For months, the liberal media have praised President Biden as a supposed pillar of the rule of law and touted his promise that he would accept any verdict in his son Hunter’s felony gun crime trial. But following the three guilty verdicts on Tuesday, ABC News seemed to prime their audience to expect him to intercede with the full powers of the presidency. The network also pouted about the court reading the verdict without First Lady Jill Biden in the room.
Following the verdict, ABC interrupted The View to mournfully deliver the heartbreaking and devastating news for the Biden family. Chief legal analyst Dan Abrams was the first to float the idea that Biden could use a slippery technique to help his son. Abrams pointed out that while Biden had promised not to “pardon” his son, commuting whatever sentence he received could still be on the table:
ABRAMS: But, you know, David [Muir], one other interesting question. You had asked President Biden in your interview with him, whether he would pardon his son. And his answer was, ‘no. He'd respect the verdict, etc.’ Remember, there's also the possibility of commuting the sentence. So, if there is a sentence that comes down, even if he's not officially pardoned, there's also the possibility of commuting the sentence at some point down the road.
MUIR: And again, just to Dan, alluding to this interview I did with President Biden in Normandy just a couple of days ago.
About five minutes later, chief Washington correspondent and anti-Trump author Jon Karl recalled that the President was insistent “that his son had done nothing wrong.”
“So, while you had asked him and he said that he would respect this jury verdict entirely, that he would not pardon his son, I am sure there are some interesting conversations happening right now inside the Biden family and at the White House,” Karl teased.
Earlier in the break-in, anchor David Muir and investigative reporter Olivia Rubin pouted about how the verdict was read without the First Lady present:
MUIR: Olivia, we're looking at pictures right now of First Lady Jill Biden. As you point out, she was there for the trial every day but one; she was not in the courtroom for the verdict?
RUBIN: She was not in the courtroom for the verdict. And I can tell you, David, as I sprinted out of the courtroom to come down to you as it was after wrapped up there, she was heading in just as I was heading out. She was rushing through that lobby, appearing. You know, we don't know if they intended for her to not be here for Valerie, but it certainly does appear as if it's possible that they missed the reading of the verdict.
“It happened quite quickly from when it came down just after 11. Her clerk, the judge's clerk, came into the courtroom to say that the verdict had been reached. And just moments later it was being read,” Rubin seemed to huff.
Of course, this was part of their sympathetic framing of the Biden family. “[The First Lady] took a whirlwind trip to France to join the president for the D-Day commemorations and came right back to be with her son,” senior national correspondent Terry Moran noted, falsely suggesting Hunter was her biological son.
Rubin also quibbled over one of the jurors allegedly smiled just before the verdict was read. “Again, something we have talked about before the jury not looking at Hunter Biden. One of the jurors actually took his seat smiling, which was quite striking to see him smiling right before that verdict was read,” she claimed, without evidence.
ABC's immediate coverage didn't include reaction from the Trump campaign or Republicans, but following the Trump felony convictions they made sure to report that there were "cheers inside" the Biden HQ.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View – Break-In for Hunter Biden Trial Verdict
June 11, 2024
11:19:53 a.m. Eastern(…)
DAVID MUIR: Terry, let me ask you about the show of support in the front rows of that courtroom. As we know, the first lady, Jill Biden, there supporting her son every day but one in this trial, multiple members of the family and friends close to Hunter Biden all there. We know in the closing arguments, the prosecution well aware of that image right there in front of the jurors, saying of family members, the first lady, the friends who had gathered, essentially, that does not matter here.
TERRY MORAN: That's exactly what they said, David. None of that matters. Pointing at the Biden family, at the first lady who was here almost every day, took a whirlwind trip to France to join the president for the D-Day commemorations and came right back to be with her son. And yet it was partly part of the closing argument of prosecutors there, prosecutors saying no one is above the law, no matter what their name is, no matter who is in court.
(…)
11:21:15 a.m. Eastern
MORAN: And in part, David, because of the law that the judge read to them. The judge, as is customary, as is part of the process, reads the jurors, the law that they will apply to the facts that they heard in this case.
And part of that law was that drug use, for the purpose of this law, did not have to occur on the day that Hunter Biden bought the weapon and checked that federal form, that it could be evidence of a pattern of drug abuse or drug addiction around that. And that certainly was clear in this case. So, the defense was fighting an uphill battle, not only really against the facts, but against the law. As the judge gave it to the jurors here.
Now, I should say that in court, the defense, as is customary right after the conviction was announced, renewed an appeal for an acquittal from the judge that in order to preserve an appeal and gave notice essentially that they will appeal this case.
(…)
11:25:51 a.m. Eastern
DAN ABRAMS: But, you know, David, one other interesting question. You had asked President Biden in your interview with him, whether he would pardon his son. And his answer was, ‘no. He'd respect the verdict, etc.’ Remember, there's also the possibility of commuting the sentence. So, if there is a sentence that comes down, even if he's not officially pardoned, there's also the possibility of commuting the sentence at some point down the road.
MUIR: And again, just to Dan, alluding to this interview I did with President Biden in Normandy just a couple of days ago. Dan, thank you.
(…)
11:28:29 a.m. Eastern
MUIR: Olivia, we're looking at pictures right now of First Lady Jill Biden. As you point out, she was there for the trial every day but one; she was not in the courtroom for the verdict?
OLIVIA RUBIN: She was not in the courtroom for the verdict. And I can tell you, David, as I sprinted out of the courtroom to come down to you as it was after wrapped up there, she was heading in just as I was heading out. She was rushing through that lobby, appearing. You know, we don't know if they intended for her to not be here for Valerie, but it certainly does appear as if it's possible that they missed the reading of the verdict. It happened quite quickly from when it came down just after 11. Her clerk, the judge's clerk, came into the courtroom to say that the verdict had been reached. And just moments later it was being read.
And you could kind of almost sort of sense what that verdict was going to be initially when they walked the jury in. Again, something we have talked about before the jury not looking at Hunter Biden. One of the jurors actually took his seat smiling, which was quite striking to see him smiling right before that verdict was read.
But again, Jill Biden not in the courtroom, and again, the least amount of Biden's essentially, that we have seen in the courtroom for the reading of the verdict.
MUIR: The first lady not there for the verdict, though. There just about every other day of this trial to show her support. Olivia, thank you for the color inside the courtroom.
(…)
11:31:08 a.m. Eastern
JON KARL: And as we know, President Biden had said, not long ago, when asked about all of this, all of the legal troubles swirling around Hunter, that his son had done nothing wrong.
So, while you had asked him and he said that he would respect this jury verdict entirely, that he would not pardon his son, I am sure there are some interesting conversations happening right now inside the Biden family and at the White House.
(…)
