Hunter Biden’s lawyer presses FBI agent on bank withdrawals
Lowell continued to walk Jensen through a series of cash withdrawals from a bank account for Owasco P.C., Hunter’s domestic corporation.
In line with his questioning about the text messages, Lowell sought to delineate what Jensen did and did not know definitively about what the withdrawals were used for.
Asking about the October withdrawals closest to the purchase of the handgun, Lowell questioned whether Jensen had “any idea” if that cash was used for the gun.
Lowell answered that all she could testify to was that the cash was withdrawn and that cash was used to purchase the gun (which the receipt introduced yesterday indicated).
Biden’s lawyer Lowell tries to cast doubt on whether his client was telling the truth in text messages
Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell went back to FBI agent Jensen’s reading of two texts yesterday from October 2018 that Hunter Biden sent to Hallie Biden, his older brother Beau Biden’s widow, with whom he had a relationship after Beau died.
One of those texts referred to waiting for a dealer named Mookie outside the Wilmington Blue Rocks stadium, said Lowell, who then asked Jensen if she knew if Mookie existed. She said she didn’t.
Another text from Hunter to Hallie referenced smoking crack while sleeping in a car in Wilmington, Lowell said. He asked Jensen if she knew if Hunter was really sleeping on a car on that day. Jensen replied again said she didn’t.
The point that Lowell appears to be making is that there is ample evidence of Hunter’s addiction in the months preceding his purchase of the gun and the months after the purchase, but apart from the two texts to Hallie in October 2018, there is scant evidence in the text messages of him actively using crack around the time of the gun purchase.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer argues his client’s drug use dropped off upon his return to the East Coast
In talking FBI agent Jensen through the timeline of chapters of Hunter Biden’s memoir, “Beautiful things,” his lawyer Abbe Lowell argued that his client’s drug use dropped off when he returned to the East Coast, before he purchased the handgun at a Wilmington, Del., gun store.
Lowell also focused his cross-examination of Jensen on Hunter Biden’s purchases of alcohol, not drugs, in October 2018, the same month when he bought the gun.
A group of Biden’s family members and friends are in court
At least 10 of Hunter Biden’s family and friends are in the gallery today.
When Hunter Biden walked in with his wife, Melissa Cohen-Biden, she mouthed “love you” to her husband as she took her seat.
Hunter greeted his mother with a hug and kiss and had a big group hug with several men who were in the gallery supporting him.
Trial resumes with FBI agent’s cross-examination
Day 3 of Hunter Biden’s criminal trial is underway. Abbe Lowell is continuing his cross-examination of FBI agent Erika Jensen.
On the second day of Hunter Biden’s criminal gun trial, prosecutors pitted the president’s son against himself using excerpts of the audio from his memoir, “Beautiful Things,” in which he details his painful battle with addiction. NBC’s Ryan Nobles reports for “TODAY.”
Hunter Biden arrives for Day 3
Hunter Biden and his mother, first lady Jill Biden, have arrived at the courthouse, where testimony from FBI agent Erika Jensen is set to resume.
Hunter Biden’s ex-wife expected to take stand after FBI agent Jensen
We expect to pick up where we left off today with defense attorney Abbe Lowell cross-examining FBI agent Erika Jensen. After he wraps that up, prosecutors will have an opportunity for re-direct questioning.
Based on lead prosecutor Derek Hines’ opening statement, we expect Hunter’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle to take the stand after Jensen.
Hunter Biden trial: Lawyers offer dueling narratives of addiction and recovery in opening statements
WILMINGTON, Del. — In a cadence that at times evoked a fish gasping for air, a lead prosecutor for the special counsel, Derek Hines, worked yesterday to hammer into place the government’s narrative that Hunter Biden was a high-functioning drug addict who lied to friends and family and ultimately broke the law when he checked a box on a government background check form that he was not a drug user during the purchase of a handgun in 2018.
Hines leaned heavily on Hunter’s own words to characterize his habits and addiction leading up to and after the purchase, later bringing in the prosecution’s first witness, an FBI agent, who explained how the government authenticated key pieces of evidence, including files extracted from a laptop Biden abandoned at a Wilmington computer repair shop.
Several jurors took notes as the prosecution played excerpts from Biden’s 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things,” including a retelling of his first attempt to buy crack cocaine from a homeless woman in Franklin Park in Washington, D.C.
In its opening statement at Hunter Biden’s trial on federal gun charges, the prosecution told jurors the president’s son was a drug addict who illegally lied about his drug use on a government background check when he purchased a gun. But the defense argued that Hunter Biden did not “knowingly” lie on the form. NBC News’ Ryan Nobles reports.
Here’s what you missed during Day 2 of the trial
Prosecutor Derek Hines yesterday argued during an opening statement that Hunter Biden’s ownership of a firearm was illegal due to his alleged drug use at the time of purchase, and emphasized that he was not above a law barring drug users and addicts from owning guns.
In the defense’s opening statement, attorney Abbe Lowell disputed claims that Hunter Biden was using crack around the time of the gun purchase in 2018, and said that the firearm “was never loaded” and that his client “never used it.”
First lady Jill Biden appeared in court Monday and yesterday, and sat in the audience beside Hunter Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen-Biden, on both days.
Garrett Ziegler, a former Trump White House aide whom Hunter Biden is suing over the online publication of data that Ziegler has claimed was scraped from Hunter Biden’s laptop, was also seated in the audience. He was confronted by Cohen-Biden who called him a “Nazi piece of s—,” during a morning break.
Prosecutors’ first witness, FBI agent Erika Jensen, introduced text messages that purported to show Hunter Biden’s crack use before buying the gun, bank records showing his large cash withdrawals during that period, and passages from the audiobook version of Hunter Biden’s 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things” that describe his drug use.
The defense briefly questioned Jensen before court was dismissed for the day.
