As for the actual ceasefire proposal that the U.S. has put forth, Egypt and Qatar confirmed

on Tuesday that they received a response from Hamas. The Palestinian militant group reportedly gave amendments to the proposal, while Israel called the group's response a rejection. And in other news regarding Hamas, reporting from The Wall Street Journal shows that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar said in messages to Hamas officials that civilian death tolls could work to the group's benefit. Other messages obtained by the journal show Sinwar calling civilian deaths, quote, necessary sacrifices. Really just awful. Truly. Sinwar's location is currently unknown, but he is assumed to be hiding out somewhere in the tunnels below the Gaza Strip. In battle, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and his wife Martha Ann are in hot water again after new secret recordings emerged on Monday

detailing their conservative stance on multiple political issues. The tapes were leaked to Rolling Stone by liberal documentarian Lauren Windsor. Windsor secretly recorded herself when she spoke to the couple last week at the Supreme Court Historical Society's annual dinner. She pretended to be a religious conservative when she spoke to them. Take a listen to her speaking with Justice Alito. People in this country who believe in God have got to keep fighting for that to return our country to a place of godliness. Oh, I agree with you.

No, God. I agree with you. Okay. Justice Alito recently faced backlash for flying two right-wing flags outside of his homes. Here's Alito's wife, Martha Ann, seemingly joking about the controversy to Windsor. I want a sacred Heart of Jesus flag because I have to look across the lagoon at the pride flag for the next month. Oh, no. Pride month.

The ultimate boogeyman. That's so wild to me that that's something she would just say to a stranger. Crazy. Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts can also be heard on the recording disagreeing with Windsor when she asserts that the U.S. is a Christian nation. Yeah, I don't know that we live in a Christian nation. I know a lot of Jewish and Muslim friends who would say maybe not. And it's not our job to do that. It's our job to decide the cases as best we can. Out of those three clips, only one person, one for three, understood the description of the lifelong commitment and seat that he occupies. It's

so interesting, but it's also a reminder of why accountability measures need to be in place to hold these justices accountable. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor for Donald Trump's hush money case, is set to testify before Congress for a public hearing on July 12th. And yes, that is just one day after Trump's scheduled sentencing. He will speak before the House Judiciary Committee that is led by, surprise, surprise, Republican Representative Jim Jordan. Jordan called for Bragg and his fellow prosecutor, Matthew Colangelo, to testify just one day after the hush money verdict was released and Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts. Bragg's office confirmed the July 12th date and in a statement they said, quote,

it undermines the rule of law to spread dangerous misinformation, baseless claims and conspiracy theories following the jury's return of a full count felony conviction in people v. Trump. Yeah, I feel like this just sets the tone of what to expect when DA Bragg appears before the Judiciary Committee because he's going to read them for Phil. Yeah, get your popcorn ready, people. It is going to be a good one. And finally, some rare good news on the anti-trans legislation front. A federal judge on Tuesday struck down Florida's ban on gender affirming care, declaring the law unconstitutional. The ban, which was passed by the state's GOP-led legislature last summer, banned trans youth from receiving hormone therapy, puberty blockers, or transition-related surgeries, and made it harder for trans adults to pursue gender-affirming care.

Three families sued the state last June, and it was temporarily blocked from taking effect. Tuesday's ruling means that the law cannot be enforced, and the judge wrote in his opinion, quote, gender identity is real, and that Florida cannot deny trans people, quote, treatment with medications routinely provided to others with the state's full approval. So long as the purpose is not to support the patient's transgender identity. Oh, my gosh. Please, more judges write like this because that was glorious. We are starved. We are starved for this.

So, please, we need more and those are the headlines one more thing before we go pride month is here and the cricket store is stocked with merch to help you celebrate whether you're heading to a protest dancing at a drag brunch or spending a quiet morning drinking coffee while gay there's something for you in the pride or else collection one of my personal favorites is the Leave Trans Kids Alone, You Absolute Freaks t-shirt because, I mean, that's exactly what they need to do. A portion of proceeds from every order go to Crooked's Pride or Else Fund in support of organizations working to provide gender-affirming care

and life-saving resources to queer and transgender communities across America. Pick up something you'll love as much as corporate America loves slapping logos on a pride float at crooked.com. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, congratulate Florida on their rare good news, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just all of the deranged Christian nationalist things Samuel Alito says when he thinks no one's watching like me. But today is also a nightly newsletter.

Check it out and subscribe at Cricut.com slash subscribe. I'm Juanita Tolliver. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. And stay out of the Poconos this summer. No disrespect to the Poconos. All disrespect to George Santos. 100%. You get the freedom to vacation whenever you please when you're not

a criminal, I guess. No, Priyanka, he summers. He summers. Yeah, that also, another key part of that whole exchange. What a Day

is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Our associate producers are Raven Yamamoto and Natalie Bettendorf. We had production help today from Michelle Alloy, Greg Walters, and Julia Clare. Our showrunner is

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