WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The Latest on the trial of Hunter Biden (all times local):
Before breaking for lunch, the prosecution showed jurors a photo from Zoe Kestan’s cellphone showing a glass pipe on a bathroom counter at the Four Seasons hotel in New York City during Hunter Biden's federal gun trial.
Jurors also saw photos Kestan took during their stay in Los Angeles, including a bathroom selfie that showed pipes and a beer bottle near Hunter Biden. Another photo showed him wearing a T-shirt that said “Addicted” over a marijuana leaf.
“I thought that was funny because he didn’t smoke weed,” she said.
Kestan recalled helping Biden learn how to cook powder cocaine into crack by searching the internet for tips for him. She said he successfully cooked his own crack but was disappointed by the yield it produced.
Currently:
— Cross-examination of FBI agent continues in Hunter Biden’s gun trial, as first lady again attends
— Prosecutors spend first day of testimony in Hunter Biden’s gun trial detailing his drug problems
Here's the latest:
Several jurors took notes as Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, and former girlfriend, Zoe Kestan, testified and all members appeared to be attentive during the women’s testimony.
Hunter Biden didn’t have any visible reactions to the women’s testimony, and neither made eye contact with him as they left the witness stand during his federal gun trial.
Afterwards, Hunter Biden held hands with his wife as they left the courtroom for a lunch break.
Before breaking for lunch, the prosecution also showed jurors a photo from Kestan’s cellphone showing a crack pipe on a bathroom counter at the Four Seasons hotel in New York City.
Zoe Kestan, a designer, said she first met Hunter Biden in December 2017 at a strip club in New York where she was working, she testified during his federal gun trial.
During a private session, he pulled out a pipe and began smoking what she assumed was crack.
“He was incredibly charming and charismatic and friendly, and I felt really safe around him,” she said. “I remember after he had smoked it, nothing had changed. He was the same charming person.”
Kestan said Hunter invited her back to his hotel room. She declined but gave him her phone number.
Kestan said she met up again with Hunter Biden in New York a couple of weeks after their initial meeting, when a friend invited her to the hotel where Hunter was staying. Within 15 minutes of her arrival, Hunter began smoking crack and asked her if she wanted to join him, said Kestan, who declined.
She ended up stayed with Hunter at his hotel for the next five days, during which time Hunter was smoking crack perhaps every 20 minutes, Kestan said. She added that she believed he was smoking less than what he was used to.
Zoe Kestan, a former girlfriend of Hunter Biden, has been called to testify in his federal gun trial.
She is testifying under grant of immunity.
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 wasn’t a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
During cross examination, Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s defense attorney asked ex-wife Kathleen Buhle: “Did you ever see Hunter using drugs?”
“No,” she replied.
On redirect questioning, prosecutor Leo Wise asked Buhle how she knew Hunter was using drugs, to which she replied: “He told me.”
“I assumed he was continuing to use when I would find the pipes in the car,” she said, adding that she found pipes “about a dozen times.”
Federal prosecutors have spent hours showing jurors evidence of Hunter Biden’s 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.
Kathleen Buhle, Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, testified that she discovered her husband was using drugs when she found a crack pipe in an ashtray on their porch on July, 3, 2015, a day after their anniversary.
When she confronted him, “he acknowledged smoking crack,” she said while testifying in Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial.
Even before she found the crack pipe, Buhle suspected Hunter Biden was using drugs, given that he earlier had been kicked out of the Navy after testing positive for cocaine.
“I was definitely worried, scared,” she said.
Kathleen Buhle, Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, has been called to the stand to testify in his federal gun trial.
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.
Federal prosecutors have spent hours showing jurors evidence of Hunter Biden’s 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.
Before the break, prosecutor Derek Hines, in his follow-up questioning of FBI agent Erika Jensen tried to rebut the implication that Hunter Biden was making large cash withdrawals to pay for rent, rehab and other expenses.
The prosecutor showed bank statements indicating Hunter Biden used a debit card to pay for his drug treatment in California in August 2018 and for Airbnb rentals.
“Did you see any evidence during your investigation that Mr. Biden was taking wads of cash and mailing it to Airbnb?” Hines asked Jensen.
“No,” she replied.
Hines presented bank statements showing that Hunter Biden used his debit card for liquor purchases.
“Do drug dealers accept credit cards?” he asked, to which Jensen replied: “Not in my experience.”
The prosecutor also attempted to rebut suggestions by the defense that references to relapsing in Hunter’s memoir referred to alcohol and not drugs.
“I was smoking crack every 15 minutes,” Biden wrote after referring to relapsing in August 2018.
Hines noted that Biden wrote about not being troubled about people trying to rob him as long as a cycle of depravity including drugs continued.
“Does he say alcohol in that sentence?” the prosecutor asked, drawing a negative response from Jensen.
Prosecutors have finished their redirect of FBI agent Erika Jensen and court has recessed for the morning break in Hunter Biden’s gun trial.
After the jury left for the break, Judge Maryellen Noreika spoke with the attorneys about jury instructions.
During cross-examination, Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, attempted to cast doubt on the testimony of the FBI agent called to answer questions about personal messages from his devices that were pulled by law enforcement.
During cross-examination, Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, attempted to cast doubt on the testimony of the FBI agent called to answer questions about personal messages from his devices that were pulled by law enforcement.
Agent Erika Jensen’s job was to establish that Hunter Biden had a drug problem when he purchased the gun in October 2018. Prosecutors do not have to prove he was using the day he bought the gun, just that he was using generally around the time of the purchase when he is accused of having lied on the form.
Lowell went through a large number of Hunter Biden’s texts with the agent to establish that there were few messages that involved seeking or using drugs in the weeks before the gun purchase. The defense attorney also raised questions about how the FBI could prove Hunter Biden was being truthful with family when he texted about seeking or using drugs.
Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell is cross-examining Erika Jensen, an FBI agent assigned to the case.
Earlier, Lowell pointed out several liquor store purchases by Hunter in October 2018, the month he bought the gun. Lowell has suggested that references in Biden’s book to “relapsing” refer to alcohol abuse, not drug use.
Lowell asked Jensen about text message exchanges prosecutors say show evidence of Biden’s drug use in 2018 and 2019. Lowell pointed to a November 2018 text to Hallie Biden -- Beau Biden’s widow, with whom Hunter Biden had a relationship after his brother’s death -- in which Hunter confessed: “I’m a drunk.”
Lowell also questioned Jensen about bank statements showing withdrawals of large sums of money from Hunter Biden’s bank accounts. Prosecutors have suggested he made the cash withdrawals in order to buy drugs. Lowell implied through his questioning that President Joe Biden’s son spent the money on rent and other living expenses, drug treatment, alimony, tuition for his children, and helping family members with their finances.
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 first day of testimony in the case dredged up painful memories for President Joe Biden and his family and revealed new and highly personal details about some of their struggles with addiction as the 2024 election looms.
For part of the day, first lady Jill Biden watched from the front row of the courtroom.
