If convicted, Biden could face up to 25 years in prison and a fine of up to $750,000, though first-time offenders like him rarely receive the maximum penalty. He pleaded not guilty to all three charges.
Here are takeaways from Day 6 of the historic trial.
‘No one is above the law,’ prosecutors say
In the first seconds of Leo Wise’s closing arguments, he referenced the VIPs from the Biden family that have been filling the front row of the courtroom pews each day, often including
first lady Jill Biden, who was in attendance on Monday.
“The people sitting in the gallery are not evidence,” Wise said. “You may recognize some of them from the news or from the community … but respectfully, none of that matters.”
The first three rows of court were completely filled with Hunter Biden’s friends and family, and a Secret Service agent could barely fit at the end of the front-row bench, with so many people trying to squeeze in. Jill Biden sat flanked by her son’s wife on one side, and the first lady’s daughter Ashley Biden on the other.
As Wise continued, he returned to a theme that his colleague raised in opening statements: that “no one is above the law.” Jurors, he said, shouldn’t treat this case differently “because of who the defendant is.”
Evidence was ‘ugly’ but ‘overwhelming,’ prosecutors say
Wise went on to explain to the jury – which includes many people whose loved ones are struggling with addiction – why the prosecution went into so many excruciating details about the defendant’s spiral into crack cocaine abuse.
“The evidence was personal, it was ugly, and it was overwhelming. It was also absolutely necessary,” Wise said. “There is no other way to prove the use of drugs or addiction to drugs than through the kind of evidence that you saw.”
He noted, accurately, that the judge’s instructions don’t require the Justice Department to prove that Biden used drugs on a specific day, but only that he was “actively engaged” in drugs around that time.
Recalling key testimony from earlier witnesses, Wise highlighted Biden’s ex-girlfriend who testified that she saw him smoking crack in September 2018, less than two weeks before he bought the gun.
Furthermore, he pointed out that Biden’s rehab stints shortly before and after buying the firearm speaks to his “pattern” of drug use around that time.
“You could convict on those facts alone,” he said.
‘It’s time to end this case,’ defense says
During his nearly 90-minute closing argument, defense attorney Abbe Lowell forcefully made the case that prosecutors hadn’t met the high burden to prove Biden’s guilt, pointing to the issue of whether he knowingly violated the law.
Lowell repeatedly said that prosecutors showed no direct evidence that Biden was using illegal drugs during October 2018, when he bought the firearm, comparing their case to a slight-of-hand deception.
“Have you ever seen the magician’s trick of having you look at this hand, while in the other hand is where the trick is being done? Look at this – and then see that in the hand that matters, there is nothing there,” Lowell said, invoking a motif that he raised several times during closing arguments.
In order to reach a guilty verdict, prosecutors need to prove that Biden was “conscious and aware” of the law and how he was violating it, Lowell argued.
“With this very high burden, it’s time to end this case,” Lowell said.