Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter Biden’s brother, Beau Biden, testified Thursday. Hunter Biden’s Federal Firearms Trial She said she “panic[ed]” when she found the firearm at the center of the attack and then threw it away, and that Hunter Biden influenced her to start using crack cocaine.
Hallie Biden was considered the prosecution’s star witness, taking the stand after Gordon Cleveland. testified on Wednesday He sold the gun to Hunter Biden. Prosecutors granted immunity to Hallie Biden for her testimony.
After Hallie Biden’s testimony, jurors heard testimony from two Delaware state police officers and the man who found the gun in the trash can. At the end of the trial on Thursday, the defense said it had not yet decided whether to call Hunter Biden as a witness.
Hallie Biden said in court that they found the gun during a search of his car, which they often do for drugs and alcohol. Prosecutors presented surveillance video from the parking lot that shows her driving into a grocery store parking lot and throwing the gun in a trash can, as well as video from the parking lot that shows her returning to the grocery store to search for the gun.
“I panicked,” Hallie Biden said. “I wanted to get rid of my guns and my ammunition.”
William J. Hennessy Jr.
“I didn’t want my husband to get hurt or my kids to find the gun and get hurt,” she said, adding that she considered hiding the gun but was “scared one of my kids would find it.”
Harry said he didn’t say anything to Hunter after he threw the gun away and intended to “pretend” it wasn’t his, but said Hunter texted him when he noticed it was gone.
Prosecutors also examined text messages sent the day after Hunter Biden said he was “buying” drugs, and another the day after that in which he said he was “asleep in his car smoking crack cocaine,” which appeared to contradict the defense’s contention that Hunter Biden was not using drugs at the time of the October 2018 firearm purchase.
Hunter Biden was indicted on three felony charges for allegedly purchasing a revolver in October 2018. Two of the charges relate to allegations that he made false statements about his substance use on a federal gun control form, proving that he did not use or have any addiction to any controlled substances during the period that prosecutors say he was addicted to crack cocaine. The third charge relates to unlawful possession of a firearm. Hunter allegedly possessed the gun for 11 days before Hallie Biden dumped it.
Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
William J. Hennessy Jr.
Harry Biden’s testimony
Hallie Biden, who called Hunter Biden her brother-in-law, testified that their relationship began gradually after the death of her husband, Beau Biden. She said she questioned him about his drug use after discovering crack cocaine in his Wilmington home, and admitted to using crack cocaine herself after Hunter Biden introduced her to the drug.
“What I went through was a horrible experience. I’m embarrassed and ashamed. I regret that period of my life,” she said.
In contrast to previous witnesses who testified that Hunter Biden’s behavior did not change while he was on drugs, she described him as “agitated” and “nervous,” but suggested he may have functioned normally at times while on drugs.
Under cross-examination by Lowell, Hallie Biden said she had stopped using drugs by August 2018 and acknowledged that her relationship with Hunter Biden was “intense” and “complicated” and on-and-off. She said she had trouble believing him, especially when he told her where he was, and when she was shown emails again in which he said he was smoking crack or with a dealer around the dates of the gun purchase, she admitted she wasn’t sure he was where he said he was.
Matt Luke/AP
Hallie Biden struggled to recall the sequence of events between Oct. 6, when Hunter Biden returned from Los Angeles, and Oct. 23, when he allegedly dropped the gun. She said she remembered seeing him around Oct. 22 or 23, and described him as “exhausted,” but could not pinpoint exactly when that was in relation to when he dropped the gun. The defense tried to show that Hunter Biden may have been staying in a hotel that night, rather than at her home, where his truck was parked.
Hallie Biden maintained that she never saw him use drugs during this time.
Previous testimony and statements regarding this case
Cleveland, who sold Hunter Biden a gun, testified Wednesday that Hunter Biden did not appear troubled by the documents. Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abe Lowell, pressed him about the terms of the documents at the center of the case and the rules required to make changes after they are filed.
In his opening statement on Tuesday, Lowell noted that many addicts are in “denial” about their drug use and that the defendants did not intend to lie on the paperwork. Meanwhile, prosecutor Derek Hines noted in his opening statement that “addiction may not be a choice, but lying to buy a gun is a choice.”
Lowell sought to cast doubt on the authenticity of private text messages allegedly stolen from Hunter Biden’s personal device early Wednesday morning. In response to Lowell’s questioning, FBI Special Agent Erica Jensen said she could not verify that the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop, which was submitted as evidence, had not been tampered with before law enforcement retrieved it from a repair shop.
On Wednesday, Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buehl, and ex-girlfriend, Zoe Kesten, testified about his drug use. Buehl testified that while the two were still married, she confronted Hunter Biden after finding a “crack pipe” and that she never saw him use drugs, but that he admitted to doing so.
Other charges against Hunter Biden
Separately, Hunter Biden faces nine federal tax charges in the Central District of California in a second indictment filed by Weiss’s office. Federal prosecutors allege that Hunter Biden engaged in a “four-year scheme” to evade paying at least $1.4 million in federal taxes. No mention of the tax charges was admitted in his Delaware firearms trial. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
The Biden family’s response
President Biden did not attend his son’s trial but was in Wilmington over the weekend with his family, including Hunter, during an event in France. Commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings Shortly after the invasion, President Biden told ABC News’ David Muir that he would accept the outcome of the trial “yes.” When asked if that meant he was ruling out the possibility of a pardon, Biden again said “yes.”
President Biden’s sister, Valerie Biden, was in court on Thursday, and Ashley Biden, the president’s daughter and sister of Hunter Biden, was in court earlier this week but appeared emotional at times and eventually left. First lady Jill Biden also attended court earlier this week but has since traveled to France for events marking the anniversary of the Normandy landings.
