WILMINGTON, Del. Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office is closing its gun case against Biden Hunterwith two more witnesses expected Friday in their effort to prove to jurors that the president’s son lied on a mandatory gun purchase form when he said he was not “an illegal user of or addicted to” drugs.
Prosecutors still planned to call a drug expert and an FBI chemist, capping a week that was largely devoted to highlighting the severity of his drug problem through highly personal and sometimes salacious testimony.
Jurors heard from his ex-wife and an ex-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 watched videos of his crack weighed on a scale.
The prosecutor says the evidence is needed to prove that Hunter, 54, was in the throes of addiction when he purchased the gun and therefore lied by checking “no” on the form. His attorney, Abbe Lowell, argued that Hunter did not consider himself an “addict” when he purchased 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 discarding forgiveness for your child. Earlier this week, he issued a statement saying: “I am the president, but I am also a father. Jill and I love our son and are so proud of the man he is today.”
Biden is in France this week to D-Day anniversary events. First lady Jill Biden, who has been in court most of the week, flew in from France on Thursday and was expected back in court on Friday before returning to France for a state dinner.
Hunter Biden was accused of three crimes: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer by making a false statement on the application that he was not a drug user and possessed the gun illegally for 11 days.
He pleaded not guilty. He hoped to resolve the gun case and another separate tax case in California with a plea deal last year, the result of a years-long investigation into his business dealings. The deal had him plead guilty to lower-level charges that would have settled both cases and spared him the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election. It all fell apart after Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned unusual aspects of the proposed deal. and the lawyers were unable to resolve them.
Hunter Biden said he was charged because the Justice Department bowed to pressure from Republicans, who argued that the Democratic president’s son was receiving special treatment and who intensified their attacks on the criminal justice system. since the recent conviction of Donald Trump in New York City in a hush money case.
Lowell said he would call the president brother James as a witness, but it remains unclear whether Hunter Biden will testify.
But the jurors have already heard your voice. Prosecutors played long snippets of audio in their courtroom. 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things,” in which he writes about his lifelong addiction issues and spiraling downward spiral following 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 said Hunter Biden’s state of mind was different when he wrote the book than when he bought the gun, when he didn’t believe he had an addiction. He stressed to jurors that some of the questions in the firearms transaction log are in the present tense, such as “are you an illegal user of or addicted to” drugs.
And he suggested that Hunter Biden may have felt he had a drinking problem at the time, but not a drug problem. Alcohol abuse does not prevent the purchase of weapons.
The reason authorities raised questions about the revolver is because Hallie Biden, Beau’s widow, found it unloaded in Hunter’s truck on October 23, 2018, panicked and threw it in a trash can at a nearby grocery store. . She testified about the episode on Thursday.
She told jurors she considered hiding the gun, but thought her children might find it, so she decided to throw it away.
“I realize now it was a stupid idea, but I panicked,” she said. “I didn’t want him to get hurt and I didn’t want my kids to find out about this and get hurt.”
Hallie Biden, who had a brief romantic relationship with Hunter after Beau’s death, testified that from the time Hunter returned to Delaware from a trip to California in 2018 until she threw away his gun, she did not see him using drugs. That period included the day he purchased the gun.
But much of her testimony focused on Oct. 23, 2018 — 11 days after he bought it. Hunter was with her and looked exhausted. Asked by the prosecutor if it appeared Hunter was using drugs at the time, she said, “He could have been.”
While Hunter slept at his house, Hallie Biden went to check on his car. She said she hoped to help him get or stay sober, free from alcohol and cocaine. She said she found remains of crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia. She also found the gun Hunter bought in a box with a broken lock that prevented it from closing completely. There was ammunition too.
She put on a leather bag, put the bag in a bag and threw it in the Janssen Market trash can. He noticed it was missing and asked if she had taken it.
“You are crazy?” He sent a message. He told her to go back to the market to look for him.
Surveillance footage played for jurors showed her searching the trash can for the gun, but it wasn’t there. She asked store employees if anyone had taken out the trash. Hallie testified that Hunter told her to file a police report because the gun was registered to her. She called the police while she was still in the store.
Officers located the man who inadvertently took the gun along with other recyclables from the trash and recovered it. The case ended up being closed due to lack of cooperation from Hunter Biden, considered the victim.
Jurors also heard from the police officers who handled the case, the man who found the gun and the store clerk who sold Hunter the gun.
If convicted, Hunter Biden could face up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders don’t get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
He will also face a separate trial in September, accusations of non-payment of $1.4 million in taxes.
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Long reported from Washington.
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Follow AP’s coverage of Hunter Biden at https://apnews.com/hub/hunter-biden.
