I so look forward to Hunter’s pardon. And the rigged election and Brandon’s refusal to leave office and staying in the White House for 36 years. At least.
Hunter Biden, who spent the weekend with his father has been charged in Delaware with three felonies stemming from a 2018 firearm purchase when he was, according to his memoir, in the throes of a crack addiction. 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.
He has pleaded not guilty and has argued he's being unfairly targeted by the Justice Department, after Republicans decried the now-defunct deal as special treatment for the Democratic president's son.
The trial comes just days after Donald Trump, Republicans' presumptive 2024 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 a porn actor to fend off damage to his 2016 presidential campaign. The two criminal cases are unrelated, but their proximity underscores how the criminal courtroom has taken center stage during the 2024 campaign.
Hunter Biden is also facing a separate trial in California in September on charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes. Both cases were to have been resolved through a deal with prosecutors last July, the culmination of a yearslong investigation into his business dealings.
But Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, questioned some unusual aspects of the deal, which included a proposed guilty plea to misdemeanor offenses to resolve the tax crimes and a diversion agreement on the gun charge, which meant as long as he stayed out of trouble for two years the case would be dismissed. The lawyers squabbled over the agreement, could not come to a resolution, and the deal fell apart. Attorney General Merrick Garland then appointed the top investigator as a special counsel in August, and a month later Hunter Biden was indicted.
This trial isn't about Hunter Biden's foreign business affairs — which Republicans have seized on without evidence to try to paint the Biden family as corrupt. But it will excavate some of Hunter Biden's darkest moments and put them on display.
The president's allies are worried about the toll the trial may take on the elder Biden, who’s long been concerned about the well-being and sobriety of his only living son and who must now watch as those painful past mistakes are publicly scrutinized. He's also protective: Hunter Biden was with his father all weekend before the case began, biking with his dad and attending church together.
President Biden, in a last-minute switch in plans, shifted from his Rehoboth Beach home back to his Wilmington compound on Sunday evening. Boarding a helicopter on Sunday was the only time the president was seen publicly without his son all weekend.
Allies are also worried the trial could become a distraction as the president tries to campaign under anemic poll numbers and as he is preparing for an upcoming presidential debate while the proceedings play out.
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're planning to use as evidence his published memoir, and they may also introduce contents from a laptop that he left at a Delaware repair shop and never retrieved. The contents made their way to Republicans in 2020 and were publicly leaked, revealing embarrassing and personal photos in which he's often nude and doing drugs and messages in which he asks dealers about scores.
The judge will ask a group of prospective jurors a series of questions to determine whether they can serve impartially on the jury, including whether they have donated to political campaigns or run for political office. She will ask whether their views about the 2024 presidential campaign prevent them from being impartial.
She's also going to ask whether prospective jurors believe Hunter Biden is being prosecuted because his father is the president. Also, she’ll ask about firearms purchasing and addiction issues, including: “Do you believe someone who is addicted to drugs should not be charged with a crime?”
The case against Hunter Biden stems from a period when, by his own public admission, he was addicted to crack. His descent into drugs and alcohol followed the 2015 death of his brother, Beau Biden, from cancer. He bought and owned a gun for 11 days in October 2018 and indicated on the gun purchase form that he was not using drugs.
Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty in both cases, and his attorneys have suggested they may argue he didn’t see himself as an addict when prosecutors say he checked “no” to the question on the form. They'll also attack the credibility of the gun store owner.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, are also planning to call as witnesses Hunter Biden’s ex-wife and his brother’s widow, Hallie, with whom he became romantically involved.
If he were to be convicted, he could face up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum and it's unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 36,358
A jury has been seated in Hunter Biden's federal firearms case
By CLAUDIA LAUER, MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, COLLEEN LONG and RANDALL CHASE
10 mins ago
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A jury was seated Monday in a federal gun case against President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, after prospective candidates were questioned on their thoughts about gun rights and drug addiction while the first lady watched from the front row of the courtroom in a show of support for her son. Opening statements will begin Tuesday.
A jury of 12 panelists and four alternates was selected in one day.
Hunter Biden, who spent the weekend with his parents, has been charged in Delaware with three felonies stemming from a 2018 firearm purchase when he was, according to his memoir, in the throes of a crack addiction. He has been accused of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
More than 65 prospective jurors who were questioned and 29 had been dismissed by late afternoon. One who was sent home said she didn’t know whether she could be impartial because of the opinion she had formed about Hunter Biden based on media reports.
“It’s not a good one,” she replied when an attorney asked her opinion.
The case is going to trial following the collapse of a plea deal that would have avoided the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election. He has pleaded not guilty and has argued he's being unfairly targeted by the Justice Department, after Republicans decried the now-defunct plea deal as special treatment for the Democratic president's son.
The proceedings are unfolding just days after Donald Trump, the presumptive 2024 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 a porn actor to fend off damage to his 2016 presidential campaign. The two criminal cases are unrelated, but their proximity underscores how the criminal courts have taken center stage during the 2024 campaign.
In Delaware, prospective jurors who answered “yes” on a questionnaire were quizzed individually by Judge Maryellen Noreika to determine whether they could be fair and impartial. Their names were not made public.
The questions tested their knowledge of the case, surveyed their thoughts about gun ownership and inquired whether they or anyone close to them have struggled with substance abuse or addiction. Other questions focused on the role politics may have played in the charges.
One man was dismissed after telling the judge he had sold guns in the past and was familiar with the forms that need to be filled out. Also dismissed was a woman who said her husband was a friend of Joe Biden’s late son, Beau, and that she thought Hunter was a good man.
A man was dismissed because his family has a long history in law enforcement, and he said he could not be impartial. Another was excused because he was very aware of the case, and, “It seems like politics is playing a big role in who gets charged with what and when.”
Only one potential juror answered “no” to all the questions and moved on to the next phase. Another who was not dismissed said he holds a concealed carry permit and owns three handguns. The man said he has strong views on gun ownership and believes every law-abiding citizen should be able to own a gun.
“I believe the Second Amendment is very important,” he explained.
Attorneys jointly moved to dismiss a woman who expressed strong anti-gun views during questioning.
“I would like stronger laws in this country about certain types of weapons,” she said. “The ones with high repeat, you know, that kill children in schools.”
“I would ban them altogether to be honest,” acknowledged the woman, who also said she has donated to Democratic congressional candidates around the country and joined “one of the resistance groups” after the 2016 election.
Hunter Biden also faces a separate trial in California in September on charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes. Both cases were to have been resolved through the deal with prosecutors last July, the culmination of a yearslong investigation into his business dealings.
But Noreika, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, questioned some unusual aspects of the deal, which included a proposed guilty plea to misdemeanor offenses to resolve the tax crimes and a diversion agreement on the gun charge, which meant as long as he stayed out of trouble for two years the case would be dismissed. The lawyers could not come to a resolution, and the deal fell apart. Attorney General Merrick Garland then appointed the top investigator as a special counsel in August, and a month later Hunter Biden was indicted.
This trial isn't about Hunter Biden's foreign business affairs — which Republicans have seized on without evidence to try to paint the Biden family as corrupt. But it will excavate some of Hunter Biden's darkest moments and put them on display.
The president's allies are worried about the toll the trial may take on the elder Biden, who’s long been concerned about his only living son and his sobriety and who must now watch as his son's painful past mistakes are publicly scrutinized.
Allies are also worried the trial could become a distraction as the president tries to campaign under anemic poll numbers and as he is preparing for an upcoming presidential debate while the proceedings play out.
In a statement Monday, the president said he has “boundless love" for his son, "confidence in him and respect for his strength.”
“I am the President, but I am also a Dad,” he said, adding that would have no further comment on the case. “Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today.”
The president was nearby, in their Wilmington home, until he left for a campaign reception in Greenwich, Connecticut. He is traveling to France on Tuesday and will be gone the rest of the week. The first lady is scheduled to join him later. Hunter Biden’s sister, Ashley Biden, was also in court, and his wife, Melissa.
As the first day of jury selection broke for lunch, Hunter Biden walked over to his mother and leaned over the railing that separates the audience from the trial participants to hug and kiss her on the cheek. Monday was the first lady’s 73rd birthday.
A family friend, Ricky Smith, sat in the audience and embraced him warmly during a break.
“It ain’t right for him to be sitting there because he was a drug addict,” Smith said.
The case against Hunter Biden stems from a period when, by his own public admission, he was addicted to crack. His descent into drugs and alcohol followed the 2015 death of his brother, Beau Biden, from cancer. He bought and owned a gun for 11 days in October 2018 and indicated on the gun purchase form that he was not using drugs.
Defense attorneys have suggested they may argue that Hunter Biden didn’t 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, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it's unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
___
Long reported from Washington. Associated Press Writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report. Follow the AP's coverage of Hunter Biden at https://apnews.com/hub/hunter-biden.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
If / when he's guilty, that will only be confirmation of the Biden Crime Family's criminality.& If he's not convicted, it will be confirmation that Biden has rigged the DOJ.
If / when he's guilty, that will only be confirmation of the Biden Crime Family's criminality.& If he's not convicted, it will be confirmation that Biden has rigged the DOJ.
Don't hold your breath about moving on.
good call
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.- Hemingway
If / when he's guilty, that will only be confirmation of the Biden Crime Family's criminality.& If he's not convicted, it will be confirmation that Biden has rigged the DOJ.
Don't hold your breath about moving on.
It’s more about daring Brandon to pardon Hunter after conviction for another “aha” moment. Wouldn’t be surprised if sentencing is scheduled for after January 20, 2025. Regardless, Brandon should pardon him.
Jurors in Hunter Biden's federal gun trial see the document at center of the case for the first time
By RANDALL CHASE, CLAUDIA LAUER COLLEEN LONG and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
43 mins ago
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Tuesday painted President Joe Biden’s son Hunter as deceptive and driven by addiction, a man whose dark habits ensnared loved ones and who knew what he was doing when he lied on federal forms to purchase a gun in 2018.
Jurors also got their first look at the document at the center of the case, and Hunter Biden's attorney argued that his client did not believe he was in the throes of addiction when he stated in the paperwork that he did not have a drug problem. In the short time that he had the gun, he did nothing with it, and weapon was never even loaded, attorney Abbe Lowell said in opening statements.
“You will see that he is not guilty,” Lowell said.
Hunter Biden has been charged with three felonies stemming from the purchase of the Colt revolver when he was, according to his memoir, addicted to crack. He has been accused of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
The case is dredging up painful memories for the president and his family, and revealing new and highly personal details about some of their struggles with addiction as the 2024 election looms, all while the first lady watched from the front row of the courtroom.
Jurors will hear testimony from the president’s brother James Biden, who is close with Hunter and helped his nephew through rehab stints in the past. They will also hear how Hallie Biden, the widow of the president's late son, also became addicted to crack during a brief relationship with Hunter. Hallie took the gun from Hunter and tossed it into the garbage at a nearby market, afraid of what he might do with it. The gun was later found by someone collecting cans and eventually turned over to police.
The president was in Washington on Tuesday, announcing an immigration order and hosting a picnic for congressional leaders before a scheduled departure for France later in the day. He will be gone the rest of the week. Jill Biden planned to meet him in Europe.
The president’s allies are worried about the toll the trial may take on the elder Biden, who’s long been protective and deeply concerned about his only living son and his sobriety and who must now watch as those past mistakes are publicly scrutinized.
Prosecutors on Tuesday spent hours on Hunter Biden’s drug problem, using his own words and missives to show the depth of the addiction. They showed jurors his old laptop computer, the same one he left at a Delaware repair shop and never retrieved. In 2020, the contents made their way to Republicans and were publicly leaked, revealing highly personal messages about his work and his life. He has since sued over the data breach.
An FBI agent read aloud messages from the laptop's data to the jury that chronicled a desperate effort to buy drugs, email receipts for a detox facility he attended before relapsing and large sums of cash he withdrew.
In one exchange with Hallie, she wrote: “I called you 500 times in past 24 hours." Hunter replied less than a minute later, informing her that he was “sleeping on a car smoking crack on 4th street and Rodney.”
“There’s my truth,” he added in a follow-up text.
And the jury heard lengthy audio excerpts of his memoir, “Beautiful Things,” in which he narrates his return to Delaware around the time of the gun purchase and his descent into drugs following the death of his brother, Beau, in 2015 from cancer. The written excerpts were displayed on a screen as the audio was played.
His sister Ashley Biden, watching from the courtroom, dabbed at her eyes with a tissue and eventually left. Jill Biden, too, was absent after lunch. She was expected in Washington with her husband.
Prosecutor Derek Hines told the jury Hunter was trying to score drugs just days after he lied on the form, which was later shown to jurors.
“No one is allowed to lie on a federal form like that, even Hunter Biden,” Hines said. “He crossed the line when he chose to buy a gun and lied about a federal background check ... the defendant’s choice to buy a gun is why we are here."
“When the defendant filled out that form, he knew he was a drug addict,” and prosecutors don't have to prove he was using the day he purchased the firearm, Hines said.
The proceedings come after the collapse of a deal with prosecutors that would have avoided the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election. Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty and has argued he's being unfairly targeted by the Justice Department after Republicans decried the now-defunct plea deal as special treatment for the Democratic president's son.
Lowell said the form asks whether you “are” a drug user. “It does not say ‘have you ever been,’" and he suggested the president's son did not think of himself as someone with a drug problem when he purchased the gun.
His state of mind should be considered at the time of the purchase, not “what he wrote in a book in 2021.”
Lowell also blamed Hunter's problems with the firearm on Hallie's disposal of it.
“After he bought the gun, Hunter did nothing with it," Lowell said. The gun became a problem only because of what Hallie Biden did.
If convicted, Hunter Biden could face up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
The trial is unfolding just days after Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was convicted of 34 felonies in New York City. The two criminal cases are unrelated, but their proximity underscores how the courts have taken center stage during the 2024 campaign.
On Tuesday, a former Trump aide and vocal Biden critic, Garrett Ziegler, attended court, prompting Hunter Biden's wife, Melissa, to approach him and say “You have no right to be here" and yelling an expletive. Ziegler has been sued by Hunter Biden, who claimed he violated computer privacy laws by accessing and then manipulating the laptop data.
Hunter Biden also faces a trial in California in September on charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes. Both cases were to have been resolved through the deal with prosecutors last July, the culmination of a yearslong investigation into his business dealings.
But Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, questioned some unusual aspects of the deal. The lawyers could not come to a resolution on her questions, and the deal fell apart. Attorney General Merrick Garland then appointed a former U.S. attorney for Delaware, David Weiss, as a special counsel in August, and a month later Hunter Biden was indicted.
Garland on Tuesday faced members of the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee in Washington, which has been investigating the president and his family and whose chairman has been at the forefront of a stalled impeachment inquiry stemming from Hunter Biden’s business dealings.
___
Long reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington and Fatima Hussein aboard Air Force One contributed to this report.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Jurors in Hunter Biden's federal gun trial see the document at center of the case for the first time
By RANDALL CHASE, CLAUDIA LAUER COLLEEN LONG and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
43 mins ago
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Tuesday painted President Joe Biden’s son Hunter as deceptive and driven by addiction, a man whose dark habits ensnared loved ones and who knew what he was doing when he lied on federal forms to purchase a gun in 2018.
Jurors also got their first look at the document at the center of the case, and Hunter Biden's attorney argued that his client did not believe he was in the throes of addiction when he stated in the paperwork that he did not have a drug problem. In the short time that he had the gun, he did nothing with it, and weapon was never even loaded, attorney Abbe Lowell said in opening statements.
“You will see that he is not guilty,” Lowell said.
Hunter Biden has been charged with three felonies stemming from the purchase of the Colt revolver when he was, according to his memoir, addicted to crack. He has been accused of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
The case is dredging up painful memories for the president and his family, and revealing new and highly personal details about some of their struggles with addiction as the 2024 election looms, all while the first lady watched from the front row of the courtroom.
Jurors will hear testimony from the president’s brother James Biden, who is close with Hunter and helped his nephew through rehab stints in the past. They will also hear how Hallie Biden, the widow of the president's late son, also became addicted to crack during a brief relationship with Hunter. Hallie took the gun from Hunter and tossed it into the garbage at a nearby market, afraid of what he might do with it. The gun was later found by someone collecting cans and eventually turned over to police.
The president was in Washington on Tuesday, announcing an immigration order and hosting a picnic for congressional leaders before a scheduled departure for France later in the day. He will be gone the rest of the week. Jill Biden planned to meet him in Europe.
The president’s allies are worried about the toll the trial may take on the elder Biden, who’s long been protective and deeply concerned about his only living son and his sobriety and who must now watch as those past mistakes are publicly scrutinized.
Prosecutors on Tuesday spent hours on Hunter Biden’s drug problem, using his own words and missives to show the depth of the addiction. They showed jurors his old laptop computer, the same one he left at a Delaware repair shop and never retrieved. In 2020, the contents made their way to Republicans and were publicly leaked, revealing highly personal messages about his work and his life. He has since sued over the data breach.
An FBI agent read aloud messages from the laptop's data to the jury that chronicled a desperate effort to buy drugs, email receipts for a detox facility he attended before relapsing and large sums of cash he withdrew.
In one exchange with Hallie, she wrote: “I called you 500 times in past 24 hours." Hunter replied less than a minute later, informing her that he was “sleeping on a car smoking crack on 4th street and Rodney.”
“There’s my truth,” he added in a follow-up text.
And the jury heard lengthy audio excerpts of his memoir, “Beautiful Things,” in which he narrates his return to Delaware around the time of the gun purchase and his descent into drugs following the death of his brother, Beau, in 2015 from cancer. The written excerpts were displayed on a screen as the audio was played.
His sister Ashley Biden, watching from the courtroom, dabbed at her eyes with a tissue and eventually left. Jill Biden, too, was absent after lunch. She was expected in Washington with her husband.
Prosecutor Derek Hines told the jury Hunter was trying to score drugs just days after he lied on the form, which was later shown to jurors.
“No one is allowed to lie on a federal form like that, even Hunter Biden,” Hines said. “He crossed the line when he chose to buy a gun and lied about a federal background check ... the defendant’s choice to buy a gun is why we are here."
“When the defendant filled out that form, he knew he was a drug addict,” and prosecutors don't have to prove he was using the day he purchased the firearm, Hines said.
The proceedings come after the collapse of a deal with prosecutors that would have avoided the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election. Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty and has argued he's being unfairly targeted by the Justice Department after Republicans decried the now-defunct plea deal as special treatment for the Democratic president's son.
Lowell said the form asks whether you “are” a drug user. “It does not say ‘have you ever been,’" and he suggested the president's son did not think of himself as someone with a drug problem when he purchased the gun.
His state of mind should be considered at the time of the purchase, not “what he wrote in a book in 2021.”
Lowell also blamed Hunter's problems with the firearm on Hallie's disposal of it.
“After he bought the gun, Hunter did nothing with it," Lowell said. The gun became a problem only because of what Hallie Biden did.
If convicted, Hunter Biden could face up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
The trial is unfolding just days after Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was convicted of 34 felonies in New York City. The two criminal cases are unrelated, but their proximity underscores how the courts have taken center stage during the 2024 campaign.
On Tuesday, a former Trump aide and vocal Biden critic, Garrett Ziegler, attended court, prompting Hunter Biden's wife, Melissa, to approach him and say “You have no right to be here" and yelling an expletive. Ziegler has been sued by Hunter Biden, who claimed he violated computer privacy laws by accessing and then manipulating the laptop data.
Hunter Biden also faces a trial in California in September on charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes. Both cases were to have been resolved through the deal with prosecutors last July, the culmination of a yearslong investigation into his business dealings.
But Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, questioned some unusual aspects of the deal. The lawyers could not come to a resolution on her questions, and the deal fell apart. Attorney General Merrick Garland then appointed a former U.S. attorney for Delaware, David Weiss, as a special counsel in August, and a month later Hunter Biden was indicted.
Garland on Tuesday faced members of the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee in Washington, which has been investigating the president and his family and whose chairman has been at the forefront of a stalled impeachment inquiry stemming from Hunter Biden’s business dealings.
___
Long reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington and Fatima Hussein aboard Air Force One contributed to this report.
Oh sure, Freedom Fries aren’t good enough for you?! You’ve got to go and get frites from those cheese eating surrender monkeys rather than stay home and face the music from the American people. Typical.
Cross-examination of FBI agent continues in Hunter Biden's gun trial, as first lady again attends
By CLAUDIA LAUER, RANDALL CHASE, COLLEEN LONG and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
26 mins ago
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Hunter Biden's gun trial have spent hours showing jurors evidence of his drug problem, seeking to reveal through his own words and writing the depth of his addiction to show it was still going on when, they say, he lied on a form to buy a firearm.
First lady Jill Biden went to court Wednesday for the third day to support her son, ahead of her trip to France to meet President Joe Biden, who was in Europe to mark the anniversary of D-Day.
Testimony continued with cross-examination of an FBI agent who was being questioned about the timing of Hunter Biden's drug use. Biden's ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, was also expected to take the stand. She was married to the president's son for roughly 20 years. They have three children and divorced in 2016 after his infidelity and drug abuse became too much, according to her memoir, “If We Break," about the dissolution of their marriage.
Buhle is among several Biden family and friends expected to testify in a trial that has quickly become a highly personal and detailed tour of Hunter Biden's mistakes and drug use. The proceedings are unfolding as the 2024 presidential election looms and allies worry about the toll it will take on the president, who is deeply concerned about the health and sustained sobriety of his only living son. Prosecutors argue that the testimony is necessary to show Hunter Biden's state of mind when he bought the gun.
Hunter Biden has been charged with three felonies stemming from the purchase of a gun in October 2018. He's accused of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
“No one is allowed to lie on a federal form like that, even Hunter Biden,” prosecutor Derek Hines told jurors Tuesday. “He crossed the line when he chose to buy a gun and lied about a federal background check ... the defendant’s choice to buy a gun is why we are here.”
“When the defendant filled out that form, he knew he was a drug addict,” and prosecutors don’t have to prove he was using the day he purchased the firearm, Hines said.
Hunter Biden’s attorney argued that his client did not believe he was in the throes of addiction when he stated in the paperwork that he did not have a drug problem. In the short time that he had the gun, he did nothing with it, and the weapon was never even loaded, attorney Abbe Lowell said in his opening statement.
“You will see that he is not guilty,” Lowell said.
Lowell said the form asks whether you “are” a drug user. “It does not say ‘have you ever been,’” and he suggested the president’s son did not think of himself as someone with a drug problem when he purchased the gun.
His state of mind should be considered at the time of the purchase, not later on, when, after he got sober, he wrote a memoir titled “Beautiful Things” about some of his darkest moments. The jury heard lengthy audio excerpts from the book, which traces his descent into addiction following the death of his brother, Beau Biden, in 2015 from cancer.
The Delaware trial comes after the collapse of a plea deal with prosecutors that would have resolved the gun case and a separate California tax case and avoided the spectacle of a trial. Hunter Biden has since pleaded not guilty and has said he’s being unfairly targeted by the Justice Department, after Republicans slammed the now-defunct plea agreement as a sweetheart deal for the Democratic president’s son.
The 12-person panel heard opening statements Tuesday and testimony from the FBI agent, Erika Jensen, who read aloud some of Hunter Biden's personal messages, including some that came from a laptop he left at a Delaware repair shop and never retrieved. In 2020, the contents made their way to Republicans and were publicly leaked, revealing some highly personal messages about his work and his life. He has since sued over the leaked information.
In one exchange with Beau Biden's widow, Hallie Biden, on the day after he bought the gun, she wrote: “I called you 500 times in past 24 hours.” Hunter replied less than a minute later, informing her that he was “sleeping on a car smoking crack on 4th street and Rodney.”
“There’s my truth,” he added in a follow-up text.
But during cross-examination, Jensen testified that Hunter Biden sent fewer messages about seeking drugs in October 2018, around the time when he purchased the gun, than in February 2019, a later period in which Lowell described his client as struggling significantly with addiction.
Lowell also called into question the receipts for a rehab facility, asking whether Jensen knew whether he had been treated for drugs or alcohol. She said she could not.
His sister Ashley Biden, watching from the courtroom, dabbed at her eyes with a tissue and eventually left.
Attorneys said jurors would hear testimony from the president’s brother James Biden, who is close with Hunter and helped his nephew through rehab stints in the past. They will also hear how Hallie Biden became addicted to crack during a brief relationship with Hunter.
Hallie took the gun from Hunter and tossed it into the garbage at a nearby market, afraid of what he might do with it. The weapon was later found by someone collecting cans and eventually turned over to police.
If convicted, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
The trial is unfolding shortly after Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was convicted of 34 felonies in New York City. The two criminal cases are unrelated, but their proximity underscores how the courts have taken center stage during the 2024 campaign.
Hunter Biden also faces a trial in California in September on charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes. Both cases were to have been resolved through the deal with prosecutors last July, the culmination of a yearslong investigation into his business dealings.
But Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, questioned some unusual aspects of the deal. The lawyers could not come to a resolution on her questions, and the deal fell apart. Attorney General Merrick Garland then appointed a former U.S. attorney for Delaware David Weiss, as a special counsel in August, and a month later Hunter Biden was indicted.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
I heard some commentary last night that said the prosecution might have a hard time convincing the jury that Hunter lied on the application. The main reason being that if Hunter believed he answered truthfully on the day he filled out the application that it wouldn't be a crime.
He admits to drug use but if he was in the state of mind that he was never going to use drugs again then it wouldn't be untruthful. A stretch I know, but an interesting take.
Drug addicts tend to wax and wane like that.
Remember the Thomas Nine !! (10/02/2018)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago 2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy 2013: London ON, Chicago; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE) 2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston 2020: Oakland, Oakland:2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana 2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville 2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 36,358
I heard some commentary last night that said the prosecution might have a hard time convincing the jury that Hunter lied on the application. The main reason being that if Hunter believed he answered truthfully on the day he filled out the application that it wouldn't be a crime.
He admits to drug use but if he was in the state of mind that he was never going to use drugs again then it wouldn't be untruthful. A stretch I know, but an interesting take.
Drug addicts tend to wax and wane like that.
could be full on addicted, everyone ELSE know it, and the addict in denial.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Widow of Beau Biden tells jurors in Hunter Biden's gun trial that she threw firearm in a trash can
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, RANDALL CHASE, COLLEEN LONG and MIKE CATALINI
21 mins ago
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The widow of Hunter Biden's brother told jurors in his federal gun trial Thursday about the moment she found the revolver in his truck, describing how she put it into a leather pouch, stuffed it into a shopping bag and tossed it in a trash can outside a market near her home.
"I panicked, and I wanted to get rid of them,” she testified about finding the gun and ammunition in the vehicle's console in October 2018. “I didn’t want him to hurt himself, and I didn’t want my kids to find it and hurt themselves.”
The purchase of the Colt revolver by Hunter Biden — and Hallie Biden's frenzied disposal of it — are the fulcrum of the case against him. Federal prosecutors say the president's son was in the throes of a heavy crack addiction when he bought the gun. He’s been charged with three felonies: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
Hunter Biden, who has pleaded not guilty, has said the Justice Department is bending to political pressure from Republicans and that he’s being unfairly targeted.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden said in an interview with ABC he would accept the jury's verdict and ruled out a pardon for his son. And the first lady left France, where attended D-Day anniversary events with the president, to head back to Wilmington. She was expected to attend the trial again Friday before returning to France for a state dinner.
Hallie Biden, who had a brief romantic relationship with Hunter after Beau Biden died in 2015, testified that from the time Hunter returned to Delaware from a 2018 trip to California until she threw his gun away, she did not see him using drugs. That time period included the day he bought the weapon.
Much of her testimony focused on Oct. 23, 2018 — 11 days after he bought the gun and when she tossed it. Hunter was staying with her and seemed exhausted. Asked by the prosecutor if it appeared that Hunter was using drugs around then, she said, “He could have been.”
As Hunter slept in her home, Hallie Biden went to check his car. She said she was hoping to help him get or stay sober, free of both alcohol and cocaine. She said she found the remnants of crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia. She also found the gun Hunter purchased in a box with a broken lock that kept it from fully closing. There was ammunition too.
Hallie said she considered hiding the gun but thought her kids might find it, so she decided to throw it away.
“I realize it was a stupid idea now, but I was panicking,” she said.
Hunter Biden watched expressionless from the courtroom during her testimony. She told jurors that she found crack at her home and saw him using it. She was with him occasionally when he saw dealers. Prosecutor Leo Wise asked Hallie about her own 2018 trip to California, where she visited Hunter at the Roosevelt Hotel, and asked her whether she was also using drugs.
“Yes, I was,” she said.
“And who introduced you to it?’”
“Hunter did,” Hallie said as Hunter rested his face on his hand and looked down.
“It was a terrible experience that I went through, and I’m embarrassed and ashamed, and I regret that period of my life,” she added.
Hallie testified she stopped using drugs in August 2018, but that Hunter continued smoking crack.
Much of the prosecution’s case has been dedicated to highlighting the seriousness of his crack addiction and showcasing to jurors bare-chested moments with ex-girlfriends, infidelity and crack pipes — judgment lapses they believe prove he was actively using when he checked “no” on the form. Prosecutors argue that the evidence is necessary to show his state of mind when he bought the gun.
After Hallie Biden threw the unloaded gun in the trash can at Janssen’s Market, he noticed it missing and asked her whether she had taken it.
“Are you insane?” he texted. He told her to go back to the market to look for it.
Surveillance footage played for jurors showed her digging around in the trash can for the gun, but it wasn't there. She asked store officials if someone had taken out the trash.
Hallie said Hunter told her to file a police report because the gun was registered in his name. She called the police while she was still at the store.
Officers located the man who inadvertently took the gun along with other recyclables from the trash and retrieved it. The case was eventually closed because of lack of cooperation from Hunter Biden, who would have been considered the victim. Jurors also heard from the officers who handled the case and from the man who found the gun.
The Democratic president’s son arrived at court Thursday with a copy of his memoir, “Beautiful Things,” tucked under his arm. The book, written after he got sober in 2021, figures heavily into prosecutors’ case: They’ve played audio excerpts for jurors in which he details his descent into drugs and alcohol following the death of his brother in 2015 from cancer.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell has said Hunter Biden’s state of mind was different when he wrote the book than when he purchased the gun, when he didn’t believe he had an addiction. And he’s suggested Hunter Biden might have felt he had a drinking problem at the time, but not a drug problem. Alcohol abuse doesn’t preclude a gun purchase.
Jurors have also heard from the gun store clerk, who testified about how he walked Hunter Biden through a few options before he settled on the $900 gun. The clerk then watched as the customer filled out the firearms transaction record, a required document for the purchase of a gun, and saw him check off “no” to the question of whether he was “an unlawful user of or addicted to” marijuana, stimulants, narcotics or any other controlled substance.
Gordon Cleveland, the former clerk at StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply, said he saw Biden sign the form, which includes a warning about the consequences of submitting false information.
In his cross-examination Thursday, Lowell pointed out that some of the questions on the form are in the present tense, such as “are you an unlawful user of or addicted to” drugs. He has suggested Hunter Biden did not believe he had an active drug problem.
The proceedings are unfolding after the collapse of a plea deal that would have resolved the gun charge and a separate tax case, and spared the Biden family the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election.
The president's sister, Valerie, was in court Thursday. First lady Jill Biden spent the first part of the week there before leaving for France. Allies worry about the toll the proceedings will take on the president, who is deeply concerned about the health and sustained sobriety of his only living son.
If convicted, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
The trial is playing out shortly after Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was convicted of 34 felonies in New York City. The two criminal cases are unrelated, but their proximity underscores how the courts have taken center stage during the 2024 campaign.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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Prosecution rests its case in Hunter Biden's federal gun trial
By RANDALL CHASE, MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, COLLEEN LONG and CLAUDIA LAUER
2 mins ago
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Federal prosecutors wrapped up their gun case against Hunter Biden on Friday with two final witnesses in their effort to prove that the president's son lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form when he said he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.
Prosecutors called an FBI forensic chemist, Jason Brewer, who tested a residue found on the leather pouch that contained Hunter Biden’s gun. It came back positive for cocaine, though the amount was minimal, he told jurors. A Drug Enforcement Administration agent testified about text messages Hunter Biden sent to alleged dealers.
Their testimony capped a week that has been largely dedicated to highlighting the seriousness of Hunter Biden's drug problem through highly personal and often revealing testimony. Defense attorneys may now call witnesses.
Jurors heard Thursday from Hunter Biden's his ex-wife and a former girlfriend who testified about his habitual crack use and their failed efforts to help him get clean. They saw images of the president's son bare-chested and disheveled in a filthy room, and half-naked holding crack pipes. And they watched video of his crack cocaine weighed on a scale.
Prosecutor say the evidence is necessary to prove that Hunter, 54, was in the throes of addiction when he bought the gun and therefore lied when he checked “no” on the form that asked whether he was “an unlawful user of, or addicted to” drugs.
His attorney, Abbe Lowell, has argued Hunter did not think of himself as an “addict” when he bought the gun and did not intend to deceive anyone.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden worked to walk the line between president and father, telling ABC in an interview that he would accept the jury’s verdict and ruling out a pardon for his son. Earlier this week, he issued a statement saying: “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."
Biden is in France this week for D-Day anniversary events. First lady Jill Biden, who attended court most of the week, flew back from France on Thursday to be at the trial again Friday. She will return to France for a state dinner.
Hunter Biden has been charged with three felonies: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
He has pleaded not guilty. He had hoped to resolve the gun case and another separate tax case in California with a plea deal last year, the result of a yearslong investigation into his business dealings. The deal had him pleading guilty to lower-level charges that would have resolved both cases and spared him the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election. It fell apart after Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned unusual aspects of the proposed agreement and the lawyers couldn't resolve them.
Hunter Biden said he got charged because the Justice Department bowed to pressure from Republicans who argued the Democratic president’s son was getting special treatment, and who have escalated their attacks on the criminal justice system since Donald Trump's recent conviction in New York City in a hush money case.
Lowell said he would call the president's brother James as a witness, but it's unclear yet whether Hunter Biden will testify.
But jurors have already heard his voice. Prosecutors have played lengthy audio excerpts in court of his 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things," in which he writes about his lifelong addiction issues and spiraling descent after death of his brother Beau in 2015. The book, written after he got sober, covers the period he had the gun but doesn't mention it specifically.
Lowell has said Hunter Biden’s state of mind was different when he wrote the book than when he purchased the gun, when he didn’t believe he had an addiction. He pointed out to jurors that some of the questions on the firearms transaction record are in the present tense, such as “are you an unlawful user of or addicted to” drugs.
And he’s suggested Hunter Biden might have felt he had a drinking problem at the time, but not a drug problem. Alcohol abuse doesn’t preclude a gun purchase.
The reason law enforcement raised any questions about the revolver is because Hallie Biden, Beau's widow, found it unloaded in Hunter's truck on Oct. 23, 2018, panicked and tossed it into a garbage can at a nearby market. She testified about the episode Thursday.
She told jurors she considered hiding the gun but thought her kids might find it, so she decided to throw it away.
“I realize it was a stupid idea now, but I was panicking,” she said. “I didn’t want him to hurt himself, and I didn’t want my kids to find it and hurt themselves.”
Hallie Biden, who had a brief romantic relationship with Hunter after Beau died, testified that from the time Hunter returned to Delaware from a 2018 trip to California until she threw his gun away, she did not see him using drugs. That time period included the day he bought the weapon.
But much of her testimony focused on Oct. 23, 2018 — 11 days after he bought it. Hunter was staying with her and seemed exhausted. Asked by the prosecutor if it appeared that Hunter was using drugs around then, she said, “He could have been.”
As Hunter slept in her home, Hallie Biden went to check his car. She said she was hoping to help him get or stay sober, free of both alcohol and cocaine. She said she found the remnants of crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia. She also found the gun Hunter purchased in a box with a broken lock that kept it from fully closing. There was ammunition too.
She put it in a leather pouch put the pouch in a bag and tossed it into in the trash can at Janssen’s Market. He noticed it missing and asked her whether she had taken it.
“Are you insane?” he texted. He told her to go back to the market to look for it.
Surveillance footage played for jurors showed her digging around in the trash can for the gun, but it wasn’t there. She asked store officials if someone had taken out the trash. Hallie testified Hunter told her to file a police report because the gun was registered in his name. She called the police while she was still at the store.
Officers located the man who inadvertently took the gun along with other recyclables from the trash and retrieved it. The case was eventually closed because of lack of cooperation from Hunter Biden, who was considered the victim.
Jurors also heard from the officers who handled the case, from the man who found the gun and from the store clerk who sold Hunter the revolver.
If convicted, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
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mickeyrat
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The Latest: Hunter Biden's defense attorney says he’s making a motion for acquittal
By The Associated Press
5 mins ago
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The Latest on Hunter Biden's federal gun trial (all times local):
After prosecutors rested their case in Hunter Biden's gun trial and the jurors were dismissed for a morning break, defense attorney Abbe Lowell told the judge he was making an oral motion for acquittal.
Lowell said he will lay out the grounds for his motion in a written submission expected to be file later in the day.
“I appreciate you letting me know what’s coming,” the judge said.
While the judge was questioning Lowell about his motion, Hunter Biden’s wife, Melissa, shook her head and appeared to be irritated.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Abbe Lowell noted there were no coded references to drugs in the texts Romig was shown during the time period from August 2018 to November 2018.
In October 2018, however, Hunter Biden had sent two text messages to Hallie Biden saying he was waiting for a dealer and smoking crack. The first message was sent the day after he bought the gun. The second was sent the following day.
DEA AGENT SAID HE DIDN'T INVESTIGATE ALLEGED DRUG DEALERS TEXTING WITH HUNTER BIDEN
On cross-examination, defense attorney Abbe Lowell asked DEA special agent Joshua Romig whether he investigated any of the alleged drug dealers who were texting with Hunter Biden.
Romig said he didn’t investigate anyone because he wasn’t involved in the Hunter Biden case.
“This is not my investigation,” he said.
DEA AGENT SAYS LANGUAGE IN TEXTS IS INDICATIVE OF DRUG DEALS
Prosecutor Derek Hines led DEA special agent Joshua Romig through a series of text messages prosecutors say were exchanged between Hunter Biden and three different drug dealers in the spring and summer of 2018.
Romig said the language in the text exchanges was indicative of drug deals.
Similar text messages were exchanged in November 2018, the month after Hunter Biden bought the gun.
Romig also said a photo of Hunter Biden taken in December 2018 shows him holding what appears to be a crack pipe.
Hines also played a video taken on Hunter Biden’s phone in December 2018 of chunks of a white substance on a digital scale. Romig said the video appears to show about 2 grams of crack cocaine.
DEA SPECIAL AGENT JOSHUA ROMIG IS TESTIFYING IN HUNTER BIDEN'S TRIAL
DEA special agent Joshua Romig is the next prosecution witness to testify in Hunter Biden’s gun trial.
Prosecutor Derek Hines asked Romig about how cocaine flows into the United States from countries such as Colombia and Peru.
Romig also explained that crack cocaine is a more powerful form of the drug derived from powder cocaine. Hunter Biden is accused of lying about being addicted to crack cocaine when he bought a gun in October 2018.
FBI CHEMIST TESTIFIES THAT COCAINE IDENTIFED IN POWDER ON POUCH THAT HELD GUN
Prosecutor Leo Wise handed FBI chemist Jason Brewer a leather pouch in which Hunter Biden’s sister-in-law and former lover Hallie Biden put the gun before tossing it in a trash can outside an upscale grocery store near her home 11 days after he bought it.
Brewer said he tested the pouch to determine whether there was any trace of drugs or drug residue.
“I found a minimal amount of white powder, or off-white powder,” Brewer said. The powder was found on the interior flap and in the bottom of the pouch.
Brewer said he tested the powder with a chemical solution and gas chromatography.
“Did you reach a conclusion about the substance you tested?” Wise asked.
“Cocaine was identified within the residual white powder that I sampled,” Brewer said.
On cross-examination, defense attorney David Kolansky noted the amount of residue Brewer tested was “minimal.” He also noted that Brewer tested the pouch in October 2023, five years after the pouch was recovered by police who were called after Hallie Biden threw it in the trash can.
Kolasnky also noted that the tests Brewer did don’t indicate when the drug residue got on the pouch or how it got there.
COURT RESUMES WITH FBI CHEMIST ON WITNESS STAND
The fifth day of Hunter Biden’s gun trial in Delaware began Friday with prosecutors calling an FBI forensic chemist examiner to the witness stand.
Prosecutor Leo Wise is questioning Jason Brewer, who is an expert in analyzing controlled substances.
Hunter Biden is charged with falsely denying he was a drug user or addict when he bought a gun at a Wilmington gun store in October 2018.
FIRST LADY JILL BIDEN ARRIVES AT THE COURTHOUSE FOR SON'S TRIAL
First lady Jill Biden has arrived at the courthouse for son Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial.
She left France on Thursday evening where she was attending D-Day events with President Joe Biden. She’ll return to France for a state dinner.
2 MORE PROSECUTION WITNESSES EXPECTED IN HUNTER BIDEN'S TRIAL
Federal prosecutors are wrapping up their gun case in Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial with two more witnesses expected Friday in their effort to prove to jurors the president’s son lied on a mandatory gun purchase form when he said he wasn’t “an unlawful user of, or addicted to” drugs.
Prosecutors are still planning to call a drug expert and an FBI chemist, capping a week that has been largely dedicated to highlighting the seriousness of his drug problem through highly personal and sometimes salacious testimony.
Hunter Biden been charged with three felonies: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM DAY 3 OF TESTIMONY: BEAU BIDEN'S WIDOW SAID SHE THREW GUN INTO TRASH CAN
The widow of Hunter Biden’s brother told jurors in his federal gun trial Thursday about the moment she found the revolver in his truck, describing how she put it into a leather pouch, stuffed it into a shopping bag and tossed it in a trash can outside a market near her home.
“I panicked, and I wanted to get rid of them,” she testified about finding the gun and ammunition in the vehicle’s console in October 2018. “I didn’t want him to hurt himself, and I didn’t want my kids to find it and hurt themselves.”
The purchase of the Colt revolver by Hunter Biden — and Hallie Biden’s frenzied disposal of it — are the fulcrum of the case against him.
HUNTER BIDEN'S OTHER TRIAL
Hunter Biden was supposed to have avoided prosecution in the gun case altogether, but a deal with prosecutors fell apart last year.
He was subsequently indicted on three felony gun charges. He also faces a trial scheduled for September on felony charges alleging he failed to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over four years.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
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mickeyrat
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Hunter Biden's daughter Naomi testifies about her father in his federal gun trial, ending 1st week
By RANDALL CHASE, MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, COLLEEN LONG and CLAUDIA LAUER
7 mins ago
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Hunter Biden's daughter Naomi testified Friday in his federal gun trial about visiting her father while he was at a California rehab center, telling jurors that he seemed to be improving in the weeks before he bought the revolver in 2018.
“I hadn’t seen my dad in a long time, and I knew he was in a rehab facility there. He reached out,” she told jurors softly, explaining that they met at a coffee shop, along with his “sober coach.” As she was dismissed from the stand, she paused to hug her dad before leaving the courtroom.
The defense began calling witnesses shortly after federal prosecutors wrapped up their case. Hunter Biden's attorney Abbe Lowell started by calling another gun store clerk who was there when the gun was purchased, raising questions about what he saw as inconsistencies on the form.
He also questioned the owner of the shop who allowed the sale to go through using Hunter's passport, though it did not include an address as required.
Then he called Hunter's daughter. In October 2018, the month Hunter Biden bought the gun, Naomi traveled from Washington to New York in her father’s truck to move her boyfriend’s belongings. Hunter drove Joe Biden’s Cadillac to New York later that month to retrieve his truck, leaving the Cadillac with Naomi. She told jurors she didn’t see any drug paraphernalia or evidence of drug use.
“He seemed great. He seemed hopeful,” she said.
But prosecutors showed Naomi texts where he didn't respond to her for hours after she messaged him about switching cars. At 2 a.m., Hunter texted Naomi asking where the keys to his truck were and whether her boyfriend could meet and swap vehicles.
“Right now?” she responded.
“Do you know what your father was doing at two o’clock in the morning and why he was asking you for the car then?” prosecutor Leo Wise asked.
“No,” she said.
Wise read out to her a text message from the time, where she responded: “I’m really sorry dad I can’t take this.”
When court broke for lunch, and as Hunter Biden prepared to leave, he motioned to the first row that was full of his family members, including first lady Jill Biden, who traveled back from France for the proceedings. The first lady took Hunter’s hand and held it until they got to the door.
Jurors were sent home for the afternoon after the defense had no more witnesses, and Lowell said he was weighing who else to call, though previously he said the president’s brother James would take the stand, and he was in court. The trial will resume Monday.
The week’s proceedings have been largely dedicated to highlighting the seriousness of Hunter Biden’s drug problem through highly personal testimony, all in an effort by prosecutors to prove that the president’s son lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form when he said he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.
Jurors heard earlier in the week from Hunter Biden’s ex-wife and a former girlfriend who testified about his habitual crack use and their failed efforts to help him get clean. They saw images of the president’s son bare-chested and disheveled in a filthy room, and half-naked holding crack pipes. And they watched video of his crack cocaine weighed on a scale.
Prosecutors say the evidence is necessary to prove that Hunter, 54, was in the throes of addiction when he bought the gun and therefore lied when he checked “no” on the form that asked whether he was “an unlawful user of, or addicted to” drugs.
Lowell has argued Hunter did not think of himself as an “addict” when he bought the gun and did not intend to deceive anyone.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden worked to walk the line between president and father, telling ABC in an interview that he would accept the jury’s verdict and ruling out a pardon for his son. Earlier this week, he issued a statement saying: “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."
Biden is in France this week for D-Day anniversary events. Jill Biden, who attended court most of the week, will return to France for a state dinner.
Hunter Biden has been charged with three felonies: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
He has pleaded not guilty. He had hoped to resolve the gun case and another separate tax case in California with a plea deal last year, the result of a yearslong investigation into his business dealings. The deal had him pleading guilty to lower-level charges that would have avoided the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election. It fell apart after Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was appointed by Donald Trump, questioned unusual aspects of the proposed agreement, and the lawyers couldn't resolve them.
Hunter Biden said he got charged because the Justice Department bowed to pressure from Republicans who argued the Democratic president’s son was getting special treatment, and who have escalated their attacks on the criminal justice system since Donald Trump's recent conviction in New York City in a hush money case.
It's unclear yet whether Hunter Biden will testify. But jurors have already heard his voice. Prosecutors played lengthy audio excerpts in court of his 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things," in which he wrote about his lifelong addiction issues and spiraling descent after the death of his brother Beau in 2015. The book, written after he got sober, covers the period he had the gun but doesn't mention it specifically.
Lowell has said Hunter Biden’s state of mind was different when he wrote the book than when he purchased the gun, when he didn’t believe he had an addiction. He pointed out to jurors that some of the questions on the firearms transaction record are in the present tense, such as “are you an unlawful user of or addicted to” drugs.
And he’s suggested Hunter Biden might have felt he had a drinking problem at the time, but not a drug problem. Alcohol abuse doesn’t preclude a gun purchase.
The reason law enforcement raised any questions about the revolver is because Hallie Biden, Beau's widow, found it unloaded in Hunter's truck on Oct. 23, 2018, panicked and tossed it into a garbage can at Janssen’s Market, where a man inadvertently fished it out of the trash. She testified about the episode Thursday.
She eventually called the police. Officers retrieved the gun from the man who inadvertently took the gun along with other recyclables from the trash. The case was eventually closed because of lack of cooperation from Hunter Biden, who was considered the victim.
If convicted, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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Takeaways from Hunter Biden's gun trial: His family turns out as his own words are used against him
By CLAUDIA LAUER, MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, RANDALL CHASE and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER
Today
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Pictures of President Joe Biden's son with drug paraphernalia and bare-chested in a bubble bath. Text messages between Hunter Biden and drug dealers. Testimony from Hunter's exes about relationships destroyed by his drug use.
Hunter Biden's trial on gun charges brought by his father's Justice Department has put on full display tawdry and embarrassing details about the president's son, all while first lady Jill Biden watches from the courtroom in Wilmington, Delaware.
Prosecutors on Friday rested their case accusing Hunter Biden of lying when he swore that he was not a drug user on a federal form to buy a gun in October 2018. The defense could call at least one more witness when the trial resumes on Monday before lawyers make their closing arguments.
Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty and has accused the Justice Department of bending to political pressure from former President Donald Trump and other Republicans to bring the case and separate tax charges after a deal with prosecutors fell apart last year. Hunter Biden has said he has been sober since 2019.
Here are some key takeaways from the first week of the trial:
Jill Biden sat through the proceedings at the federal courthouse almost every day since the trial began June 3. She missed Thursday's testimony because she was in France attending D-Day anniversary events with the president. She flew back to be in court on Friday.
She sat quietly in the first row of the courtroom behind Hunter Biden and listened intently without showing emotion as prosecutors painted him as deceptive and driven by addiction. During breaks in testimony, Jill Biden occasionally spoke briefly with Hunter, leaning over a railing in the courtroom to hug and kiss him on the cheek.
Other family members who showed up throughout the week to show support included Hunter Biden’s sister Ashley, the president’s sister Valerie Biden and Jill Biden’s sister Bonny Jacobs.
HUNTER'S OWN WORDS
Hunter Biden hasn't taken the witness stand and it is not clear whether he will. Jurors have already heard his own words about the depths of his drug and alcohol addiction after his brother, Beau, died in 2015.
A central piece of the prosecution's case is Hunter Biden's memoir “Beautiful Things," in which the president's son opened up about his crack cocaine addiction, stints in rehab and struggles to get sober.
Jurors have heard Hunter Biden detail at length seeking out crack in different places and learning how to smoke it. In one long excerpt played in the courtroom, he described driving to a treatment center and seeing an enormous barn owl, which may have been a hallucination, swoop over his windshield.
In another excerpt played in court, Hunter Biden described at one point accidently leaving in a rental car his wallet, which contained his late brother's Delaware attorney general badge and a Secret Service business card. A rental car employee found that, along with paraphernalia and white-powder residue on the armrest. A manager called police, who called the Secret Service, who called Joe Biden, Hunter wrote.
No charges were brought over that. In his book, Hunter Biden wrote: “Despite the speculation in the right-wing media to the contrary, the cops weren't strong-armed into dropping the case.”
His ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, recounted learning that her husband was using drugs when she found a pipe used to smoke crack cocaine in an ashtray on their porch in July 2015, a day after their anniversary.
Beau's widow, Hallie, described beginning to use drugs herself during her short and troubled romantic relationship with Hunter Biden, telling jurors: “I regret that period of my life.” Hallie Biden testified about finding the remnants of crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia in his car, along with the gun that is at the center of the case.
“I panicked and I wanted to get rid of them,” she said of the gun and ammunition she found.
“Why did you panic?” the prosecutor asked.
“Because I didn’t want him to hurt himself, and I didn’t want my kids to find it and hurt themselves,” Hallie Biden replied. She put the gun in a bag and tossed it in a garbage can at a nearby grocery store. A man collecting recyclables found it and eventually handed it over to police.
A third woman, Zoe Kestan, told jurors about meeting Hunter in December 2017 at a strip club in New York where she was working. She recounted Hunter Biden smoking crack perhaps every 20 minutes when she stayed with him at a hotel.
Kestan acknowledged that she had no contact with him in October 2018, the period when he bought the gun. But she told jurors that Hunter Biden was using drugs the next month. Prosecutors also showed jurors several highly personal photos from her phone of Hunter Biden sleeping, in a bubble bath and, in some, unclothed or censored with a black box.
DEFENSE STRATEGY
The defense argued in a court filing Friday that prosecutors have failed to present evidence that Hunter Biden was actually using drugs in the 11 days he owned the gun.
“It was only after the gun was thrown away and the ensuing stress ... that the government was able to then find the same type of evidence of his use (e.g., photos, use of drug lingo) that he relapsed with drugs," defense lawyer Abbe Lowell wrote.
Throughout the trial, the defense has tried to cast doubt on the memories of the prosecution's witnesses, pressing them about their recollection of events.
Lowell has raised other possible reasons for large cash withdrawals to counter the implication that his client was using the cash for drugs. Lowell asked investigators whether Hunter Biden could have been getting cash to pay for his children’s tuition, for housing or alimony, pointing out that authorities had not done a forensic financial examination to trace the money.
The defense on Friday called to the witness stand Hunter Biden's daughter Naomi Biden, who testified about how she visited her father while he was at a rehab facility in August 2018, months before the gun purchase, and told him she was proud of him. The testimony detailing a lunch with her boyfriend, her father and his sober living companion appeared designed to show that Hunter Biden had turned a corner with his addiction during that period.
But prosecutors quickly pressed Naomi Biden on details she witnessed about his addiction and her father's behavior when she saw him briefly in October after his gun purchase. Prosecutors read highly personal texts between the father and daughter, including a plea she made to see him and his response that he was being unfair, leaving them both emotional as she left the witness stand.
The defense had previously said they planned to call as a witness Joe Biden's brother, James. On Friday, Hunter's lawyer did not rule out calling one more witness, but it was unclear who that could be. Testimony from other family members could open the door for more highly personal messages to be introduced to the jury.
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Appointed by Trump, Hunter Biden trial judge spent most of her career in civil law
By JIM VERTUNO
Today
The judge presiding over Hunter Biden's federal gun trial in Delaware is a former corporate civil lawyer with a background in biology who was nominated to the bench by the Biden family's chief political antagonist: former President Donald Trump.
But even while that might raise partisan eyebrows and questions of political pressure in the highly watched case, District Judge Maryellen Noreika was recommended for the bench by the two Democratic senators.
She has a brief history of political donations to both parties — mostly Republicans — and had not worked on criminal cases or presided over a courtroom before getting the nod as a federal judge. The New York Times reported she was registered to vote as a Democrat from 2000-2020 until changing her registration to no party affiliation.
She has presided over a trial that has laid bare some of the president's son's darkest moments, including drug addiction. Outside her courtroom, international media strain to get a glimpse of members of the first family as they come and go.
In her Senate confirmation hearing, Noreika said she admires judges who are prepared and “willing to listen and give litigants an opportunity to be heard. ... They want to make people feel like they've been listened to and been given a fair shot."
If convicted, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
In a written answer to questions about sentencing from now-Vice President Kamala Harris, Noreika said she "would listen to arguments from the parties, including requests for leniency, and consider statements made by victims. If confirmed, I would do my best to impose a sentence that is sufficient, but not greater than necessary.”'
Born in Pittsburgh, the 57-year-old Noreika graduated from Lehigh University in 1988 before earning her master’s degree in biology from Columbia University in 1990. She earned her law degree in 1993 from the University of Pittsburgh with magna cum laude honors.
Noreika spent the next 25 years at the Delaware law firm of Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell, where she earned partner in 2001. According to her Senate confirmation questionnaire, most of her work was in federal civil litigation involving intellectual property. It said she tried “at least 30″ cases to verdict or final decision and most were nonjury trials. She also listed no criminal law experience.
Asked to list “all professional business, fraternal scholarly, civic or charitable” organizations she had belonged to since law school, Noreika answered, “None.”
For pro bono work, Noreika wrote she had spent 15 years as a guardian ad litem for children in Delaware Family Court.
“These cases have involved difficult custody issues, including allegations of sexual and physical abuse, neglect and abandonment,” Noreika wrote. She described “taking children out to lunch and to dinner and fun activities to get them to engage with me and trust me.”
Her position as judge in the Hunter Biden criminal trial put her in the national spotlight and made her a target of speculation over political partisanship.
It was Noreika who torpedoed a plea deal that would have settled the gun case when she raised concerns about the terms of the agreement in 2023.
Noreika has presided over a Biden-related case before: In March 2023, she dismissed part of a defamation lawsuit brought by the owner of a Delaware computer repair shop where Hunter Biden left his laptop in 2019.
Federal campaign finance records show she had donated at least $15,000 to political candidates between 2005-2014, most of it going to Republicans, including current U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton and Mitt Romney. But she also donated to the presidential campaigns of both Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain in 2008.
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Hunter Biden's lawyers could call at least one more witness when the case resumes in Delaware's federal court — the first of two trials he's facing in the midst of his father’s reelection campaign. It's unclear whether prosecutors will call any rebuttal witnesses before the case goes to closing arguments, and then to the jury.
Hunter Biden is charged with three felonies stemming from the October 2018 purchase of a gun he had for about 11 days. Prosecutors say he lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.
Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty and has accused the Justice Department of bending to political pressure from former President Donald Trump and other Republicans to bring the case and separate tax charges after a deal with prosecutors fell apart last year. Hunter Biden has said he has been sober since 2019, but his attorneys have said he did not consider himself an “addict” when he filled out the form.
The case has put spotlight on a turbulent time in Hunter Biden's life after his brother Beau's 2015 death. First Lady Jill Biden has watched it unfold from the front row of the courtroom. President Biden was away in France much of last week, and heads to Europe again this week for the Group of Seven leaders meeting in Italy.
Hunter Biden's struggles with a substance addiction before getting sober more than five years ago are well documented. But defense lawyers argue there's no evidence Hunter Biden was actually using drugs in the 11 days that he possessed the gun. He had completed a rehab program weeks earlier.
Jurors have heard emotional and tawdry testimony from Hunter Biden's former romantic partners and read personal text messages. They've seen photos of Hunter Biden holding a crack pipe and partly clothed, and video from his phone of crack cocaine weighed on a scale.
His ex-wife and two onetime girlfriends testified for prosecutors about his habitual crack use and their failed efforts to help him get clean. One woman, who met Hunter Biden in 2017 at a strip club where she worked, described him smoking crack every 20 minutes or so while she stayed with him at a hotel.
Hunter Biden hasn't taken the witness stand and it's unclear if he will. But jurors have heard him describe at length his descent into addiction through audio excerpts played in court of his 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things." The book, written after he got sober, covers the period he had the gun but doesn’t mention it specifically.
A key witness for prosecutors is Beau's widow, Hallie, who had a brief troubled relationship with Hunter after his brother died of brain cancer. She found the unloaded gun in Hunter’s truck on Oct. 23, 2018, panicked and tossed it into a garbage can at a grocery store in Wilmington, where a man inadvertently fished it out of the trash.
“I didn’t want him to hurt himself, and I didn’t want my kids to find it and hurt themselves," Hallie Biden told jurors.
From the time Hunter returned to Delaware from a 2018 trip to California until she threw his gun away, she did not see him using drugs, Hallie told jurors. That time period included the day he bought the weapon. But jurors also saw text messages Hunter sent to Hallie in October 2018 saying he was waiting for a dealer and smoking crack. The first message was sent the day after he bought the gun. The second was sent the following day.
The defense has suggested Hunter Biden had been trying to turn his life around at the time of the gun purchase, having completed a detoxification and rehabilitation program at the end of August 2018.
"There is no evidence of contemporaneous drug use and a gun possession," defense lawyer Abbe Lowell wrote in court papers filed Friday. “It was only after the gun was thrown away and the ensuing stress ... that the government was able to then find the same type of evidence of his use (e.g., photos, use of drug lingo) that he relapsed with drugs."
Hunter Biden’s daughter Naomi took the stand for the defense Friday, telling jurors about visiting her father while he was at a California rehab center weeks before he bought the gun. She told jurors that he had seemed “hopeful” and to be improving, and she told him she was proud of him. As she was dismissed from the stand, she paused to hug her dad before leaving the courtroom.
The defense on Friday did not rule out calling one more witness, but it was unclear who that could be. Hunter's lawyers had previously said they planned to call as a witness Joe Biden’s brother, James and he was at the courthouse on Friday. Testimony from other family members could open the door for more deeply personal messages to be introduced to the jury.
President Joe Biden said last week that he would accept the jury’s verdict and has ruled out a pardon for his son. First Lady Jill Biden was in court every day last week to support Hunter, except on Thursday when she was with the president in France for D-Day anniversary events.
It looked as if Hunter Biden would have avoided prosecution in the gun case altogether, but a deal last summer with prosecutors imploded after U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was nominated to the bench by Republican former President Donald Trump, raised concerns about it. Hunter Biden was subsequently indicted on three felony gun charges. He also faces a trial scheduled for September on felony charges alleging he failed to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over four years.
If convicted in the gun case, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
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memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
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WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — President Joe Biden's son Hunter arrived at court Monday for jury selection in a federal gun case against after the collapse of a deal with prosecutors that would have avoided the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election.
Hunter Biden, who spent the weekend with his father has been charged in Delaware with three felonies stemming from a 2018 firearm purchase when he was, according to his memoir, in the throes of a crack addiction. 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.
He has pleaded not guilty and has argued he's being unfairly targeted by the Justice Department, after Republicans decried the now-defunct deal as special treatment for the Democratic president's son.
The trial comes just days after Donald Trump, Republicans' presumptive 2024 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 a porn actor to fend off damage to his 2016 presidential campaign. The two criminal cases are unrelated, but their proximity underscores how the criminal courtroom has taken center stage during the 2024 campaign.
HUNTER BIDEN
Hunter Biden gun trial set for June 3 could last up to 2 weeks amid disputes over evidence
Hunter Biden back in court for final hearing before trial on federal firearms charges in Delaware
Hunter Biden is set to go on trial on June 3 on federal firearms charges
Hunter Biden's lawyer after deposition: Republicans "end the day where they started."
Hunter Biden is also facing a separate trial in California in September on charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes. Both cases were to have been resolved through a deal with prosecutors last July, the culmination of a yearslong investigation into his business dealings.
But Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, questioned some unusual aspects of the deal, which included a proposed guilty plea to misdemeanor offenses to resolve the tax crimes and a diversion agreement on the gun charge, which meant as long as he stayed out of trouble for two years the case would be dismissed. The lawyers squabbled over the agreement, could not come to a resolution, and the deal fell apart. Attorney General Merrick Garland then appointed the top investigator as a special counsel in August, and a month later Hunter Biden was indicted.
This trial isn't about Hunter Biden's foreign business affairs — which Republicans have seized on without evidence to try to paint the Biden family as corrupt. But it will excavate some of Hunter Biden's darkest moments and put them on display.
The president's allies are worried about the toll the trial may take on the elder Biden, who’s long been concerned about the well-being and sobriety of his only living son and who must now watch as those painful past mistakes are publicly scrutinized. He's also protective: Hunter Biden was with his father all weekend before the case began, biking with his dad and attending church together.
President Biden, in a last-minute switch in plans, shifted from his Rehoboth Beach home back to his Wilmington compound on Sunday evening. Boarding a helicopter on Sunday was the only time the president was seen publicly without his son all weekend.
Allies are also worried the trial could become a distraction as the president tries to campaign under anemic poll numbers and as he is preparing for an upcoming presidential debate while the proceedings play out.
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're planning to use as evidence his published memoir, and they may also introduce contents from a laptop that he left at a Delaware repair shop and never retrieved. The contents made their way to Republicans in 2020 and were publicly leaked, revealing embarrassing and personal photos in which he's often nude and doing drugs and messages in which he asks dealers about scores.
The judge will ask a group of prospective jurors a series of questions to determine whether they can serve impartially on the jury, including whether they have donated to political campaigns or run for political office. She will ask whether their views about the 2024 presidential campaign prevent them from being impartial.
She's also going to ask whether prospective jurors believe Hunter Biden is being prosecuted because his father is the president. Also, she’ll ask about firearms purchasing and addiction issues, including: “Do you believe someone who is addicted to drugs should not be charged with a crime?”
The case against Hunter Biden stems from a period when, by his own public admission, he was addicted to crack. His descent into drugs and alcohol followed the 2015 death of his brother, Beau Biden, from cancer. He bought and owned a gun for 11 days in October 2018 and indicated on the gun purchase form that he was not using drugs.
Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty in both cases, and his attorneys have suggested they may argue he didn’t see himself as an addict when prosecutors say he checked “no” to the question on the form. They'll also attack the credibility of the gun store owner.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, are also planning to call as witnesses Hunter Biden’s ex-wife and his brother’s widow, Hallie, with whom he became romantically involved.
If he were to be convicted, he could face up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum and it's unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
___
Follow the AP's coverage of Hunter Biden at https://apnews.com/hub/hunter-biden.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
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WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A jury was seated Monday in a federal gun case against President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, after prospective candidates were questioned on their thoughts about gun rights and drug addiction while the first lady watched from the front row of the courtroom in a show of support for her son. Opening statements will begin Tuesday.
A jury of 12 panelists and four alternates was selected in one day.
Hunter Biden, who spent the weekend with his parents, has been charged in Delaware with three felonies stemming from a 2018 firearm purchase when he was, according to his memoir, in the throes of a crack addiction. He has been accused of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
More than 65 prospective jurors who were questioned and 29 had been dismissed by late afternoon. One who was sent home said she didn’t know whether she could be impartial because of the opinion she had formed about Hunter Biden based on media reports.
HUNTER BIDEN
Hunter Biden gun trial set for June 3 could last up to 2 weeks amid disputes over evidence
Hunter Biden back in court for final hearing before trial on federal firearms charges in Delaware
Hunter Biden is set to go on trial on June 3 on federal firearms charges
Hunter Biden's lawyer after deposition: Republicans "end the day where they started."
“It’s not a good one,” she replied when an attorney asked her opinion.
The case is going to trial following the collapse of a plea deal that would have avoided the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election. He has pleaded not guilty and has argued he's being unfairly targeted by the Justice Department, after Republicans decried the now-defunct plea deal as special treatment for the Democratic president's son.
The proceedings are unfolding just days after Donald Trump, the presumptive 2024 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 a porn actor to fend off damage to his 2016 presidential campaign. The two criminal cases are unrelated, but their proximity underscores how the criminal courts have taken center stage during the 2024 campaign.
In Delaware, prospective jurors who answered “yes” on a questionnaire were quizzed individually by Judge Maryellen Noreika to determine whether they could be fair and impartial. Their names were not made public.
The questions tested their knowledge of the case, surveyed their thoughts about gun ownership and inquired whether they or anyone close to them have struggled with substance abuse or addiction. Other questions focused on the role politics may have played in the charges.
One man was dismissed after telling the judge he had sold guns in the past and was familiar with the forms that need to be filled out. Also dismissed was a woman who said her husband was a friend of Joe Biden’s late son, Beau, and that she thought Hunter was a good man.
A man was dismissed because his family has a long history in law enforcement, and he said he could not be impartial. Another was excused because he was very aware of the case, and, “It seems like politics is playing a big role in who gets charged with what and when.”
Only one potential juror answered “no” to all the questions and moved on to the next phase. Another who was not dismissed said he holds a concealed carry permit and owns three handguns. The man said he has strong views on gun ownership and believes every law-abiding citizen should be able to own a gun.
“I believe the Second Amendment is very important,” he explained.
Attorneys jointly moved to dismiss a woman who expressed strong anti-gun views during questioning.
“I would like stronger laws in this country about certain types of weapons,” she said. “The ones with high repeat, you know, that kill children in schools.”
“I would ban them altogether to be honest,” acknowledged the woman, who also said she has donated to Democratic congressional candidates around the country and joined “one of the resistance groups” after the 2016 election.
Hunter Biden also faces a separate trial in California in September on charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes. Both cases were to have been resolved through the deal with prosecutors last July, the culmination of a yearslong investigation into his business dealings.
But Noreika, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, questioned some unusual aspects of the deal, which included a proposed guilty plea to misdemeanor offenses to resolve the tax crimes and a diversion agreement on the gun charge, which meant as long as he stayed out of trouble for two years the case would be dismissed. The lawyers could not come to a resolution, and the deal fell apart. Attorney General Merrick Garland then appointed the top investigator as a special counsel in August, and a month later Hunter Biden was indicted.
This trial isn't about Hunter Biden's foreign business affairs — which Republicans have seized on without evidence to try to paint the Biden family as corrupt. But it will excavate some of Hunter Biden's darkest moments and put them on display.
The president's allies are worried about the toll the trial may take on the elder Biden, who’s long been concerned about his only living son and his sobriety and who must now watch as his son's painful past mistakes are publicly scrutinized.
Allies are also worried the trial could become a distraction as the president tries to campaign under anemic poll numbers and as he is preparing for an upcoming presidential debate while the proceedings play out.
In a statement Monday, the president said he has “boundless love" for his son, "confidence in him and respect for his strength.”
“I am the President, but I am also a Dad,” he said, adding that would have no further comment on the case. “Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today.”
The president was nearby, in their Wilmington home, until he left for a campaign reception in Greenwich, Connecticut. He is traveling to France on Tuesday and will be gone the rest of the week. The first lady is scheduled to join him later. Hunter Biden’s sister, Ashley Biden, was also in court, and his wife, Melissa.
As the first day of jury selection broke for lunch, Hunter Biden walked over to his mother and leaned over the railing that separates the audience from the trial participants to hug and kiss her on the cheek. Monday was the first lady’s 73rd birthday.
A family friend, Ricky Smith, sat in the audience and embraced him warmly during a break.
“It ain’t right for him to be sitting there because he was a drug addict,” Smith said.
The case against Hunter Biden stems from a period when, by his own public admission, he was addicted to crack. His descent into drugs and alcohol followed the 2015 death of his brother, Beau Biden, from cancer. He bought and owned a gun for 11 days in October 2018 and indicated on the gun purchase form that he was not using drugs.
Defense attorneys have suggested they may argue that Hunter Biden didn’t 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, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it's unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
___
Long reported from Washington. Associated Press Writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report. Follow the AP's coverage of Hunter Biden at https://apnews.com/hub/hunter-biden.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
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you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Tuesday painted President Joe Biden’s son Hunter as deceptive and driven by addiction, a man whose dark habits ensnared loved ones and who knew what he was doing when he lied on federal forms to purchase a gun in 2018.
Jurors also got their first look at the document at the center of the case, and Hunter Biden's attorney argued that his client did not believe he was in the throes of addiction when he stated in the paperwork that he did not have a drug problem. In the short time that he had the gun, he did nothing with it, and weapon was never even loaded, attorney Abbe Lowell said in opening statements.
“You will see that he is not guilty,” Lowell said.
Hunter Biden has been charged with three felonies stemming from the purchase of the Colt revolver when he was, according to his memoir, addicted to crack. He has been accused of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
HUNTER BIDEN
Hunter Biden's federal firearms case is opening after the jury is chosen
Hunter Biden's federal firearms case is opening after jury is chosen
What to know about Hunter Biden's federal gun trial
Hunter Biden gun trial set for June 3 could last up to 2 weeks amid disputes over evidence
The case is dredging up painful memories for the president and his family, and revealing new and highly personal details about some of their struggles with addiction as the 2024 election looms, all while the first lady watched from the front row of the courtroom.
Jurors will hear testimony from the president’s brother James Biden, who is close with Hunter and helped his nephew through rehab stints in the past. They will also hear how Hallie Biden, the widow of the president's late son, also became addicted to crack during a brief relationship with Hunter. Hallie took the gun from Hunter and tossed it into the garbage at a nearby market, afraid of what he might do with it. The gun was later found by someone collecting cans and eventually turned over to police.
The president was in Washington on Tuesday, announcing an immigration order and hosting a picnic for congressional leaders before a scheduled departure for France later in the day. He will be gone the rest of the week. Jill Biden planned to meet him in Europe.
The president’s allies are worried about the toll the trial may take on the elder Biden, who’s long been protective and deeply concerned about his only living son and his sobriety and who must now watch as those past mistakes are publicly scrutinized.
Prosecutors on Tuesday spent hours on Hunter Biden’s drug problem, using his own words and missives to show the depth of the addiction. They showed jurors his old laptop computer, the same one he left at a Delaware repair shop and never retrieved. In 2020, the contents made their way to Republicans and were publicly leaked, revealing highly personal messages about his work and his life. He has since sued over the data breach.
An FBI agent read aloud messages from the laptop's data to the jury that chronicled a desperate effort to buy drugs, email receipts for a detox facility he attended before relapsing and large sums of cash he withdrew.
In one exchange with Hallie, she wrote: “I called you 500 times in past 24 hours." Hunter replied less than a minute later, informing her that he was “sleeping on a car smoking crack on 4th street and Rodney.”
“There’s my truth,” he added in a follow-up text.
And the jury heard lengthy audio excerpts of his memoir, “Beautiful Things,” in which he narrates his return to Delaware around the time of the gun purchase and his descent into drugs following the death of his brother, Beau, in 2015 from cancer. The written excerpts were displayed on a screen as the audio was played.
His sister Ashley Biden, watching from the courtroom, dabbed at her eyes with a tissue and eventually left. Jill Biden, too, was absent after lunch. She was expected in Washington with her husband.
Prosecutor Derek Hines told the jury Hunter was trying to score drugs just days after he lied on the form, which was later shown to jurors.
“No one is allowed to lie on a federal form like that, even Hunter Biden,” Hines said. “He crossed the line when he chose to buy a gun and lied about a federal background check ... the defendant’s choice to buy a gun is why we are here."
“When the defendant filled out that form, he knew he was a drug addict,” and prosecutors don't have to prove he was using the day he purchased the firearm, Hines said.
The proceedings come after the collapse of a deal with prosecutors that would have avoided the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election. Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty and has argued he's being unfairly targeted by the Justice Department after Republicans decried the now-defunct plea deal as special treatment for the Democratic president's son.
Lowell said the form asks whether you “are” a drug user. “It does not say ‘have you ever been,’" and he suggested the president's son did not think of himself as someone with a drug problem when he purchased the gun.
His state of mind should be considered at the time of the purchase, not “what he wrote in a book in 2021.”
Lowell also blamed Hunter's problems with the firearm on Hallie's disposal of it.
“After he bought the gun, Hunter did nothing with it," Lowell said. The gun became a problem only because of what Hallie Biden did.
If convicted, Hunter Biden could face up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
The trial is unfolding just days after Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was convicted of 34 felonies in New York City. The two criminal cases are unrelated, but their proximity underscores how the courts have taken center stage during the 2024 campaign.
On Tuesday, a former Trump aide and vocal Biden critic, Garrett Ziegler, attended court, prompting Hunter Biden's wife, Melissa, to approach him and say “You have no right to be here" and yelling an expletive. Ziegler has been sued by Hunter Biden, who claimed he violated computer privacy laws by accessing and then manipulating the laptop data.
Hunter Biden also faces a trial in California in September on charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes. Both cases were to have been resolved through the deal with prosecutors last July, the culmination of a yearslong investigation into his business dealings.
But Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, questioned some unusual aspects of the deal. The lawyers could not come to a resolution on her questions, and the deal fell apart. Attorney General Merrick Garland then appointed a former U.S. attorney for Delaware, David Weiss, as a special counsel in August, and a month later Hunter Biden was indicted.
Garland on Tuesday faced members of the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee in Washington, which has been investigating the president and his family and whose chairman has been at the forefront of a stalled impeachment inquiry stemming from Hunter Biden’s business dealings.
___
Long reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington and Fatima Hussein aboard Air Force One contributed to this report.
___
Follow the AP's coverage of Hunter Biden at https://apnews.com/hub/hunter-biden.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Hunter Biden's gun trial have spent hours showing jurors evidence of his drug problem, seeking to reveal through his own words and writing the depth of his addiction to show it was still going on when, they say, he lied on a form to buy a firearm.
First lady Jill Biden went to court Wednesday for the third day to support her son, ahead of her trip to France to meet President Joe Biden, who was in Europe to mark the anniversary of D-Day.
Testimony continued with cross-examination of an FBI agent who was being questioned about the timing of Hunter Biden's drug use. Biden's ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, was also expected to take the stand. She was married to the president's son for roughly 20 years. They have three children and divorced in 2016 after his infidelity and drug abuse became too much, according to her memoir, “If We Break," about the dissolution of their marriage.
HUNTER BIDEN
Day 1 of testimony in Hunter Biden's federal trial, AP Explains
Hunter Biden's federal firearms case is opening after the jury is chosen
Hunter Biden's federal firearms case is opening after jury is chosen
What to know about Hunter Biden's federal gun trial
Buhle is among several Biden family and friends expected to testify in a trial that has quickly become a highly personal and detailed tour of Hunter Biden's mistakes and drug use. The proceedings are unfolding as the 2024 presidential election looms and allies worry about the toll it will take on the president, who is deeply concerned about the health and sustained sobriety of his only living son. Prosecutors argue that the testimony is necessary to show Hunter Biden's state of mind when he bought the gun.
Hunter Biden has been charged with three felonies stemming from the purchase of a gun in October 2018. He's accused of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
“No one is allowed to lie on a federal form like that, even Hunter Biden,” prosecutor Derek Hines told jurors Tuesday. “He crossed the line when he chose to buy a gun and lied about a federal background check ... the defendant’s choice to buy a gun is why we are here.”
“When the defendant filled out that form, he knew he was a drug addict,” and prosecutors don’t have to prove he was using the day he purchased the firearm, Hines said.
Hunter Biden’s attorney argued that his client did not believe he was in the throes of addiction when he stated in the paperwork that he did not have a drug problem. In the short time that he had the gun, he did nothing with it, and the weapon was never even loaded, attorney Abbe Lowell said in his opening statement.
“You will see that he is not guilty,” Lowell said.
Lowell said the form asks whether you “are” a drug user. “It does not say ‘have you ever been,’” and he suggested the president’s son did not think of himself as someone with a drug problem when he purchased the gun.
His state of mind should be considered at the time of the purchase, not later on, when, after he got sober, he wrote a memoir titled “Beautiful Things” about some of his darkest moments. The jury heard lengthy audio excerpts from the book, which traces his descent into addiction following the death of his brother, Beau Biden, in 2015 from cancer.
The Delaware trial comes after the collapse of a plea deal with prosecutors that would have resolved the gun case and a separate California tax case and avoided the spectacle of a trial. Hunter Biden has since pleaded not guilty and has said he’s being unfairly targeted by the Justice Department, after Republicans slammed the now-defunct plea agreement as a sweetheart deal for the Democratic president’s son.
The 12-person panel heard opening statements Tuesday and testimony from the FBI agent, Erika Jensen, who read aloud some of Hunter Biden's personal messages, including some that came from a laptop he left at a Delaware repair shop and never retrieved. In 2020, the contents made their way to Republicans and were publicly leaked, revealing some highly personal messages about his work and his life. He has since sued over the leaked information.
In one exchange with Beau Biden's widow, Hallie Biden, on the day after he bought the gun, she wrote: “I called you 500 times in past 24 hours.” Hunter replied less than a minute later, informing her that he was “sleeping on a car smoking crack on 4th street and Rodney.”
“There’s my truth,” he added in a follow-up text.
But during cross-examination, Jensen testified that Hunter Biden sent fewer messages about seeking drugs in October 2018, around the time when he purchased the gun, than in February 2019, a later period in which Lowell described his client as struggling significantly with addiction.
Lowell also called into question the receipts for a rehab facility, asking whether Jensen knew whether he had been treated for drugs or alcohol. She said she could not.
His sister Ashley Biden, watching from the courtroom, dabbed at her eyes with a tissue and eventually left.
Attorneys said jurors would hear testimony from the president’s brother James Biden, who is close with Hunter and helped his nephew through rehab stints in the past. They will also hear how Hallie Biden became addicted to crack during a brief relationship with Hunter.
Hallie took the gun from Hunter and tossed it into the garbage at a nearby market, afraid of what he might do with it. The weapon was later found by someone collecting cans and eventually turned over to police.
If convicted, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
The trial is unfolding shortly after Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was convicted of 34 felonies in New York City. The two criminal cases are unrelated, but their proximity underscores how the courts have taken center stage during the 2024 campaign.
Hunter Biden also faces a trial in California in September on charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes. Both cases were to have been resolved through the deal with prosecutors last July, the culmination of a yearslong investigation into his business dealings.
But Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, questioned some unusual aspects of the deal. The lawyers could not come to a resolution on her questions, and the deal fell apart. Attorney General Merrick Garland then appointed a former U.S. attorney for Delaware David Weiss, as a special counsel in August, and a month later Hunter Biden was indicted.
___
Long reported from Washington.
___
Follow the AP's coverage of Hunter Biden at https://apnews.com/hub/hunter-biden.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
He admits to drug use but if he was in the state of mind that he was never going to use drugs again then it wouldn't be untruthful. A stretch I know, but an interesting take.
Drug addicts tend to wax and wane like that.
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Chicago; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
could be full on addicted, everyone ELSE know it, and the addict in denial.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Chicago; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The widow of Hunter Biden's brother told jurors in his federal gun trial Thursday about the moment she found the revolver in his truck, describing how she put it into a leather pouch, stuffed it into a shopping bag and tossed it in a trash can outside a market near her home.
"I panicked, and I wanted to get rid of them,” she testified about finding the gun and ammunition in the vehicle's console in October 2018. “I didn’t want him to hurt himself, and I didn’t want my kids to find it and hurt themselves.”
The purchase of the Colt revolver by Hunter Biden — and Hallie Biden's frenzied disposal of it — are the fulcrum of the case against him. Federal prosecutors say the president's son was in the throes of a heavy crack addiction when he bought the gun. He’s been charged with three felonies: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
HUNTER BIDEN
Day 2 of Hunter Biden's trial included testimony from ex-wife and former girlfriend on drug addiction
Day 1 of testimony in Hunter Biden's federal trial, AP Explains
Hunter Biden's federal firearms case is opening after the jury is chosen
Hunter Biden's federal firearms case is opening after jury is chosen
Hunter Biden, who has pleaded not guilty, has said the Justice Department is bending to political pressure from Republicans and that he’s being unfairly targeted.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden said in an interview with ABC he would accept the jury's verdict and ruled out a pardon for his son. And the first lady left France, where attended D-Day anniversary events with the president, to head back to Wilmington. She was expected to attend the trial again Friday before returning to France for a state dinner.
Hallie Biden, who had a brief romantic relationship with Hunter after Beau Biden died in 2015, testified that from the time Hunter returned to Delaware from a 2018 trip to California until she threw his gun away, she did not see him using drugs. That time period included the day he bought the weapon.
Much of her testimony focused on Oct. 23, 2018 — 11 days after he bought the gun and when she tossed it. Hunter was staying with her and seemed exhausted. Asked by the prosecutor if it appeared that Hunter was using drugs around then, she said, “He could have been.”
As Hunter slept in her home, Hallie Biden went to check his car. She said she was hoping to help him get or stay sober, free of both alcohol and cocaine. She said she found the remnants of crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia. She also found the gun Hunter purchased in a box with a broken lock that kept it from fully closing. There was ammunition too.
Hallie said she considered hiding the gun but thought her kids might find it, so she decided to throw it away.
“I realize it was a stupid idea now, but I was panicking,” she said.
Hunter Biden watched expressionless from the courtroom during her testimony. She told jurors that she found crack at her home and saw him using it. She was with him occasionally when he saw dealers. Prosecutor Leo Wise asked Hallie about her own 2018 trip to California, where she visited Hunter at the Roosevelt Hotel, and asked her whether she was also using drugs.
“Yes, I was,” she said.
“And who introduced you to it?’”
“Hunter did,” Hallie said as Hunter rested his face on his hand and looked down.
“It was a terrible experience that I went through, and I’m embarrassed and ashamed, and I regret that period of my life,” she added.
Hallie testified she stopped using drugs in August 2018, but that Hunter continued smoking crack.
Much of the prosecution’s case has been dedicated to highlighting the seriousness of his crack addiction and showcasing to jurors bare-chested moments with ex-girlfriends, infidelity and crack pipes — judgment lapses they believe prove he was actively using when he checked “no” on the form. Prosecutors argue that the evidence is necessary to show his state of mind when he bought the gun.
After Hallie Biden threw the unloaded gun in the trash can at Janssen’s Market, he noticed it missing and asked her whether she had taken it.
“Are you insane?” he texted. He told her to go back to the market to look for it.
Surveillance footage played for jurors showed her digging around in the trash can for the gun, but it wasn't there. She asked store officials if someone had taken out the trash.
Hallie said Hunter told her to file a police report because the gun was registered in his name. She called the police while she was still at the store.
Officers located the man who inadvertently took the gun along with other recyclables from the trash and retrieved it. The case was eventually closed because of lack of cooperation from Hunter Biden, who would have been considered the victim. Jurors also heard from the officers who handled the case and from the man who found the gun.
The Democratic president’s son arrived at court Thursday with a copy of his memoir, “Beautiful Things,” tucked under his arm. The book, written after he got sober in 2021, figures heavily into prosecutors’ case: They’ve played audio excerpts for jurors in which he details his descent into drugs and alcohol following the death of his brother in 2015 from cancer.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell has said Hunter Biden’s state of mind was different when he wrote the book than when he purchased the gun, when he didn’t believe he had an addiction. And he’s suggested Hunter Biden might have felt he had a drinking problem at the time, but not a drug problem. Alcohol abuse doesn’t preclude a gun purchase.
Jurors have also heard from the gun store clerk, who testified about how he walked Hunter Biden through a few options before he settled on the $900 gun. The clerk then watched as the customer filled out the firearms transaction record, a required document for the purchase of a gun, and saw him check off “no” to the question of whether he was “an unlawful user of or addicted to” marijuana, stimulants, narcotics or any other controlled substance.
Gordon Cleveland, the former clerk at StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply, said he saw Biden sign the form, which includes a warning about the consequences of submitting false information.
In his cross-examination Thursday, Lowell pointed out that some of the questions on the form are in the present tense, such as “are you an unlawful user of or addicted to” drugs. He has suggested Hunter Biden did not believe he had an active drug problem.
The proceedings are unfolding after the collapse of a plea deal that would have resolved the gun charge and a separate tax case, and spared the Biden family the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election.
The president's sister, Valerie, was in court Thursday. First lady Jill Biden spent the first part of the week there before leaving for France. Allies worry about the toll the proceedings will take on the president, who is deeply concerned about the health and sustained sobriety of his only living son.
If convicted, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
He also faces a separate trial in September on charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes.
The trial is playing out shortly after Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was convicted of 34 felonies in New York City. The two criminal cases are unrelated, but their proximity underscores how the courts have taken center stage during the 2024 campaign.
___
Long reported from Washington.
___
Follow the AP's coverage of Hunter Biden at https://apnews.com/hub/hunter-biden.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Chicago; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
5th circuit ruled it unconstitutional didnt they?
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Federal prosecutors wrapped up their gun case against Hunter Biden on Friday with two final witnesses in their effort to prove that the president's son lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form when he said he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.
Prosecutors called an FBI forensic chemist, Jason Brewer, who tested a residue found on the leather pouch that contained Hunter Biden’s gun. It came back positive for cocaine, though the amount was minimal, he told jurors. A Drug Enforcement Administration agent testified about text messages Hunter Biden sent to alleged dealers.
Their testimony capped a week that has been largely dedicated to highlighting the seriousness of Hunter Biden's drug problem through highly personal and often revealing testimony. Defense attorneys may now call witnesses.
Jurors heard Thursday from Hunter Biden's his ex-wife and a former girlfriend who testified about his habitual crack use and their failed efforts to help him get clean. They saw images of the president's son bare-chested and disheveled in a filthy room, and half-naked holding crack pipes. And they watched video of his crack cocaine weighed on a scale.
HUNTER BIDEN
Widow of Hunter Biden's brother tells jurors she threw out Hunter Biden's firearm
Day 2 of Hunter Biden's trial included testimony from ex-wife and former girlfriend on drug addiction
Day 1 of testimony in Hunter Biden's federal trial, AP Explains
Hunter Biden's federal firearms case is opening after the jury is chosen
Prosecutor say the evidence is necessary to prove that Hunter, 54, was in the throes of addiction when he bought the gun and therefore lied when he checked “no” on the form that asked whether he was “an unlawful user of, or addicted to” drugs.
His attorney, Abbe Lowell, has argued Hunter did not think of himself as an “addict” when he bought the gun and did not intend to deceive anyone.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden worked to walk the line between president and father, telling ABC in an interview that he would accept the jury’s verdict and ruling out a pardon for his son. Earlier this week, he issued a statement saying: “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."
Biden is in France this week for D-Day anniversary events. First lady Jill Biden, who attended court most of the week, flew back from France on Thursday to be at the trial again Friday. She will return to France for a state dinner.
Hunter Biden has been charged with three felonies: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
He has pleaded not guilty. He had hoped to resolve the gun case and another separate tax case in California with a plea deal last year, the result of a yearslong investigation into his business dealings. The deal had him pleading guilty to lower-level charges that would have resolved both cases and spared him the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election. It fell apart after Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned unusual aspects of the proposed agreement and the lawyers couldn't resolve them.
Hunter Biden said he got charged because the Justice Department bowed to pressure from Republicans who argued the Democratic president’s son was getting special treatment, and who have escalated their attacks on the criminal justice system since Donald Trump's recent conviction in New York City in a hush money case.
Lowell said he would call the president's brother James as a witness, but it's unclear yet whether Hunter Biden will testify.
But jurors have already heard his voice. Prosecutors have played lengthy audio excerpts in court of his 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things," in which he writes about his lifelong addiction issues and spiraling descent after death of his brother Beau in 2015. The book, written after he got sober, covers the period he had the gun but doesn't mention it specifically.
Lowell has said Hunter Biden’s state of mind was different when he wrote the book than when he purchased the gun, when he didn’t believe he had an addiction. He pointed out to jurors that some of the questions on the firearms transaction record are in the present tense, such as “are you an unlawful user of or addicted to” drugs.
And he’s suggested Hunter Biden might have felt he had a drinking problem at the time, but not a drug problem. Alcohol abuse doesn’t preclude a gun purchase.
The reason law enforcement raised any questions about the revolver is because Hallie Biden, Beau's widow, found it unloaded in Hunter's truck on Oct. 23, 2018, panicked and tossed it into a garbage can at a nearby market. She testified about the episode Thursday.
She told jurors she considered hiding the gun but thought her kids might find it, so she decided to throw it away.
“I realize it was a stupid idea now, but I was panicking,” she said. “I didn’t want him to hurt himself, and I didn’t want my kids to find it and hurt themselves.”
Hallie Biden, who had a brief romantic relationship with Hunter after Beau died, testified that from the time Hunter returned to Delaware from a 2018 trip to California until she threw his gun away, she did not see him using drugs. That time period included the day he bought the weapon.
But much of her testimony focused on Oct. 23, 2018 — 11 days after he bought it. Hunter was staying with her and seemed exhausted. Asked by the prosecutor if it appeared that Hunter was using drugs around then, she said, “He could have been.”
As Hunter slept in her home, Hallie Biden went to check his car. She said she was hoping to help him get or stay sober, free of both alcohol and cocaine. She said she found the remnants of crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia. She also found the gun Hunter purchased in a box with a broken lock that kept it from fully closing. There was ammunition too.
She put it in a leather pouch put the pouch in a bag and tossed it into in the trash can at Janssen’s Market. He noticed it missing and asked her whether she had taken it.
“Are you insane?” he texted. He told her to go back to the market to look for it.
Surveillance footage played for jurors showed her digging around in the trash can for the gun, but it wasn’t there. She asked store officials if someone had taken out the trash. Hallie testified Hunter told her to file a police report because the gun was registered in his name. She called the police while she was still at the store.
Officers located the man who inadvertently took the gun along with other recyclables from the trash and retrieved it. The case was eventually closed because of lack of cooperation from Hunter Biden, who was considered the victim.
Jurors also heard from the officers who handled the case, from the man who found the gun and from the store clerk who sold Hunter the revolver.
If convicted, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
He also faces a separate trial in September on charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes.
___
Long reported from Washington.
___
Follow the AP's coverage of Hunter Biden at https://apnews.com/hub/hunter-biden.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The Latest on Hunter Biden's federal gun trial (all times local):
After prosecutors rested their case in Hunter Biden's gun trial and the jurors were dismissed for a morning break, defense attorney Abbe Lowell told the judge he was making an oral motion for acquittal.
Lowell said he will lay out the grounds for his motion in a written submission expected to be file later in the day.
“I appreciate you letting me know what’s coming,” the judge said.
While the judge was questioning Lowell about his motion, Hunter Biden’s wife, Melissa, shook her head and appeared to be irritated.
Currently:
— Prosecution rests its case in Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial
— What’s the firearms form at the center of Hunter Biden’s gun trial? AP Explains
Here’s the latest:
PROSECUTORS REST THEIR CASE AGAINST HUNTER BIDEN IN HIS FEDERAL GUN TRIAL
Prosecutors have rested their case in Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial.
It came after DEA special agent Joshua Romig concluded his testimony.
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On cross-examination, defense attorney Abbe Lowell noted there were no coded references to drugs in the texts Romig was shown during the time period from August 2018 to November 2018.
In October 2018, however, Hunter Biden had sent two text messages to Hallie Biden saying he was waiting for a dealer and smoking crack. The first message was sent the day after he bought the gun. The second was sent the following day.
DEA AGENT SAID HE DIDN'T INVESTIGATE ALLEGED DRUG DEALERS TEXTING WITH HUNTER BIDEN
On cross-examination, defense attorney Abbe Lowell asked DEA special agent Joshua Romig whether he investigated any of the alleged drug dealers who were texting with Hunter Biden.
Romig said he didn’t investigate anyone because he wasn’t involved in the Hunter Biden case.
“This is not my investigation,” he said.
DEA AGENT SAYS LANGUAGE IN TEXTS IS INDICATIVE OF DRUG DEALS
Prosecutor Derek Hines led DEA special agent Joshua Romig through a series of text messages prosecutors say were exchanged between Hunter Biden and three different drug dealers in the spring and summer of 2018.
Romig said the language in the text exchanges was indicative of drug deals.
Similar text messages were exchanged in November 2018, the month after Hunter Biden bought the gun.
Romig also said a photo of Hunter Biden taken in December 2018 shows him holding what appears to be a crack pipe.
Hines also played a video taken on Hunter Biden’s phone in December 2018 of chunks of a white substance on a digital scale. Romig said the video appears to show about 2 grams of crack cocaine.
DEA SPECIAL AGENT JOSHUA ROMIG IS TESTIFYING IN HUNTER BIDEN'S TRIAL
DEA special agent Joshua Romig is the next prosecution witness to testify in Hunter Biden’s gun trial.
Prosecutor Derek Hines asked Romig about how cocaine flows into the United States from countries such as Colombia and Peru.
Romig also explained that crack cocaine is a more powerful form of the drug derived from powder cocaine. Hunter Biden is accused of lying about being addicted to crack cocaine when he bought a gun in October 2018.
FBI CHEMIST TESTIFIES THAT COCAINE IDENTIFED IN POWDER ON POUCH THAT HELD GUN
Prosecutor Leo Wise handed FBI chemist Jason Brewer a leather pouch in which Hunter Biden’s sister-in-law and former lover Hallie Biden put the gun before tossing it in a trash can outside an upscale grocery store near her home 11 days after he bought it.
Brewer said he tested the pouch to determine whether there was any trace of drugs or drug residue.
“I found a minimal amount of white powder, or off-white powder,” Brewer said. The powder was found on the interior flap and in the bottom of the pouch.
Brewer said he tested the powder with a chemical solution and gas chromatography.
“Did you reach a conclusion about the substance you tested?” Wise asked.
“Cocaine was identified within the residual white powder that I sampled,” Brewer said.
On cross-examination, defense attorney David Kolansky noted the amount of residue Brewer tested was “minimal.” He also noted that Brewer tested the pouch in October 2023, five years after the pouch was recovered by police who were called after Hallie Biden threw it in the trash can.
Kolasnky also noted that the tests Brewer did don’t indicate when the drug residue got on the pouch or how it got there.
COURT RESUMES WITH FBI CHEMIST ON WITNESS STAND
The fifth day of Hunter Biden’s gun trial in Delaware began Friday with prosecutors calling an FBI forensic chemist examiner to the witness stand.
Prosecutor Leo Wise is questioning Jason Brewer, who is an expert in analyzing controlled substances.
Hunter Biden is charged with falsely denying he was a drug user or addict when he bought a gun at a Wilmington gun store in October 2018.
FIRST LADY JILL BIDEN ARRIVES AT THE COURTHOUSE FOR SON'S TRIAL
First lady Jill Biden has arrived at the courthouse for son Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial.
She left France on Thursday evening where she was attending D-Day events with President Joe Biden. She’ll return to France for a state dinner.
2 MORE PROSECUTION WITNESSES EXPECTED IN HUNTER BIDEN'S TRIAL
Federal prosecutors are wrapping up their gun case in Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial with two more witnesses expected Friday in their effort to prove to jurors the president’s son lied on a mandatory gun purchase form when he said he wasn’t “an unlawful user of, or addicted to” drugs.
Prosecutors are still planning to call a drug expert and an FBI chemist, capping a week that has been largely dedicated to highlighting the seriousness of his drug problem through highly personal and sometimes salacious testimony.
Hunter Biden been charged with three felonies: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM DAY 3 OF TESTIMONY: BEAU BIDEN'S WIDOW SAID SHE THREW GUN INTO TRASH CAN
The widow of Hunter Biden’s brother told jurors in his federal gun trial Thursday about the moment she found the revolver in his truck, describing how she put it into a leather pouch, stuffed it into a shopping bag and tossed it in a trash can outside a market near her home.
“I panicked, and I wanted to get rid of them,” she testified about finding the gun and ammunition in the vehicle’s console in October 2018. “I didn’t want him to hurt himself, and I didn’t want my kids to find it and hurt themselves.”
The purchase of the Colt revolver by Hunter Biden — and Hallie Biden’s frenzied disposal of it — are the fulcrum of the case against him.
HUNTER BIDEN'S OTHER TRIAL
Hunter Biden was supposed to have avoided prosecution in the gun case altogether, but a deal with prosecutors fell apart last year.
He was subsequently indicted on three felony gun charges. He also faces a trial scheduled for September on felony charges alleging he failed to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over four years.
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WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Hunter Biden's daughter Naomi testified Friday in his federal gun trial about visiting her father while he was at a California rehab center, telling jurors that he seemed to be improving in the weeks before he bought the revolver in 2018.
“I hadn’t seen my dad in a long time, and I knew he was in a rehab facility there. He reached out,” she told jurors softly, explaining that they met at a coffee shop, along with his “sober coach.” As she was dismissed from the stand, she paused to hug her dad before leaving the courtroom.
The defense began calling witnesses shortly after federal prosecutors wrapped up their case. Hunter Biden's attorney Abbe Lowell started by calling another gun store clerk who was there when the gun was purchased, raising questions about what he saw as inconsistencies on the form.
He also questioned the owner of the shop who allowed the sale to go through using Hunter's passport, though it did not include an address as required.
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Then he called Hunter's daughter. In October 2018, the month Hunter Biden bought the gun, Naomi traveled from Washington to New York in her father’s truck to move her boyfriend’s belongings. Hunter drove Joe Biden’s Cadillac to New York later that month to retrieve his truck, leaving the Cadillac with Naomi. She told jurors she didn’t see any drug paraphernalia or evidence of drug use.
“He seemed great. He seemed hopeful,” she said.
But prosecutors showed Naomi texts where he didn't respond to her for hours after she messaged him about switching cars. At 2 a.m., Hunter texted Naomi asking where the keys to his truck were and whether her boyfriend could meet and swap vehicles.
“Right now?” she responded.
“Do you know what your father was doing at two o’clock in the morning and why he was asking you for the car then?” prosecutor Leo Wise asked.
“No,” she said.
Wise read out to her a text message from the time, where she responded: “I’m really sorry dad I can’t take this.”
When court broke for lunch, and as Hunter Biden prepared to leave, he motioned to the first row that was full of his family members, including first lady Jill Biden, who traveled back from France for the proceedings. The first lady took Hunter’s hand and held it until they got to the door.
Jurors were sent home for the afternoon after the defense had no more witnesses, and Lowell said he was weighing who else to call, though previously he said the president’s brother James would take the stand, and he was in court. The trial will resume Monday.
The week’s proceedings have been largely dedicated to highlighting the seriousness of Hunter Biden’s drug problem through highly personal testimony, all in an effort by prosecutors to prove that the president’s son lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form when he said he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.
Jurors heard earlier in the week from Hunter Biden’s ex-wife and a former girlfriend who testified about his habitual crack use and their failed efforts to help him get clean. They saw images of the president’s son bare-chested and disheveled in a filthy room, and half-naked holding crack pipes. And they watched video of his crack cocaine weighed on a scale.
Prosecutors say the evidence is necessary to prove that Hunter, 54, was in the throes of addiction when he bought the gun and therefore lied when he checked “no” on the form that asked whether he was “an unlawful user of, or addicted to” drugs.
Lowell has argued Hunter did not think of himself as an “addict” when he bought the gun and did not intend to deceive anyone.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden worked to walk the line between president and father, telling ABC in an interview that he would accept the jury’s verdict and ruling out a pardon for his son. Earlier this week, he issued a statement saying: “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."
Biden is in France this week for D-Day anniversary events. Jill Biden, who attended court most of the week, will return to France for a state dinner.
Hunter Biden has been charged with three felonies: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
He has pleaded not guilty. He had hoped to resolve the gun case and another separate tax case in California with a plea deal last year, the result of a yearslong investigation into his business dealings. The deal had him pleading guilty to lower-level charges that would have avoided the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election. It fell apart after Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was appointed by Donald Trump, questioned unusual aspects of the proposed agreement, and the lawyers couldn't resolve them.
Hunter Biden said he got charged because the Justice Department bowed to pressure from Republicans who argued the Democratic president’s son was getting special treatment, and who have escalated their attacks on the criminal justice system since Donald Trump's recent conviction in New York City in a hush money case.
It's unclear yet whether Hunter Biden will testify. But jurors have already heard his voice. Prosecutors played lengthy audio excerpts in court of his 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things," in which he wrote about his lifelong addiction issues and spiraling descent after the death of his brother Beau in 2015. The book, written after he got sober, covers the period he had the gun but doesn't mention it specifically.
Lowell has said Hunter Biden’s state of mind was different when he wrote the book than when he purchased the gun, when he didn’t believe he had an addiction. He pointed out to jurors that some of the questions on the firearms transaction record are in the present tense, such as “are you an unlawful user of or addicted to” drugs.
And he’s suggested Hunter Biden might have felt he had a drinking problem at the time, but not a drug problem. Alcohol abuse doesn’t preclude a gun purchase.
The reason law enforcement raised any questions about the revolver is because Hallie Biden, Beau's widow, found it unloaded in Hunter's truck on Oct. 23, 2018, panicked and tossed it into a garbage can at Janssen’s Market, where a man inadvertently fished it out of the trash. She testified about the episode Thursday.
She eventually called the police. Officers retrieved the gun from the man who inadvertently took the gun along with other recyclables from the trash. The case was eventually closed because of lack of cooperation from Hunter Biden, who was considered the victim.
If convicted, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
He also faces a separate trial in September on charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes.
___
Long reported from Washington.
___
Follow the AP's coverage of Hunter Biden at https://apnews.com/hub/hunter-biden.
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WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Pictures of President Joe Biden's son with drug paraphernalia and bare-chested in a bubble bath. Text messages between Hunter Biden and drug dealers. Testimony from Hunter's exes about relationships destroyed by his drug use.
Hunter Biden's trial on gun charges brought by his father's Justice Department has put on full display tawdry and embarrassing details about the president's son, all while first lady Jill Biden watches from the courtroom in Wilmington, Delaware.
Prosecutors on Friday rested their case accusing Hunter Biden of lying when he swore that he was not a drug user on a federal form to buy a gun in October 2018. The defense could call at least one more witness when the trial resumes on Monday before lawyers make their closing arguments.
Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty and has accused the Justice Department of bending to political pressure from former President Donald Trump and other Republicans to bring the case and separate tax charges after a deal with prosecutors fell apart last year. Hunter Biden has said he has been sober since 2019.
Here are some key takeaways from the first week of the trial:
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BIDEN FAMILY TURNS OUT IN COURT
Jill Biden sat through the proceedings at the federal courthouse almost every day since the trial began June 3. She missed Thursday's testimony because she was in France attending D-Day anniversary events with the president. She flew back to be in court on Friday.
She sat quietly in the first row of the courtroom behind Hunter Biden and listened intently without showing emotion as prosecutors painted him as deceptive and driven by addiction. During breaks in testimony, Jill Biden occasionally spoke briefly with Hunter, leaning over a railing in the courtroom to hug and kiss him on the cheek.
Other family members who showed up throughout the week to show support included Hunter Biden’s sister Ashley, the president’s sister Valerie Biden and Jill Biden’s sister Bonny Jacobs.
HUNTER'S OWN WORDS
Hunter Biden hasn't taken the witness stand and it is not clear whether he will. Jurors have already heard his own words about the depths of his drug and alcohol addiction after his brother, Beau, died in 2015.
A central piece of the prosecution's case is Hunter Biden's memoir “Beautiful Things," in which the president's son opened up about his crack cocaine addiction, stints in rehab and struggles to get sober.
Jurors have heard Hunter Biden detail at length seeking out crack in different places and learning how to smoke it. In one long excerpt played in the courtroom, he described driving to a treatment center and seeing an enormous barn owl, which may have been a hallucination, swoop over his windshield.
In another excerpt played in court, Hunter Biden described at one point accidently leaving in a rental car his wallet, which contained his late brother's Delaware attorney general badge and a Secret Service business card. A rental car employee found that, along with paraphernalia and white-powder residue on the armrest. A manager called police, who called the Secret Service, who called Joe Biden, Hunter wrote.
No charges were brought over that. In his book, Hunter Biden wrote: “Despite the speculation in the right-wing media to the contrary, the cops weren't strong-armed into dropping the case.”
THREE EXES
Hunter Biden's ex-wife and two other former romantic partners, including his brother's widow, took the witness stand for prosecutors to detail their knowledge of his drug use.
His ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, recounted learning that her husband was using drugs when she found a pipe used to smoke crack cocaine in an ashtray on their porch in July 2015, a day after their anniversary.
Beau's widow, Hallie, described beginning to use drugs herself during her short and troubled romantic relationship with Hunter Biden, telling jurors: “I regret that period of my life.” Hallie Biden testified about finding the remnants of crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia in his car, along with the gun that is at the center of the case.
“I panicked and I wanted to get rid of them,” she said of the gun and ammunition she found.
“Why did you panic?” the prosecutor asked.
“Because I didn’t want him to hurt himself, and I didn’t want my kids to find it and hurt themselves,” Hallie Biden replied. She put the gun in a bag and tossed it in a garbage can at a nearby grocery store. A man collecting recyclables found it and eventually handed it over to police.
A third woman, Zoe Kestan, told jurors about meeting Hunter in December 2017 at a strip club in New York where she was working. She recounted Hunter Biden smoking crack perhaps every 20 minutes when she stayed with him at a hotel.
Kestan acknowledged that she had no contact with him in October 2018, the period when he bought the gun. But she told jurors that Hunter Biden was using drugs the next month. Prosecutors also showed jurors several highly personal photos from her phone of Hunter Biden sleeping, in a bubble bath and, in some, unclothed or censored with a black box.
DEFENSE STRATEGY
The defense argued in a court filing Friday that prosecutors have failed to present evidence that Hunter Biden was actually using drugs in the 11 days he owned the gun.
“It was only after the gun was thrown away and the ensuing stress ... that the government was able to then find the same type of evidence of his use (e.g., photos, use of drug lingo) that he relapsed with drugs," defense lawyer Abbe Lowell wrote.
Throughout the trial, the defense has tried to cast doubt on the memories of the prosecution's witnesses, pressing them about their recollection of events.
Lowell has raised other possible reasons for large cash withdrawals to counter the implication that his client was using the cash for drugs. Lowell asked investigators whether Hunter Biden could have been getting cash to pay for his children’s tuition, for housing or alimony, pointing out that authorities had not done a forensic financial examination to trace the money.
The defense on Friday called to the witness stand Hunter Biden's daughter Naomi Biden, who testified about how she visited her father while he was at a rehab facility in August 2018, months before the gun purchase, and told him she was proud of him. The testimony detailing a lunch with her boyfriend, her father and his sober living companion appeared designed to show that Hunter Biden had turned a corner with his addiction during that period.
But prosecutors quickly pressed Naomi Biden on details she witnessed about his addiction and her father's behavior when she saw him briefly in October after his gun purchase. Prosecutors read highly personal texts between the father and daughter, including a plea she made to see him and his response that he was being unfair, leaving them both emotional as she left the witness stand.
The defense had previously said they planned to call as a witness Joe Biden's brother, James. On Friday, Hunter's lawyer did not rule out calling one more witness, but it was unclear who that could be. Testimony from other family members could open the door for more highly personal messages to be introduced to the jury.
_____
Richer reported from Washington.
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The judge presiding over Hunter Biden's federal gun trial in Delaware is a former corporate civil lawyer with a background in biology who was nominated to the bench by the Biden family's chief political antagonist: former President Donald Trump.
But even while that might raise partisan eyebrows and questions of political pressure in the highly watched case, District Judge Maryellen Noreika was recommended for the bench by the two Democratic senators.
She has a brief history of political donations to both parties — mostly Republicans — and had not worked on criminal cases or presided over a courtroom before getting the nod as a federal judge. The New York Times reported she was registered to vote as a Democrat from 2000-2020 until changing her registration to no party affiliation.
She has presided over a trial that has laid bare some of the president's son's darkest moments, including drug addiction. Outside her courtroom, international media strain to get a glimpse of members of the first family as they come and go.
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In her Senate confirmation hearing, Noreika said she admires judges who are prepared and “willing to listen and give litigants an opportunity to be heard. ... They want to make people feel like they've been listened to and been given a fair shot."
If convicted, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
In a written answer to questions about sentencing from now-Vice President Kamala Harris, Noreika said she "would listen to arguments from the parties, including requests for leniency, and consider statements made by victims. If confirmed, I would do my best to impose a sentence that is sufficient, but not greater than necessary.”'
Born in Pittsburgh, the 57-year-old Noreika graduated from Lehigh University in 1988 before earning her master’s degree in biology from Columbia University in 1990. She earned her law degree in 1993 from the University of Pittsburgh with magna cum laude honors.
Noreika spent the next 25 years at the Delaware law firm of Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell, where she earned partner in 2001. According to her Senate confirmation questionnaire, most of her work was in federal civil litigation involving intellectual property. It said she tried “at least 30″ cases to verdict or final decision and most were nonjury trials. She also listed no criminal law experience.
Asked to list “all professional business, fraternal scholarly, civic or charitable” organizations she had belonged to since law school, Noreika answered, “None.”
For pro bono work, Noreika wrote she had spent 15 years as a guardian ad litem for children in Delaware Family Court.
“These cases have involved difficult custody issues, including allegations of sexual and physical abuse, neglect and abandonment,” Noreika wrote. She described “taking children out to lunch and to dinner and fun activities to get them to engage with me and trust me.”
Her position as judge in the Hunter Biden criminal trial put her in the national spotlight and made her a target of speculation over political partisanship.
It was Noreika who torpedoed a plea deal that would have settled the gun case when she raised concerns about the terms of the agreement in 2023.
Noreika has presided over a Biden-related case before: In March 2023, she dismissed part of a defamation lawsuit brought by the owner of a Delaware computer repair shop where Hunter Biden left his laptop in 2019.
Federal campaign finance records show she had donated at least $15,000 to political candidates between 2005-2014, most of it going to Republicans, including current U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton and Mitt Romney. But she also donated to the presidential campaigns of both Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain in 2008.
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WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The criminal trial of President Joe Biden's son heads into its final stretch Monday as the defense tries to chip away at prosecutors' case laying bare some of the darkest moments of Hunter Biden's drug-fueled past.
Hunter Biden's lawyers could call at least one more witness when the case resumes in Delaware's federal court — the first of two trials he's facing in the midst of his father’s reelection campaign. It's unclear whether prosecutors will call any rebuttal witnesses before the case goes to closing arguments, and then to the jury.
Hunter Biden is charged with three felonies stemming from the October 2018 purchase of a gun he had for about 11 days. Prosecutors say he lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.
Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty and has accused the Justice Department of bending to political pressure from former President Donald Trump and other Republicans to bring the case and separate tax charges after a deal with prosecutors fell apart last year. Hunter Biden has said he has been sober since 2019, but his attorneys have said he did not consider himself an “addict” when he filled out the form.
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The case has put spotlight on a turbulent time in Hunter Biden's life after his brother Beau's 2015 death. First Lady Jill Biden has watched it unfold from the front row of the courtroom. President Biden was away in France much of last week, and heads to Europe again this week for the Group of Seven leaders meeting in Italy.
Hunter Biden's struggles with a substance addiction before getting sober more than five years ago are well documented. But defense lawyers argue there's no evidence Hunter Biden was actually using drugs in the 11 days that he possessed the gun. He had completed a rehab program weeks earlier.
Jurors have heard emotional and tawdry testimony from Hunter Biden's former romantic partners and read personal text messages. They've seen photos of Hunter Biden holding a crack pipe and partly clothed, and video from his phone of crack cocaine weighed on a scale.
His ex-wife and two onetime girlfriends testified for prosecutors about his habitual crack use and their failed efforts to help him get clean. One woman, who met Hunter Biden in 2017 at a strip club where she worked, described him smoking crack every 20 minutes or so while she stayed with him at a hotel.
Hunter Biden hasn't taken the witness stand and it's unclear if he will. But jurors have heard him describe at length his descent into addiction through audio excerpts played in court of his 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things." The book, written after he got sober, covers the period he had the gun but doesn’t mention it specifically.
A key witness for prosecutors is Beau's widow, Hallie, who had a brief troubled relationship with Hunter after his brother died of brain cancer. She found the unloaded gun in Hunter’s truck on Oct. 23, 2018, panicked and tossed it into a garbage can at a grocery store in Wilmington, where a man inadvertently fished it out of the trash.
“I didn’t want him to hurt himself, and I didn’t want my kids to find it and hurt themselves," Hallie Biden told jurors.
From the time Hunter returned to Delaware from a 2018 trip to California until she threw his gun away, she did not see him using drugs, Hallie told jurors. That time period included the day he bought the weapon. But jurors also saw text messages Hunter sent to Hallie in October 2018 saying he was waiting for a dealer and smoking crack. The first message was sent the day after he bought the gun. The second was sent the following day.
The defense has suggested Hunter Biden had been trying to turn his life around at the time of the gun purchase, having completed a detoxification and rehabilitation program at the end of August 2018.
"There is no evidence of contemporaneous drug use and a gun possession," defense lawyer Abbe Lowell wrote in court papers filed Friday. “It was only after the gun was thrown away and the ensuing stress ... that the government was able to then find the same type of evidence of his use (e.g., photos, use of drug lingo) that he relapsed with drugs."
Hunter Biden’s daughter Naomi took the stand for the defense Friday, telling jurors about visiting her father while he was at a California rehab center weeks before he bought the gun. She told jurors that he had seemed “hopeful” and to be improving, and she told him she was proud of him. As she was dismissed from the stand, she paused to hug her dad before leaving the courtroom.
The defense on Friday did not rule out calling one more witness, but it was unclear who that could be. Hunter's lawyers had previously said they planned to call as a witness Joe Biden’s brother, James and he was at the courthouse on Friday. Testimony from other family members could open the door for more deeply personal messages to be introduced to the jury.
President Joe Biden said last week that he would accept the jury’s verdict and has ruled out a pardon for his son. First Lady Jill Biden was in court every day last week to support Hunter, except on Thursday when she was with the president in France for D-Day anniversary events.
It looked as if Hunter Biden would have avoided prosecution in the gun case altogether, but a deal last summer with prosecutors imploded after U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was nominated to the bench by Republican former President Donald Trump, raised concerns about it. Hunter Biden was subsequently indicted on three felony gun charges. He also faces a trial scheduled for September on felony charges alleging he failed to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over four years.
If convicted in the gun case, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
___
Richer reported from Washington.
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