WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The Latest on Hunter Biden's federal gun trial (all times local):
Court has taken a break for lunch in Hunter Biden's federal gun trial.
Hallie Biden will resume her testimony after the break.
Hunter Biden has been charged with three felonies stemming from the purchase of a gun in October 2018. The son of President Joe Biden is 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.
Currently:
— Widow of Beau Biden takes the stand in Hunter Biden’s gun trial, talks about tossing the firearm
Here's the latest:
Hallie Biden acknowledged that when Hunter Biden told her in a text message the day after the gun purchase that he had been at a 7-Eleven store and waiting for a dealer, she didn’t know whether that was actually the case.
Hunter’s message came after she sent a text wondering where he was, suspecting that he might have been with another woman.
Hallie also said she could not know whether Hunter was being truthful when he told her in a text on Oct. 14, two days after the gun purchase, that he was smoking crack.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell asked Hallie Biden about her own drug use and whether she attended counseling with Hunter Biden after he returned to Delaware from California in early October 2018.
Hallie said that from the time Hunter returned to Delaware to the time she threw his gun in a trash can, she did not use drugs and did not see Hunter using drugs. That period includes Oct. 12, 2018, the day of the gun purchase that led to the criminal charges he’s facing.
Prosecutors allege he lied on the gun purchase form when he said he wasn’t using drugs.
The defense has begun the cross-examination of Hallie Biden as she testifies in Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial.
Hunter Biden’s defense attorney, Abbe Lowell, began by asking Hallie about Hunter Biden’s drug use after they began a romantic relationship following the 2015 death of her husband and Hunter’s brother, former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden.
Hallie Biden remained calm and composed as a prosecutor questioned her about her romantic relationship with Hunter Biden as she testified in his trial.
She didn’t turn to look at Hunter Biden or his supporters as she entered the courtroom. Hunter appeared to remain expressionless as he watched her testify.
Hunter Biden has been charged with three felonies stemming from the purchase of a gun in October 2018. The son of President Joe Biden is 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.
The prosecutor asked Hallie Biden about a text message Hunter Biden sent her the day after he bought the gun, saying he was waiting for a dealer named Mookie.
Leo Wise asked what she thought Hunter meant.
“That he was buying crack cocaine,” she said.
The jury later left the courtroom for a morning recess and the attorneys resumed their discussion over evidence admissions.
Testifying in Hunter Biden’s trial, Hallie Biden recalled later telling him she got rid of the gun she found in his truck.
She said Hunter told her to go back to the store where she’d thrown it away and look for gun. Surveillance footage shows Hallie looking in the trash can for the gun, but it was no longer there.
Hallie asked store officials if someone had taken out the trash or if they had surveillance footage that might help her find out what happened to the weapon.
She said Hunter told her to file a police report because the gun was registered in his name. She called the police while she was still at the store.
Testifying in Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial, Hallie Biden described panicking after finding a gun in his truck.
“I panicked and I wanted to get rid of them,” she testified of finding a gun and ammunition in the console of Hunter’s truck in October 2018.
Prosecutor Leo Wise asked why she panicked, and Hallie responded: “Because I didn’t want him to hurt himself, and I didn’t want my kids to find it and hurt themselves.”
Hallie said she considered hiding the gun but thought her kids might find it. She then decided to throw it away.
“I was afraid to touch it. I didn’t know if it was loaded,” Hallie said.
She put the gun in a leather pouch, stuffed it in a shopping bag, and tossed it in a trash can outside an upscale grocery market near her house.
The prosecution played surveillance footage showing Hallie dumping the gun in the trash.
“I realize it was a stupid idea now, but I was panicking,” she said.
Prosecutor Leo Wise asked Hallie Biden about visiting Hunter Biden at a hotel in California in 2018, and whether she was using drugs at the time.
“Yes, I was,” Hallie said.
“And who introduced you to it?’” the prosecutor asked.
“Hunter did,” Hallie said as Hunter rested his face on his left hand and looked down.
“It was a terrible experience that I went through, and I’m embarrassed and ashamed, and I regret that period of my life,” Hallie said.
Hallie said she stopped using drugs in August 2018, but that Hunter continued smoking crack.
Testifying in Hunter Biden’s trial, Hallie Biden said that after she began a relationship with him, she learned he was using crack cocaine.
She believes she first found the drug at her house in Wilmington, Delaware, where Hunter would stay from time to time. She later saw Hunter actually using crack.
“Where did he get the drugs from?” asked prosecutor Leo Wise.
“Various dealers,” replied Hallie, adding that she was sometimes with Hunter when he met dealers.
She also said smoking crack could leave Hunter “agitated or high-strung, but at other times, functioning as well.”
As she testified, Hallie Biden calmly answered the prosecutor’s questions in an even, steady voice.
Former gun store clerk Gordon Cleveland has finished his testimony and the prosecution has called Hallie Biden to the witness stand in Hunter Biden’s federal gun case.
Hallie Biden is the widow of Hunter Biden’s late brother, Beau Biden. She had a brief romantic relationship with Hunter after Beau died in 2015. Hallie said the relationship began in late 2015 or early 2016.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell asked former gun store clerk Gordon Cleveland what he had told another gun store employee who ran the background check on Hunter Biden.
Cleveland initially said he didn’t tell the other employee anything, but then said he had asked the employee, Jason Turner, if it was OK to use Hunter’s passport as an acceptable form of identification.
Cleveland testified that Turner indicated Hunter would need to provide another form of identification with his address on it, like a utility bill or a vehicle registration.
Hunter then left the store and returned a short time later, Cleveland said, but he did not see Hunter holding a piece of paper or presenting anything to Turner.
In his cross-examination of former gun store clerk Gordon Cleveland, defense attorney Abbe Lowell notes that some of the questions on the form Hunter Biden filled out are in the present tense, such as “are you an unlawful user of or addicted to” drugs.
Others are in the past tense, such as asking the potential gun buyer whether he or she has ever been discharged from the military or been adjudicated as a mental defective.
Defense attorneys have suggested Hunter Biden might not have been using drugs at the time he bought the gun, or considered himself at that time to be an addict.
Lowell asked Cleveland what he had told another gun store employee who ran the background check on Hunter Biden. Cleveland initially said he didn’t tell the other employee anything, but later said he had asked the employee if it was OK to use Hunter’s passport as an acceptable form of identification.
Former gun store clerk Gordon Cleveland is back on the stand testifying in Hunter Biden’s federal trial.
The president’s son is charged with falsely stating he was not a drug user or addict when he bought a revolver in October 2018. He’s facing three felony charges involving making false statements in a firearms transaction, and illegally possessing the gun.
On Wednesday, the jury heard testimony from Cleveland, who watched as Hunter Biden checked off “no” to the question of whether he was “an unlawful user of or addicted to” marijuana, stimulants, narcotics or any other controlled substance.
The lawyers in Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial argued back and forth about exchanges of documentary evidence between the prosecution and defense.
The discussion involved text messages extracted by the prosecution from Hunter’s laptop hard drive.
“You’re not giving them the information in the same way they gave it to you,” Judge Maryellen Noreika told a defense attorney.
The attorneys also argued over whether expected testimony from Hallie Biden about her text message exchanges with Hunter contains inadmissible hearsay. Hallie is the widow of Beau Biden and had a romantic relationship with Hunter Biden after his brother’s death.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell told the judge the defense plans to file a motion later Thursday after the prosecution rests its case, challenging the sufficiency of the prosecution’s case.
Judge Maryellen Noreika told Lowell that if he thinks she will be able to read the motion, consider the prosecution’s response and issue a quick ruling, he has “an elevated view” of her ability.
“I appreciate that, but it’s not going to happen,” she said.
Hunter Biden has been charged with three felonies stemming from the purchase of a gun in October 2018. The son of President Joe Biden is 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.
Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial has resumed for the day with attorneys and the judge discussing Wednesday’s testimony of a gun store clerk who sold a revolver to Hunter in October 2018.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell told the judge he would like to continue his cross-examination by asking former clerk Gordon Cleveland about how another gun store employee became involved in the transaction.
Hunter Biden has arrived at the courthouse for another day of testimony in his federal gun trial.
He was holding a copy of his own memoir, “Beautiful Things.” The jurors have been hearing excerpts from the book in court.
Hunter Biden has been charged with three felonies stemming from the purchase of a gun in October 2018. The son of President Joe Biden is 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.
Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty and said the Justice Department is bending to political pressure from Republicans and he is being wrongly targeted.
Jurors in Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial have heard from the former gun store clerk who sold him the the .38 caliber Colt revolver.
On Wednesday, the jury heard testimony from the clerk, Gordon Cleveland, who watched as the president’s son checked off “no” to the question of whether he was “an unlawful user of or addicted to” marijuana, stimulants, narcotics or any other controlled substance.
Federal prosecutors have argued Hunter Biden was in the throes of a heavy crack addiction when he bought the gun, and they’ve accused him of lying on the form.
The courtroom grew quiet when Kathleen Buhle, who was married to Hunter for 20 years, walked in Wednesday.
She 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.
The case playing out in Wilmington, Delaware, stems from a gun Hunter Biden bought in October 2018, months before his father, Joe Biden, announced his bid for the presidency.
Take a look at some key witnesses in the trial.
