Jury finds Hunter Biden guilty on all charges in gun trial | The Excerpt
On Wednesday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: USA TODAY Justice Department Correspondent Bart Jansen breaks down the guilty verdict in Hunter Biden's federal gun trial. Rudy Giuliani posts bail in Arizona in the fake electors case. ICE agents arrest eight foreign nationals suspected to have ties with ISIS. A federal judge strikes down Florida's ban on transgender health care for children, and restrictions for transgender adults. USA TODAY Health Reporter Karen Weintraub looks at the impact of space travel on the human body. The U.S. takes on India at the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup.
Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
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Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Wednesday, June 12th, 2024. This is the Excerpt. Today, a closer look at Hunter Biden's guilty verdict plus a judge blocks Florida's ban on healthcare for transgender children and restrictions for transgender adults. And we look at new research into how the human body handles space travel.
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A jury has found Hunter Biden guilty on all charges in his gun trial. I spoke with USA TODAY Justice Department correspondent Bart Jansen for more. Bart, thanks for hopping on.
Bart Jansen:
Thanks for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
So, Bart, a verdict has been reached in Hunter Biden's gun trial. What exactly did the jury find him guilty of?
Bart Jansen:
Yeah, they convicted him on all three charges. One was lying on a federal screening form saying basically that he did not use or was addicted to unlawful drugs in order to buy a gun. He lied to the dealer who sold him the gun, and then he possessed that gun for 11 days while under those conditions.
Taylor Wilson:
What sentence might he face? And is this a question of jail time?
Bart Jansen:
He absolutely has the potential to be jailed over this. Sentencing is going to take months, yet it typically can take four months for a federal case. A probation officer will typically interview him, draft a report about how sentencing go for other people in similar conditions. For a first-time nonviolent defender, he's going to get a lower sentence than usual. The maximum sentence on these three charges is 25 years. Legal guidelines suggest that a sentence might be more in the range of 15 to 21 months, so less than two years, but his conforming to the pretrial release conditions, remaining sober, not committing additional crimes will work in his favor. Prosecutors and defense lawyers will each file memos arguing for how he should be sentenced. I wouldn't be surprised to see the defense argue that he should be given probation, not have to go to jail at all. The open question is whether prosecutors will ask for some jail time. He also has another case pending that could be influenced by that.
Taylor Wilson:
And Bart, can we now expect anything on the appeals front from Hunter Biden's camp?
Bart Jansen:
Biden's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, has said that he will pursue all legal challenges available despite the conviction. They expressed their respect for the jury, but Lowell has argued several aspects of the case were decided mistakenly. A big aspect of it is he complains that there was vindictive prosecution, saying basically it was a political prosecution because Hunter Biden had arranged for a plea agreement last July. These gun charges basically deal with a pre-trial, diversionary program where if he remained sober and wasn't charged for two years, that the entire charge would be dropped. And so it was the prospect of not having a charge, not having a conviction on the gun aspect of the investigation against him. But Judge Maryellen Noreika has rejected that plea agreement because of a dispute between prosecutors and defense lawyers about whether he could be charged in potential future investigations. So she said, "Hey, if you guys can't agree on what you're saying here in this agreement, we're not going to take it. I'm not going to rubber stamp it."
Then the prosecutor, he was then US Attorney David Weiss, he was then appointed special counsel to continue the investigation. He secured this gun indictment in September, and there is also an indictment on tax charges for which Biden faces trial on September 5th over in Los Angeles. Lowell has argued that Weiss only prosecuted the case because of Republican criticism of that plea agreement as too light and that it was an easy deal strictly because Biden was the son of the president. Weiss denied this; in addition, Lowell has argued that the charges are unconstitutional because there's been just a sea change in federal regulations about guns.
Taylor Wilson:
And Bart, as you mentioned, this is, of course, the president's son. Have we heard from President Joe Biden after the conviction?
Bart Jansen:
The president issued a statement during the trial, saying that he supported and loved his son. He issued a very similar statement after the verdict, saying that he would continue to support his son and that he would support his son through the anticipated appeals. But he was careful to avoid voicing an opinion about the prosecution or the content, the details of the case, because he wants to avoid looking like he's trying to influence the Justice Department, which is prosecuting the case, or the judges that will be deciding it. He was expected to leave Washington Tuesday afternoon and return to Wilmington to be with Hunter Biden, to be with his family on an unscheduled trip to have the family together in this time of turmoil.
Taylor Wilson:
Right. Bart Jansen covers the Justice Department for USA TODAY. Thanks Bart.
Bart Jansen:
Thanks for having me.
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Taylor Wilson:
Rudy Giuliani posted bail on Monday in Phoenix, several weeks after being indicted in the Arizona fake electors case and for his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and former Donald Trump lawyer, paid a $10,000 cash bond in Maricopa County. That was confirmed by the clerk of the Superior Court for Maricopa County, as reported by the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY network. The embattled Republican is among 18 people charged with nine felony counts in Arizona, including conspiracy, forgery, and fraud, for allegedly trying to interfere with the 2020 election results on behalf of Trump, insisting without proof the election was stolen. After he posted bond, officials released Giuliani's mugshot. Giuliani has pleaded not guilty to charges that he conspired to falsely claim Arizona's electoral votes for Trump in 2020. Following Trump's narrow loss to President Joe Biden, his trial is scheduled to begin in October.
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US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents in recent days arrested eight foreign nationals in the US suspected to have ties with the terrorist group ISIS, a US official familiar with the investigation confirmed. The eight individuals were detained on immigration charges from New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. Each is from Tajikistan and entered the US at the southern Mexico border, the official said. They remain in US custody. The officials said, "No derogatory information was detected about the individuals during their initial screening at the border, but the US later learned information that tied them to ISIS." They don't currently face any terrorism charges. The New York Post first reported the arrests. In April, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned of the possibility of a coordinated attack by terrorists in the US following a March 22nd ISIS-K attack in a Russian concert hall that killed 145 people. President Joe Biden, who has faced repeated criticism from Republicans over his handling of a surge of migrants at the southern border, last week took executive action, allowing him to effectively shut down the border to migrants when it becomes overwhelmed.
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A federal judge yesterday blocked Florida's ban on healthcare for transgender children and restrictions for transgender adults. US District Judge Robert Hinkle wrote, "Florida has adopted a statute and rules that ban gender-affirming care for minors even when medically appropriate; the ban is unconstitutional." Hinkle ruled as unconstitutional several provisions in state law, SB 254 and subsequent rules, prohibiting gender-affirming care, barring licensed medical personnel from providing gender-affirming care, and requiring unnecessary medical tests, appointments, and forms, among others. The order does not address surgeries; the plaintiffs did not challenge the ban on surgery for minors, according to the ruling. The plaintiffs, four transgender adults and seven parents of transgender minors, one against Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, the Florida Board of Medicine, the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine, and other state leaders, according to the ruling. The ruling comes as a blow to Governor Ron DeSantis' agenda, which has included anti-LGBTQ legislation in healthcare, saying gender-affirming care is experimental and lacks evidence.
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Why do people age faster during space travel? New research looks into the impact on the human body. I spoke with USA TODAY, health reporter, Karen Weintraub, for more. Karen, thanks for hopping on.
Karen Weintraub:
Thanks for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
So Karen, what is this research center on, and who were the participants?
Karen Weintraub:
Four civilians went into space in 2021 for three days aboard a SpaceX rocket Inspiration4 mission. And during the three days they were in low-earth orbit, they were tracked. Everything about their bodies were tracked, their blood, all sorts of biomarkers were tracked. And then, when they came back to earth and returned to their normal lives, the tracking continued for a while. So now scientists, three years later, have released the results of that tracking, and what they found was their aging accelerated dramatically while they were in space. Their cells aged, their skin aged, different parts of their bodies underwent a lot of changes. Most of that went back to normal within a couple of months of returning to earth. And that's important for space travel in the future; if we want to go to Mars, say we need to understand the impact of that travel on the astronauts.
Taylor Wilson:
In terms of the actual science here, Karen, what causes this accelerated aging?
Karen Weintraub:
So they think it's the radiation exposure. So when you're up in space, even on Mount Everest, which I thought was interesting, you're exposed to more radiation than you are in your everyday life on lower levels on earth because there's less atmosphere. And so it's that radiation exposure that damages cells.
Taylor Wilson:
What other problems did this research find beyond age-related illnesses?
Karen Weintraub:
So it could cause cardiovascular problems, causes kidney stones apparently, or accelerates that; skin ages faster, so all sorts of different problems throughout the body, eye issues. And again, most of these, 95% of these return to normal within a couple of months. Interestingly, although there haven't been that many women in space, so they can't say this conclusively yet, but there are suggestions that women return to normal faster than men. So perhaps they're better space travelers than men, although it may be also that they are more vulnerable in the long term to things like breast and lung cancer. So short-term, they may be better off; long-term, maybe not.
Taylor Wilson:
Overall, are these results promising when it comes to getting humans to Mars in the future or just general civilian space travel?
Karen Weintraub:
Yeah, so the sort of concluding line they said was that there are no showstoppers. There's no reason we shouldn't be able to go to Mars and back; there's nothing that says people will drop dead if they go to space. It's more just sort of things to look out for and things that we may want to try to find solutions to along the way to protect people who are going. It takes like three years to get to Mars, so it's a long-term exposure. So we want to protect somebody who is on that kind of a journey.
Taylor Wilson:
And just generally, Karen, how might this type of research lead to fixes and treatments both for space travel and also back home here on earth?
Karen Weintraub:
The fixes they find, the advances that they make hopefully will also lead to help those of us who stay within Earth's gravity. There were some new technologies they developed, even things like Apple Watch technology that maybe can help people in rural areas who don't have access to hospitals, urban centers. Also, I thought this was really interesting in protecting cells from radiation that might have implications for cancer patients who are undergoing radiation therapy, and doctors want to protect the healthy cells around the cancer cells. So maybe there's some learning that can go on there. So things like that that could be beneficial to the rest of us.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. Fascinating stuff. As always, Karen Weintraub covers health for USA TODAY. Thanks Karen.
Karen Weintraub:
Thank you.
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Taylor Wilson:
The United States will take on India today in the T20 Men's Cricket World Cup. Both teams are undefeated to start the tournament; the US defeated Canada and then Pakistan in a historic win. While India has beaten Pakistan and Ireland, the US cricket team also has numerous players of Indian origin. While this year's tournament marks the US's debut in T20 cricket, India previously won the World Cup in 2007. Today's match is set for 10:30 AM Eastern time on Long Island in New York.
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The Roman Catholic Church has not been historically known for being particularly welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community. But if Sister Jeannine Gramick has her say, those days will soon be over. Tune into The Excerpt later today, beginning at 4 PM Eastern time, when my co-host Dana Taylor sits down with the sister to talk about the focus of her ministry to welcome the LGBTQ+ community back into the fold.
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Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.