Historic criminal trial of Hunter Biden to probe drug addiction

The criminal trial of Hunter Biden on gun charges kicks off next week, with federal prosecutors likely to dissect lurid details of his crack cocaine addiction that could provide fuel for opponents of his father's presidential reelection bid.

Hunter Biden will be the first child of a sitting president to be a criminal defendant when jury selection begins on Monday, coming just days after another historic first: the criminal trial of a former US president.

The son of President Joe Biden has pleaded not guilty to three federal criminal charges related to his 2018 purchase of a .38-caliber Colt revolver.

He was charged in September by US Special Counsel David Weiss, a Trump appointee, with lying about his use of illegal drugs when he bought the handgun and with illegally possessing the weapon for 11 days in October 2018.

If convicted on all charges, Hunter Biden faces a maximum punishment of 25 years in prison, according to the Department of Justice.

The trial comes as Joe Biden, a Democrat, is campaigning for a second four-year term but is struggling to generate voter enthusiasm due to inflation, wars in the Middle East and Ukraine and concerns about his age. Biden, 81, is the oldest US president.

On Tuesday, closing arguments were presented to a New York jury over charges that Donald Trump, 77, Biden's Republican opponent in the Nov. 5 election, falsified business records to cover up hush-money payments to influence the 2016 race. Trump faces three other criminal trials that have yet to be scheduled.

As prosecutors have investigated and charged Trump, who was defeated in the 2020 election by Biden, Republicans have stepped up allegations of financial misconduct against the president's family, particularly his son.

Republicans have spent years in vain trying to prove that Hunter Biden illegally profited off his father's power. In September, he faces a separate federal criminal tax trial in Los Angeles, a case that was also brought by Weiss.