Jurors began deliberations in Hunter Biden's gun trial, and Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to approve funding for teacher raises.
Jury begins deliberations in Hunter Biden's federal gun trial
Jurors in Hunter Biden’s gun trial began deliberating Monday to decide whether the president’s son is guilty of federal firearms charges over a revolver he bought when prosecutors say he was addicted to crack cocaine.
Hunter Biden is facing three felony charges stemming from the purchase of the gun in 2018. Prosecutors say he lied on a federal form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.
In his closing argument, prosecutor Leo Wise told jurors to focus on the “overwhelming” evidence against Hunter Biden and pay no mind to members of the president's family sitting in the courtroom, including first lady Jill Biden.
“All of this is not evidence,” Wise said, extending his hand and directing the jury to look at the gallery. “People sitting in the gallery are not evidence.”
"No one is above the law," Wise added, as he urged the jurors to convict Hunter Biden.
The prosecutor pointed to deeply personal testimony, text messages, photos and Hunter Biden's own words in his 2021 memoir to argue that the president's son clearly knew he was in the throes of a crack addiction when he marked on mandatory gun-purchase form that he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.
“The evidence was personal. It was ugly, and it was overwhelming,” Wise said. “It was also absolutely necessary.”
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell told jurors the prosecution did not meet its burden of proving its case beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense has argued there’s no evidence Hunter Biden was actually using drugs in the 11 days that he possessed the gun. What the president's son later wrote in his memoir is irrelevant, Lowell argued.
“There was no actual witness to the drug use in this period of time,” Lowell told jurors.
The defense suggested Hunter Biden was lying about where he was in text messages to his brother Beau's widow. The prosecution suggests those texts show drug use and drug deals in the days following the gun purchase.
“At any given time, he would lie to her about where he was,” Lowell said.
Lowell focused on the word “knowingly,” saying Hunter’s state of mind at the time of the gun purchase is critical. The defense has suggested that, at the time he bought the gun, Hunter did not consider himself an addict. What he wrote later in his memoir is irrelevant, Lowell suggested.
Lowell also tried to discredit former girlfriend Zoe Kestan’s testimony about witnessing Hunter’s drug use. He notes there were “no pipe, no scales, no drugs. Not even alcohol” in photos she took while visiting him in California.
Lowell also noted that Hallie Biden did not see Hunter using drugs in the days surrounding the gun purchase. As far as text exchanges with Hallie Biden suggesting drug use and drug deals in the days following the gun purchase, Lowell suggested, perhaps Hunter was “just putting somebody off.”
“At any given time, he would lie to her about where he was,” Lowell said.
DeSantis approves $1.25 billion to increase teacher pay
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Monday that he would approve $1.25 billion in education related funding for teacher pay, an increase of $200 million from last year, according to the governor’s office.
The latest educator pay package builds on increases since the governor took office, increasing starting teacher salaries from roughly $40,000 a year, to roughly $48,000 a year.
DeSantis increased teacher salaries in 2020, signing an additional $500 million that year earmarked for raises for teachers, and another increase in the teacher pay budget in 2023 of $252 million.
“Florida’s education system is No. 1 in the nation, and we want to make sure good educators are attracted to Florida with attractive compensation,” DeSantis said. “I am proud to have invested more than $4 billion for teacher pay increases since the beginning of my time in office, and I will continue to push for increased funding for Florida’s teachers.”
The Florida Education Association released a report in April that ranked average teacher pay in the state in last place among the 50 states, but number 16 out of 50 in average starting teacher pay.
Meanwhile, the FEA also took issue with the amount of funding going towards vouchers to private schools, saying that of the $2.3 billion invested in education in 2023, $1.1 billion went towards private schools through the state’s new voucher program and allows parents to use state funds to pay towards private tuition.
Florida woman details home insurance woes at Senate Budget Committee hearing
On Capitol Hill, Deborah Wood told the Senate Budget Committee she moved to South Florida in 1979, but sold her home last year largely because of the high cost to insure it.
“In 2017, we paid $3,700 per year for insurance, and in subsequent years the rates increased significantly, so that our proposed renewal for 2023 was more than $8,000,” she said.
Wood said she and her husband who are retired, sought to buy a home in Tallahassee near their daughter, but found the rates to be expensive there, too, and have not decided on their “next step.”
“Flash forward to 2024, we have reluctantly made the decision that we will not be buying a home in Florida," Wood said. "We’ve learned there’s no escaping the insurance problems, and weather disasters are becoming more and more prevalent, even in previously safe areas like Tallahassee."
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, noted rates in Florida far exceed the national average.
“Ten percent of our nation’s homeowners live in Florida," Whitehouse said. "Florida homeowners pay on average over $6,000 for insurance, the highest in the country. Indeed, more than three times the national average, which is $1,700. Florida’s average premium has doubled between 2020 and 2023."
While Democrats blamed the crisis largely on climate change, Republicans and an economist with a conservative think tank blamed Democratic policies and inflation for the higher insurance rates felt nationally.
“This hearing ought to be called ‘Riskier Business: How Massive Deficit Spending, which Caused Inflation is Challenging the Insurance Markets,’” said Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.
“Your focus should be on reducing the government spending that created the inflation, which is responsible for most of the increase in insurance premiums over the last several years,” Heritage Foundation Research Fellow E.J. Antoni told the committee.