WILMINGTON, Delaware (AP) — In less than 48 hours last week, First Lady Jill Biden commuted from a ceremony in Normandy marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of France to the front row of a courtroom in Delaware where Hunter Biden is on trial in an arms case, and then back to Paris for a lavish state visit to the Élysée Palace.
“Here we are again,” the first lady said with a laugh as she and President Joe Biden were greeted at the palace on Saturday by French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigette. The light-hearted comment was an indirect reference to their transatlantic trip.
It was a reflection of the great efforts the Biden family has made to support Hunter Biden at his trial in Wilmington, Delaware. He is accused of lying on a federal gun purchase form when he claimed he did not have a drug problem. Jill Biden is a regular in the courtroom, supported by a rotating cast of other family members.
“The back and forth, the back and forth between family obligations, the duties of first lady, her career and the campaign – that’s just her nature,” said Elizabeth Alexander, the first lady’s communications director.
Every family faces personal challenges, and politicians often have to navigate those dynamics in public. But the very detailed airing of the salacious details of Hunter Biden’s addiction in court – in the spotlight of an election year – is even more momentous. And the president’s family has shown its determination to ensure that Hunter Biden does not have to face this challenge alone.
The trial continues on Monday. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to the charges but does not deny that he has a drug problem. His memoir, “Beautiful Things,” is about how he hit rock bottom after his brother Beau died of cancer in 2015. But his lawyers say he did not consider himself an “addict” when he filled out the gun purchase form to buy a revolver in 2018.
President and father at the same time
Joe Biden has stayed out of the courtroom and said little about the case because he did not want to give the impression that he was interfering in a criminal case brought by his own Justice Department. But the president has long walked the line between public servant and father.
At just 30 years vintage, the Democrat was sworn in as Delaware’s junior senator in a hospital room where his newborn sons were recovering from a car accident that had killed his wife and newborn daughter.
In grainy black-and-white newsreels, Biden is seen holding 3-year-old Hunter as the fresh senator takes the oath of office, with 4-year-old Beau watching from a hospital bed. Joe Biden promised at the time that he would resign if there was ever a conflict between “my role as a good father and my role as a good senator.”
The President issued a brief written statement at the start of Hunter Biden’s trial.
“As president, I do not and will not comment on pending federal litigation, but as a father, I have boundless love for my son, confidence in him and respect for his strength,” he said. “Our family has been through a lot together and Jill and I will continue to provide our love and support to Hunter and our family.”
Nevertheless, the case followed him all the way to Normandy, where Biden was asked in an ABC interview whether he believed his son would receive a fair trial and whether the president would rule out pardoning his son if he were found guilty.
Biden answered with a brief “yes” on both points.
SHOW SUPPORT
During the first week of the trial, Jill Biden was in the courtroom four out of five days, missing only Thursday because of the events of D-Day. Other people who have taken their seats in the courtroom at various times include Hunter’s sister Ashley, aunts Bonny Jacobs and Valerie Owens, and his wife Melissa Cohen Biden.
The First Lady leaned over the courtroom railing to hug Hunter, whom she has called “Mama” since her marriage to Joe Biden in 1977. She walked out of the courtroom hand in hand with him. She listened to hours of testimony.
Hunter has not made it straightforward for his family, and the evidence in the case is a very personal portrayal of his mistakes and drug operate, a sort of nightmare version of “This is Your Life.”
Jurors listened to hours of testimony from his ex-wife, a former girlfriend and his brother’s widow, which painted a picture of strip club visits, infidelity, regular crack operate and their failed efforts to lend a hand him get off the hook. Jurors saw images of the president’s son shirtless and disheveled in a grubby room and half-naked with crack pipes in his hands. And they saw a video of his crack cocaine being weighed on a scale.
Federal prosecutors argued the evidence was necessary to prove to jurors that Hunter Biden, 54, was addicted at the time he bought the gun and therefore lied when he checked “no” on the form asking if he was an “illicit drug user or drug addict.”
On Friday, his eldest daughter, 30-year-old Naomi, testified for the defense and told jurors a hopeful story about how her father seemed to be doing better at the time of the gun purchase.
“I told him I was so proud of him,” she said quietly.
But then prosecutor Leo Wise showed her text messages that showed erratic behavior during the same time period. Her father didn’t respond to her messages for hours and then asked her at 2 a.m. if her boyfriend could meet up and swap cars.
“Right now?” she replied. “I’m really sorry, Dad, I can’t stand this.”
As she left the witness stand, she stopped at the defense table and hugged her father before leaving the courtroom.
On Friday afternoon, the First Lady returned to France for the state dinner.
Her transcontinental flights underscore the importance of family to the Bidens, said Carl Sferrazza Anthony, an expert on first ladies and author of “Camera Girl,” about Jacqueline Kennedy.
“She understands that at the end of the day, it’s about her son and his well-being. She knows he has support, and she also knows the vulnerability of someone in recovery,” Anthony said.
A WELL-KNOWN STORY
Patrick Kennedy, a former congressman and leading expert on mental health and addiction, said Hunter Biden’s story is so commonplace that he expects many Americans will find something familiar in it, however disturbing or embarrassing it may seem. Kennedy struggled with drug addiction himself and is the son of a celebrated lawmaker, the behind schedule Senator Ted Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts.
“This seems to be about the disease of addiction,” he said, arguing that the main issue in this case is the definition of sobriety. Are you sober when you don’t operate drugs? Or are you sober when there has been a profound change in thinking that comes with stopping drugs?
“Half say it’s physical, half say it’s psychological – and the truth is it’s both,” he said.
WHAT’S NEXT
The trial is coming to an end. The defense is discussing whether to call more witnesses on Monday, including the president’s brother, James. After the closing arguments, the case will be handed over to the jury.
But Hunter Biden’s legal problems are not over yet. He faces a separate trial in California in September. He is accused of not paying $1.4 million in taxes.
Last summer, a deal was negotiated that would have resolved both the weapons and tax issues, thus avoiding the spectacle of a trial so close to the presidential election in November. But when U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, nominated by former President Donald Trump, questioned aspects of the deal, the lawyers were unable to reach an agreement. The deal fell through.
In August, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed the lead investigator, former U.S. Attorney David Weiss of Delaware, as special counsel. One month later, charges were filed against Hunter Biden.
Hunter Biden argues that he is being unfairly targeted by the Justice Department after Republicans condemned the now-collapsed deal as special treatment for the Democratic president’s son.
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Long and Superville reported from Washington. AP White House correspondent Zeke Miller in Paris and Associated Press writers Randall Chase, Mike Catalini and Michael Kunzelman contributed to this report.
