WILMINGTON, Del. (Associated Press) Federal prosecutors Hunter Biden’s During the gun trial, the jury was presented with hours of evidence of the defendant’s drug problems, attempting to demonstrate through his own words and writings the severity of his drug addiction and that it continued when he lied on the paperwork to purchase the gun.
First lady Jill Biden was in court for a third day on Wednesday in support of her son. Visited France to meet with President Joe Bidenwas visiting Europe to commemorate the anniversary of the Normandy landings.
The testimony continued with cross-examination by FBI agents who were questioning Hunter Biden about when he used drugs. Biden’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhl, is also expected to take the stand. She was married to the president’s son for nearly 20 years. The couple have three children but divorced in 2016 after his infidelity and drug abuse became too much, according to her divorce memoir, “If We Break.”
Buret is among several family members and friends of the Bidens expected to testify in what has become a deeply personal and detailed investigation into Hunter Biden’s misconduct and drug use. 2024 Presidential Election Loom and Allies worry about damage to the president“I am deeply concerned about the health and continued sobriety of my only surviving son. Prosecutors say they need the testimony to show what Hunter Biden was thinking when he bought the gun.”
Hunter Biden is Charged with three felonies The case stems from a gun purchase in October 2018. He is accused of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, falsely representing himself on the application that he was not a drug user, and illegally possessing the gun for 11 days.
“No one is allowed to lie like that on a federal document, not even Hunter Biden,” prosecutor Derek Hines told jurors on Tuesday. “He crossed the line when he chose to purchase a gun and lied about a federal background check…It is precisely because the defendant chose to purchase a gun that we are here.”
“At the time the defendant filled out that form, he knew he was a drug addict,” so prosecutors don’t have to prove he was using drugs on the day he bought the gun, Hines said.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers argued that their client did not believe he had an addiction because he said in his filings that he did not have a drug problem. Attorney Abe Lowell said in his opening statement that his client did not do anything during the short time he had the gun and that the gun was not loaded.
“You’re going to find him innocent,” Rowell said.
Lowell said the document asks “are you a drug user” but “doesn’t say, ‘have you ever been a drug user,'” suggesting the president’s son didn’t think he had a drug problem when he bought the gun.
His state of mind should be that of the time of purchase, not something he wrote about after he sobered up. A memoir entitled “Beautiful Things” Jurors listened to lengthy audio excerpts from the book, which recounts his descent into drug addiction. Death of BrotherBeau Biden died of cancer in 2015.
The Delaware court case Plea bargain with prosecutors The agreement would have resolved the gun case and a separate California tax case and avoided the spectacle of a trial. After Republicans denounced the now-void plea agreement as a sweet deal for the Democratic president’s son, Hunter Biden later pleaded not guilty and argued that he was unfairly targeted by the Justice Department.
The 12-person panel heard opening statements Tuesday and testimony from FBI agent Erica Jensen, who read some of Hunter Biden’s personal messages, including some from a laptop that was left at a repair shop in Delaware and never recovered. Contents Those messages were passed on to the Republican Party and publicly leaked, revealing deeply personal messages about his work and life. He subsequently filed a lawsuit over the leaked information.
In an exchange with Beau Biden’s widow, Hallie Biden, the day after he bought the gun, she wrote, “I’ve called you 500 times in the last 24 hours.” Hunter responded less than a minute later, saying he was “sleeping in his car smoking crack cocaine on 4th and Rodney Streets.”
“This is my truth,” he added in a follow-up text.
But under cross-examination, Jensen testified that Hunter Biden had sent fewer drug-soliciting messages in October 2018, around the time he bought the gun, than in February 2019, after Lowell said his client had struggled with a severe drug addiction.
Lowell also questioned the rehab receipts and asked if he knew if Jensen had been receiving drug or alcohol treatment, to which Lowell replied he could not.
His sister, Ashley Biden, who had been watching from the courtroom, wiped her eyes with a tissue and eventually left.
According to the defense, jurors will hear testimony from the president’s brother, James Biden, who is close to Hunter and has previously helped his nephew get into rehab, and about how Hallie Biden became addicted to crack cocaine during her brief relationship with Hunter.
Harry took the gun from Hunter and, fearing what Hunter might do with it, threw it in a rubbish bin at a nearby market, where it was later found by a can collector and eventually handed over to the police.
If convicted, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, but nowhere near that maximum for a first-time offender, and it is unclear whether a judge will give him any prison time.
The trial was led by Donald Trump, who is considered a Republican presidential candidate. Convicted of 34 felonies in New York City. The two criminal cases are unrelated, but their proximity underscores how central the courts are to the 2024 election campaign.
Hunter Biden is scheduled to go on trial in California in September. Indicted for failing to pay $1.4 million in taxesBoth cases were supposed to be resolved by agreement with prosecutors last July, the culmination of a years-long investigation into his business dealings.
But Judge Maryellen Noreika, a Trump appointee, questioned some unusual aspects of the agreement. The lawyers were unable to reach a decision on her questions, and the agreement fell apart. Then, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed former U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss to serve as the judge. Special Advisor Hunter Biden was indicted in August and a month later.
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Long report from Washington.
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