00:00Hi, everyone. I'm Maggie McGrath with Forbes Breaking News. Today, Hunter Biden was convicted
00:10on three felony gun charges related to the purchase of a gun in 2018. Here to explain
00:17more is John George Aras. He is the founder of Aras Law Group. John George, thank you
00:22so much for joining us. I want to start by asking, are you surprised by today's verdict?
00:30I don't think I'm surprised by today's verdict because the evidence in this case was fairly
00:34straightforward. It was Hunter Biden having lied on an application to purchase a firearm
00:41and then possessing that firearm afterwards. The prosecution's case was pretty clean and
00:47pretty straightforward. The jury only took about three hours to deliberate, which is
00:53usually a clear sign that the evidence was put in in a manner that made a lot of sense.
00:59The defense tried to go for an omnibus approach and really narrow what this case was about
01:06when it came down to the question on the gun application and whether Hunter Biden at that
01:11time was sober or not sober. But it just it seems like the evidence was overwhelming.
01:17I'm not surprised that on the three counts, two of them being making false statements
01:23in the connection with purchasing a firearm and the third there by illegally possessing
01:29the firearm afterwards, that the jury came back with this conviction.
01:33Let's just break down these three convictions. What exactly do they mean and what exactly
01:38are the convictions?
01:40So the conviction, the first one is making a false statement in regards to a question
01:45on an application, whether or not at the time of the purchase of the firearm, Hunter Biden
01:52was addicted or on any drugs at that time. So that was the first two counts are connected.
02:00They're both false statements in connection with purchasing the gun. So it's the transaction
02:05record and then it's the false statement itself. Those are the first two. And then
02:09the third is just simply then illegally possessing that firearm by virtue of having lied on this
02:15application and therefore obtaining it illegally, because at the time the testimony and the
02:21evidence came out of the case that Hunter Biden was suffering from a drug addiction
02:26during that time.
02:28Now will Hunter Biden appeal these charges?
02:32I believe his counsel will. We're in a very interesting territory with this case and the
02:38charges in this case are not, I wouldn't say they're very typical. I would say that they're
02:45somewhat unique that this case was brought and went down this road leading to this conviction.
02:51But underlying all of this is a second amendment issue and whether the second amendment, the
02:57right to bear arms can be invoked in this situation. And the argument, one of the arguments
03:02or I should say the main argument is that an individual that is potentially suffering
03:08from a drug addiction may still be able to invoke the second amendment and say, this
03:15is disparate and unequal treatment of me, a potential drug addict, and I should still
03:23be allowed to purchase a firearm. So it is setting up an appeal. The Supreme Court has
03:30not heard this issue. And I believe this case will will proceed forward. And I believe that
03:35Hunter Biden's counsel will go down that road. And it's very possible this could end up at
03:41some point before the Supreme Court.
03:44So just to emphasize what you just said, Hunter Biden could appeal using the second amendment
03:52and that appeal could go all the way to the Supreme Court.
03:56That's correct. Yeah, this is an issue that has not been decided by the Supreme Court.
04:03Something to compare it to would be an individual that may be suffering from mental illness,
04:09right? Can they invoke the second amendment to purchase a firearm? It's somewhat in the
04:15same world. And there's arguments to be made that the second amendment has its strengths
04:20and this could lead to a point that strengthens gun laws provided what the Supreme Court comes
04:28down ultimately with their decision regarding the second amendment. So yes, this could end
04:34up before the Supreme Court.
04:35I mean, it's interesting if you think about it, someone who has been diagnosed with a
04:39mental health disorder, they still have the right to the first amendment free speech.
04:43So you can kind of maybe start to see the legal framework that could be used in a case
04:50of the Supreme Court.
04:52The Constitution is strong. The amendments are strong. People have individual rights
04:56and liberties and those are protected by the Constitution. So these are the foundation
05:01and you laid it out correctly. It's the foundation for these types of arguments to proceed forward.
05:07It's just politically interesting because what you're describing almost sounds like
05:12it sets up a situation for the son of a president to strengthen the second amendment when that
05:17president himself wants to tighten gun laws. Is that a fair summation of where we are politically?
05:26I think broadly that's accurate. The president has been clear about wanting to tighten gun
05:31laws and to restrict certain rights to purchasing firearms. This case is a piece of that, a
05:38portion of it that could add itself to strengthening gun laws or the liberty and the individual
05:46right to purchase a firearm. So it is an interesting juxtaposition that's been set
05:51up between the two. Obviously on a personal level, I'm sure that the president and the
05:58first lady are upset about this decision. And I do think that there's a level of empathy
06:03that everyone can have for Hunter Biden having suffered through a drug addiction and being
06:08in this position. It's the president has the personal relationship, but also politically
06:14it is an issue in some regards that his son may be now pursuing an appeal that is in direct
06:22opposition to the policies of what the White House wants to put forward when it comes to gun rights.
06:29Now Hunter may appeal. We don't yet know. What is the potential punishment here? Is
06:34he facing jail time? Yes. Now the federal sentencing guidelines
06:40are pretty high, meaning that the amount of time that he can spend in jail I believe is
06:44up to 25 years. So it's a lengthy period. I think that that's unlikely that he would
06:48end up spending 25 years in prison. What's going to end up happening is it's unlikely
06:54the judge would sentence him today. In two to three months, a sentencing hearing will
06:59be scheduled and there's a lot of work to do in between those time periods. So in two
07:04to three months, he's going to have to go through basically a sentencing interview.
07:09They're going to have to provide a lot of information about his background. It's all
07:12going to have to be gestated and put into a document and put before the judge for what
07:18then the judge will ultimately decide is the sentence. The government will likely argue
07:23for a higher sentence, and then obviously the defense will argue for a lower sentence.
07:28So that'll be the tension between the two. But in that time period, there'll be a lot
07:32of work to do leading up to that. And I think it would happen in about two to three months.
07:38If he is sent to prison, what type of prison would Hunter Biden go to? Would it be one
07:45of those white collar institutions that we've seen Martha Stewart and others attend or what's
07:52the situation he's facing?
07:53Well, as a federal case, so it'd be federal prison and federal prisons are typically mixed
07:59when it comes to the different crimes that go into it. So it remains to be seen. I'm
08:04not sure he would get some special white glove treatment and go to a resort spa type of situation
08:11for prison. This is a gun crime. So it's more likely that Hunter Biden would be in some
08:19type of federal prison at some point. But whether or not that's a nice one for lack
08:25of a better term or a worse one, I think remains to be seen.
08:30Now President Joe Biden has said that he would not pardon his own son here. But what other
08:36legal options does he have? Is there anything else he could do to commute the term or otherwise
08:43lessen it?
08:45The president has broad powers when it comes to commuting a sentence or when it comes to
08:51pardoning someone. I think politically it could be a major issue for President Biden
08:57to pardon his son after an independent jury found him guilty of these crimes. Really in
09:05President Biden's backyard, right? In Delaware. So it's a strong statement from the jury.
09:11They acted independently. They came to a decision. It'd be a lot for a president to go in and
09:16disturb a jury verdict, which in the law is pretty sacred. The idea that a jury came down
09:21to a decision after hearing the evidence and rendered its verdict. We all have a right
09:26to trial in front of a jury of our peers. That's what Hunter Biden received. And now
09:33he's dealing with the consequences. I don't imagine that President Biden will do anything
09:39to disturb this, even though as the president he has fairly broad powers to. If he did want
09:46to, I think it would look, especially in light of everything that's going on with former
09:51President Trump, I think it would look bad and it could cause him some political backlash.
09:57So not in his political interest. You know, the other ramification question I had for
10:01you, John George, is in the United States, and this can differ state by state, but there
10:07are laws around felons voting in elections. So can a convicted felon, can Hunter Biden
10:15vote for his own father in the November election? Traditionally, the laws have been pretty clear
10:21that felons can't vote in the general election. However, on a state by state basis, there
10:29are exceptions that are propping up, you know, over time or there's ways if someone has been
10:36rehabilitated or has made some showing or there's been a certain passage of time, you know,
10:41a lengthy period of time from when someone was convicted as a felon, maybe there's a process
10:46for them to expunge their criminal record or do something to get them that eligibility back.
10:53Over the years, there's been more openness to having someone that may have been convicted
11:00as a felon come back and be able to vote. But this is such a short period of time,
11:04the conviction just happened. We have a general election in November. I think it's unlikely that
11:11he would be able to vote for his father in this election. And I also think he's probably going to
11:18be more focused on other issues, which are whether or not he's going to be going to jail,
11:23whether or not he's going to have a successful appeal. And Hunter Biden has another case in
11:30California related to tax fraud charges that is pending. So I don't think that it's going to be
11:40at the top of his priority list. And I think it's unlikely that he would be able to
11:43vote in this general election given this conviction.
11:46I'm glad you mentioned the tax case. He faces nine federal tax charges in California.
11:52Does today's verdict affect that case at all?
11:55Today's verdict doesn't affect that case, but I think it's worthwhile to sort of look back at
12:01why we've ended up at this point where we had the gun case in Delaware and now we have the
12:07tax charges filed in California. By way of background, there was an agreement with the
12:13prosecutors that would have settled out these issues, both the tax charge and the gun charges
12:20charges together. The judge in Delaware rejected that agreement straight up because the judge in
12:28Delaware said, this seems to provide broad immunity for Hunter Biden, not only for
12:35alleged past crimes, but potentially future crimes. And you need to come to the prosecution
12:42and the defense needs to come to a more clear deal. I'm not willing to rubber stamp this.
12:47That moment galvanized a complete change for Hunter Biden's legal landscape. He then faced
12:54the gun charges in Delaware and then the tax charges were removed and separately filed
13:01in California. So that's why we're here today. The verdict doesn't, they're independent cases.
13:07It doesn't affect anything. It's just more trial and more potential jail time
13:13for Hunter Biden in California.
13:15So today is effectively not the end of Hunter Biden's legal saga, is what you're saying?
13:21It is not. In many ways, he obviously would have liked to get not guilty verdict and put this case
13:30to bed. But now he needs to go through an appeal process. He needs to work really hard on trying
13:35to get the lowest possible sentence that he can, you know, through his attorneys and then turn his
13:41attention to the tax case. Maybe this galvanizes him and his counsel to work with the prosecution
13:49in that case and try to come to a plea agreement there. If he does think that jail time is going
13:55to happen in the gun case, then maybe he just figures, try to find a way to wrap this matter
14:02all up at once. It's so fresh and new right now that the attorneys are going to have to go back
14:07and really strategize and look at everything broadly before they go ahead and advise Hunter
14:12going forward.
14:15We've covered a lot of ground, but Sean George, I want to ask, is there anything else that you're
14:19looking at as an attorney with this case that the Forbes audience should know about?
14:25I think the environment that we're in right now, especially with the prosecution of former
14:31President Trump in New York, and now we have the prosecution of Hunter Biden, we're in a very,
14:38people keep saying this over and over again, we're in an unprecedented time. We are.
14:42It's a 2024 election where there's a lot of upheaval and serious criminal charges being
14:51brought against the former president and then people that are closely tied to the current
14:57president. I just think it's an interesting point to continue following. However, I don't really
15:03know and I don't really suspect that this is going to move many voters in any particular
15:12direction, whether that's closer to former President Trump or closer to now current President
15:18Biden. Everyone seems to know the dynamics that are at play. Even in light of these convictions,
15:26I think that people that are loyal to the former president or the current president
15:30will continue going down that road, even as these legal cases keep unfolding step by step.
15:38Better for worse. Sean George Aras, thank you so much for sharing your
15:43insight with us today. We really appreciate it.
15:45Thank you, Maggie. I appreciate it.
15:56Thank you.
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