Testimony will begin in Hunter Biden criminal trial, focusing on phone messages

By Tom Hals

WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) – Biden HunterTrump’s gun criminal trial will begin Tuesday with opening statements and potentially lurid testimony about drug use in his autobiography and phone messages that prosecutors say incriminate the president’s son.

Hunter Biden, 54, is accused of failing to disclose the use of illegal drugs when he purchased a .38-caliber Colt Cobra revolver and of illegally possessing the weapon for 11 days in October 2018.

He has pleaded not guilty to the three criminal charges. Hunter Biden is the first son of a sitting president to be criminally tried.

The proceedings in federal court in the Bidens’ hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, come just days after Republican Donald Trump, Democratic President Joe Biden’s rival in the November 5 US elections, became the first former president found guilty of a crime.

The trial is expected to focus on Hunter Biden’s years of crack use and addiction, which he discussed publicly and which was a prominent part of his 2021 autobiography, “Beautiful Things.” He told U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika at a hearing last year that he has been sober since mid-2019.

Prosecutors will try to prove that Hunter Biden knew he was lying when he checked the “no” box next to a question on a federal gun purchase form asking whether he was an illegal user of a controlled substance.

U.S. Special Counsel David Weiss is expected to call FBI agent Erika Jensen to testify about Hunter Biden’s messages discussing his drug use and Hunter Biden’s autobiography, “Beautiful Things.”

“I was sleeping in a car smoking crack on 4th Street and Rodney,” was one of the messages released by prosecutors in a court filing. In another, Hunter Biden said he was behind a minor league baseball stadium in Wilmington “waiting for a drug dealer named Mookie.”

Prosecutors said they may call as a witness his ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, who accused Hunter Biden in their 2017 divorce proceedings of wasting money on drugs, alcohol and prostitutes.

Twelve jurors and four alternates were sworn in Monday, many describing their own experiences with family and friends struggling with substance abuse. All 12 jurors must agree that Hunter Biden is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to be convicted.

Weiss, a Trump appointee, hit Hunter Biden with federal tax charges separately in California.

The trial comes days after Trump was convicted by a jury in New York state court of 34 felony counts of falsifying documents to cover up hush money paid to a porn star to avoid a sex scandal just before the 2016 U.S. election that put him in power. White House.

Hunter Biden’s trial gives Republicans an opportunity to divert attention from Trump’s legal troubles. Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in New York on July 11. He has pleaded not guilty in three other pending criminal cases, two related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 loss to Biden and one accused of having illegally kept classified national security documents after leaving office in January 2021.

If convicted of all charges in the Delaware case, Hunter Biden could face up to 25 years in prison, although defendants generally receive shorter sentences, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Noreika, also a Trump appointee, issued several orders over the weekend that were requested by prosecutors and that appeared to undermine Biden’s legal strategy.

The judge said Biden’s legal team could not present expert testimony that people suffering from substance abuse disorder may not consider themselves addicts.

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; additional reporting by Stephanie Kelly in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; editing by Leslie Adler)