As many now know, Hunter Biden, the son of the sitting president, was convicted on Tuesday, June 11 on all three counts brought against him over charges that he lied on a gun form, saying he was not using drugs when he bought a pistol despite being addicted to crack-cocaine at the time. Biden White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre then gave a somewhat surprising comment when she brought up the matter on Wednesday the 11th.
KJP only spoke about the matter on Wednesday because, after the verdict, the scheduled Tuesday briefing was canceled by the White House. Her Wednesday comments came on Air Force One as the press and executive team flew to Brindisi, Italy, after the president’s visit to France for diplomacy and the 80th Anniversary of D-Day.
Kicking off the presser with general comments, KJP had her surprising comment. She began by quoting President Biden’s statement on the matter, saying, “And finally, in anticipation of your questions, I just want to read the President’s statement from yesterday. And it reads: ‘As I said last week, I am the President, but I am also a dad. Jill an- — Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today.'”
Continuing, she further quoted Biden’s statement, saying, “‘So many families who have had loved ones battle addiction understand the feeling of pride seeing someone you love come out the other side and be so strong and resilient in recovery. As I also said last week, I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal. Jill and I will always be there for Hunter and the rest of our family with our love and support. Nothing will ever change that.’”
She then got to the somewhat surprising part. Instead of defending Hunter or pushing back on the charges and them being brought for what some argue was political reasons, she simply said that she had nothing else to add beyond the president’s comments about his family and the verdict, along with accepting the outcome.
She said, quickly wrapping that up and moving on, “End quote. And from that, I don’t have anything beyond the statement that the President put out yesterday, as I just read through. But right now, I do have Jake Sullivan, our National Security Advisor. He’s going to — he’s going to discuss our strong support for Ukraine and — for Ukraine now and in the — into the future as we head into the G7 in the upcoming hours.”
Check that out here:
Though Hunter’s crimes predated President Biden’s tenure as president, this was, CNN reported, the first time that an immediate family member of a president was found guilty of a crime during that family member’s presidency. Hunter now faces up to two and a half decades in prison and three-quarters of a million dollars in fines, though it is expected that, as a first-time offender, his sentencing will be less than that maximum.
Featured image credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hunter_Biden_and_Abbe_Lowell_in_2023.jpg
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