Joe Biden shows support for son as his gun trial begins

Published

4 months ago

June 3, 2024

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US President Joe Biden has said he has “boundless love” for his son Hunter as jury selection in his federal gun case started on Monday.

Hunter Biden has been charged in Delaware with three felonies stemming from a 2018 firearm purchase when he was, allegedly, addicted to crack cocaine.

He has been accused of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application used to screen firearms applicants when he said he was not a drug user, and illegally having the gun for 11 days.

A plea deal that would have avoided a trial so close to the 2024 election previously collapsed.

Biden pleaded not guilty and has argued he is being unfairly targeted by the US justice department, after Republicans decried the now-defunct deal as special treatment for the Democratic president’s son.

Joe Biden said that as president he would not comment on the criminal trial – but as a father, he has “boundless love for my son, confidence in him, and respect for his strength”.

Proud father

The US leader said: “I am the president, but I am also a dad. Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today”.

First lady Jill Biden was seated in the front row of the Delaware courtroom in a show of support.

Hunter Biden’s trial comes just days after Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was convicted of 34 felonies in New York City.

A jury found the former president guilty of a scheme to cover up a hush-money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels made to fend off damage to his 2016 presidential campaign.

Prospective jurors in Hunter Biden’s case were quizzed individually to determine whether they could be fair and impartial.

Questions put to them ranged from their knowledge of the case, thoughts about gun ownership and whether they or anyone close to them have struggled with substance abuse or addiction, or ever owned a gun.

Hunter Biden is also facing a separate trial in California in September for failing to pay $1.4m (£1.1m) in taxes.

Campaign distraction

Joe BIden’s allies are worried the trial could become a distraction as the presidential election campaign gets underway.

Prosecutors are hoping to show Hunter Biden was in the throes of addiction when he bought the gun and therefore lied on the forms.

They have said they are planning to use his published memoir as evidence, and they may also introduce contents from a laptop that he left at a Delaware repair shop and never retrieved.

The highly personal contents made their way to Republicans in 2020 and were publicly leaked to cause maximum embarrassment to the Biden camp.

Drug addiction

The case against Hunter Biden stems from a period when he was addicted to crack cocaine.

His descent into drugs and alcohol followed the death of his brother, Beau Biden, from cancer in 2015.

Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty in both cases, and his attorneys have suggested they may argue he did not see himself as an addict when prosecutors say he checked “no” to the question on the form. They will also attack the credibility of the gun store owner.

If convicted, he could face up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders are unlikely to get anywhere near this maximum term, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.

US

Will a second Trump assassination attempt shift the polls?

Published

11 hours ago

September 20, 2024

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Will a second Trump assassination attempt shift the polls?

With seven weeks to go until the US goes to the polls, Sky’s dedicated team of correspondents goes on the road to gauge what citizens in key swing states make of the choice for president.

This week they focus on the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

Mark Stone travels to Florida where the foiled attack took place, while James Matthews has been finding out more about the suspected would-be assassin in his hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina.

Plus, Martha Kelner attended a Trump town hall in Flint, Michigan, to hear him speak for the first time after the attempt on his life, and asked voters if it will impact the way they vote in November.

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Producer: Rosie Gillott
Editor: Philly Beaumont

US

‘All it could do was spin in circles’: Previous Titan sub passenger says his mission was aborted

Published

14 hours ago

September 20, 2024

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'All it could do was spin in circles': Previous Titan sub passenger says his mission was aborted

A previous Titan submersible dive to the Titanic was aborted due to an apparent mechanical failure, one of the mission’s passengers has said.

Fred Hagen had paid a fee to go on a dive in the Titan in 2021, two years before it imploded and killed all five passengers onboard.

He told a US Coast Guard panel investigating the tragedy on Friday that his trip was aborted underwater when the Titan began malfunctioning and it was clear they weren’t going to reach the Titanic wreck site.

“We realised that all it could do was spin around in circles, making right turns,” Mr Hagen said. “At this juncture, we obviously weren’t going to be able to navigate to the Titanic.”

He said the Titan resurfaced and the mission was scrapped.

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US

Trump-backed North Carolina Republican Mark Robinson denies calling himself ‘black nazi’ on pornographic forum

Published

23 hours ago

September 20, 2024

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Trump-backed North Carolina Republican Mark Robinson denies calling himself 'black nazi' on pornographic forum

A Republican backed by Donald Trump in his bid to be North Carolina’s governor denied reports he called himself a “black nazi” on an online message board.

CNN reported Thursday that Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson posted racial and sexual comments on a pornography website more than a decade ago.

In a video posted on social media, the Republican nominee said he would not leave the race over “salacious tabloid lies”.

“We are staying in this race. We are in it to win it. And we know that with your help, we will.”

Follow the latest on the US election here

Mr Robinson also referenced the CNN report and said: “Let me reassure you the things that you will see in that story – those are not the words of Mark Robinson.

“You know my words. You know my character.”

The US outlet reported Mr Robson wrote of being aroused by a memory of “peeping” women in gym showers when he was 14.

He was also said to have used a racial slur when discussing civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, referred to himself as a “black nazi,” and said: “I’d take Hitler over any of the shit that’s in Washington right now.”

CNN said it matched details of the account on the pornographic website forum to other online accounts held by Robinson by comparing usernames, a known email address and his full name.

Sky News has not verified whether the account is linked to Mr Robinson.

Eight minutes after the report was published on Thursday, vice president Kamala Harris’ campaign started sharing videos of Donald Trump praising Mr Robinson.

One video from the campaign on X shows the former president at a March rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he called the lieutenant governor “Martin Luther King times two”.

“I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two,” Mr Trump said.

Scott Lassiter, a GOP Senate candidate in a swing district in the state, called on Mr Robinson to “suspend his campaign to allow a quality candidate to finish this race”.

Mr Trump’s campaign also appeared to be distancing itself from Mr Robinson.

The ex-president did not refer to the controversy when he addressed Jewish donors on Thursday night, instead vowing to be ‘the best friend Jewish Americans ever had”.