Hunter Biden trial live updates: Prosecutors say jury to hear from Hallie Biden about her own drug use

Defense lawyer Abbe Lowell walked jurors through the day of Oct. 23, when Hallie Biden found the gun, put it in a bag that she had taken from her house and dropped it in a dumpster behind a high-end grocery store.

The bag was then found, Lowell explained, by Edward Banner, who was going through the trash and took it home. In a box at Banner’s home, police later found Hunter Biden’s gun and a second gun Banner said he was saving for a friend.

Lowell made clear that from Oct. 12 to Oct. 23, Hunter never loaded the gun, carried it around or used it. When police took possession of the gun and the pouch it was in, Lowell said, they found white residue that tested positive for cocaine.

It seems clear Lowell is throwing Hallie Biden, Beau Biden’s widow, under the bus here. “Hunter put the gun in the locked box of the Ford Truck,” Lowell said. “Hallie put it in the bag.”

“That’s the story,” Lowell said.

Opening statements have concluded in the trial, and the court took a break for 10-15 minutes.

Lowell said that Gordon Cleveland, the gun dealer that the government plans to call as a witness, referred to himself as a “whale hunter” and wanted to make the firearm sale to Hunter Biden.

Lowell said Cleveland was willing to skirt protocol because Hunter Biden didn’t have a driver’s license but a passport without an address. Lowell says the jury will see that the ID box was not filled out by Biden, and, more importantly, that the boxes were already checked “no,” including the box in question about the purchaser’s potential substance abuse.

“A sale is a sale, and that was their goal that day,” said Lowell.

After showing jurors a chart of eight liquor store receipts from around the time of Hunter Biden’s gun purchase, defense lawyer Abbe Lowell appeared to pre-emptively push back on some of the texts that prosecutors plan to enter as evidence.

Lowell said Hunter Biden sometimes lied to Hallie Biden about his whereabouts because he didn’t want to see her.

Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell told jurors that what the prosecution can’t show is that Hunter Biden went to the store with the intent to buy a gun and that he considered himself an addict at the time. 

Lowell referred to the jury selection question about people’s experiences with addiction, saying that jurors might recognize Biden’s “deep state of denial” about his drug use.

Lowell mentioned the traumas of the Biden family: Hunter Biden’s mother, Neilia, and sister, Naomi, died in a car crash in 1972 that Hunter and brother Beau survived; and in 2015, Beau Biden died of cancer.

Hunter Biden had periods of sobriety, Lowell said, claiming that he did not consider himself to be addicted at the time of the gun purchase.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell began his opening statement at 10:24 a.m.

“Hunter bought a small handgun,” Lowell said. “It was never loaded.” He added, “He never used it.”

Lowell suggests that prosecutors left out the word “knowingly” from the slide that described the charges to the jury.

Hunter “knowingly violated the law” is what prosecutors have to prove, Lowell said. Lowell stressed that it’s about what Hunter Biden thought at the time in 2018, and what his state of mind was when he walked into the gun store.

Hines said they will lay out that Hunter Biden flew back from California on Oct. 5 with the hopes of “getting clean, not staying clean.” Prosecutors will show his continued addiction through messages and testimony, Hines said, including from Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter’s brother, Beau.

“Hallie will testify about her own crack use” with Hunter, Hines said, acknowledging that the testimony will be “embarrassing.”

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Hines told jurors that Hunter Biden described his behavior at the time as smoking “every 15 minutes, seven days a week.”

He boasted in his book of having a “superpower” for finding crack anywhere, the prosecutor said. 

Hines also showed jurors a message Biden sent to a drug dealer: “Can you get baby powder? The really soft stuff.” 

A Drug Enforcement Administration agent will testify as a witness during the trial and will say that baby powder referred to cocaine, Hines said.

The prosecution gave their full intended witness list:

Erika Jensen, an FBI agent

Kathleen Buhle, Hunter Biden’s ex-wife

Zoe Kestan, who says she had a romantic relationship with Hunter Biden

Hallie Biden, Beau Biden’s wife whom Hunter Biden had a relationship with after Beau’s death

Gordon Cleveland, a Starquest Shooters gun store employee

DSP Corp. Joshua Marley

DSP Lt. Millard Greer

Forensic chemist Dr. Jason Brewer

And possibly, DEA Supervisory Special Agent Joshua Romig

During opening statements, prosecutor Derek Hines told jurors that they would hear from a witness who had a romantic relationship with Hunter and observed him smoking crack “every 15 minutes.” Her name is Zoe Kestan, Hines said.

Here is how she was identified in pretrial filings:

“Witness 2 was previously in a romantic relationship with the defendant between approximately December 2017 and October 2018. During the course of their relationship, Witness 2 observed the defendant using crack cocaine frequently—every 20 minutes except when he slept. Witness 2 visited the defendant in Massachusetts when he was in rehab in the fall of 2018 (after his gun possession) and over the course of 3 days, she observed the defendant smoking crack cocaine every 20 minutes.”

Hines told jurors about how Hallie Biden — the widow of the president’s late son, Beau Biden, who began a relationship with Hunter Biden after Beau’s death — found and disposed of Hunter’s gun. She is expected to testify later in the trial.

Hunter got Hallie Biden to use drugs as well, Hines said, but she was clean by the time Hunter purchased the gun.

Hines also presented some evidence that Hunter was still using drugs around the time of the gun purchase and knew that he was an addict. Hines displayed a text from Hunter to Hallie Biden the day after the gun purchase, saying he was behind Blue Rocks Stadium (a minor league baseball team in Wilmington, Delaware) waiting for a dealer.

Derek Hines for the prosecution says they will lay out that Hunter Biden flew back from California on October 5 with the hopes of “getting clean, not staying clean.” 

They will show his continued addiction through messages and testimony, including from Hallie Biden. “Hallie will testify about her own crack use,” with Hunter, said Hines, acknowledging that the testimony will be “embarrassing.”

Hines revealed that both Hallie Biden and Zoe Kestan will be testifying under immunity agreements. 

They will also call Kathleen Buhle, who did not use drugs herself. Kathleen will not be testifying under any immunity agreement. 

Laying out the three charges against Hunter, Hines emphasized that on the third count, concerning his possession of the gun for 11 days, Hunter did not get rid of the gun by choice. “The only reason he had the gun for 11 days is because Hallie took it from him,” he said.

Prosecutor Derek Hines said that Gordon Cleveland, an employee of Starquest Shooters who sold Hunter Biden a gun, will be testifying in this trial about his experience.

The form that Hunter Biden filled out to purchase the gun was shown to jurors, and Hines walked through each part of the form.

Dealers rely on the honesty of the person filling out the form, Hines said.

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Prosecutor Derek Hines began opening statements around 9:57 a.m. by saying, “No one is above the law. It doesn’t matter who you are, or what your name is.”

Defendants are tried ‘because of the choices they made,” he said, adding that Hunter Biden “chose to illegally own a firearm” and that “we’re also here because he chose to lie.”

Proceedings restarted as of 9:57 a.m. The jury is in attendance and Judge Noreika is running through standard questions for the jury, such as reiterating that they didn’t do any research or discuss the case overnight.

Hunter Biden returned to the courtroom at 9:49 a.m., a few minutes after his lawyer Abbe Lowell. During the break, Lowell chatted briefly with prosecutor Derek Hines at the government’s table and conferred with Hunter Biden after he returned to sit at the defense table.

The trial’s opening statements are about to begin. Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell will deliver his statement for the defense and Derek Hines, a senior assistant special counsel, will make remarks for the prosecution.

It’s still quiet inside the courtroom, but it’s unclear why proceedings are still delayed. The parties re-entered the courtroom at 9:37 a.m. as the sidebar over objections to opening statements appeared to wrap up. 

Hunter Biden has left the courtroom, accompanied by his lawyers and wife, Melissa Cohen-Biden. They are huddling in a conference room just outside the courtroom. 

First lady Jill Biden, Ashley Biden, who is Hunter’s half-sister, and lawyer Kevin Morris remain in the first row behind the defense table. 

One of the jurors dropped out overnight because she lives an hour away and is unemployed and can’t afford to make the trip every day. This was juror No. 16, seated in seat 3.

Before 9 a.m., Judge Noreika began going over rulings on what evidence can be admitted, indicating that specific texts, photos and portions of Hunter Biden’s memoir, “Beautiful Things,” will likely be on display in court today. 

Several photos that place Hunter Biden in specific locations on certain dates could be among the evidence. For example, there was mention of a photo of him in Malibu, California, and of a photo of his back that places him in Wilmington on a certain day.

Noreika did not initially understand why the photos were relevant: “Can you give me a hint why I care what he’s doing in Malibu?” she asked. Prosecutor Derek Hines said it’s about putting Hunter in a particular place.

Not all jurors are in court yet, Noreika said, so proceedings are delayed until they arrive.

WILMINGTON, Del. — Opening statements will begin this morning in the federal criminal trial of Hunter Biden.

Opening statements are expected to begin shortly after 9 a.m. ET, with prosecutors from special counsel David Weiss‘ office expected to lay out their case against President Joe Biden’s son in federal court in Wilmington, the largest city in the family’s home state, Delaware.

Hunter Biden is charged with three counts tied to possession of a gun while using narcotics. Two of the counts accuse him of having completed a form indicating he was not using illegal drugs when he bought a Colt Cobra revolver on Oct. 12, 2018. The third count alleges he possessed a firearm while using a narcotic.

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First lady Jill Biden arrived at the courthouse at 8:46 a.m. for opening statements in her son’s gun trial. She also attended court proceedings yesterday for jury selection.

Hunter Biden arrived at the courthouse at 8:33 a.m., where his lawyers and prosecutors are set to deliver opening statements.

A jury was selected in the federal trial of Hunter Biden on three gun-related charges. President Biden’s son is accused of falsely claiming on a form when he purchased a handgun that he was not addicted to or an active user of drugs. NBC News’ Ryan Nobles reports.

The Biden family members seated in a court in Wilmington, Delaware, for the start of Hunter Biden’s gun trial yesterday share many of the hardships as the jurors who will weigh the fate of the president’s son. Hunter Biden is himself a former drug addict, on trial accused of illegal gun possession and making false statements. He is divorced and remarried. He has experienced death, as when his brother died of a brain tumor in 2015 and when his biological mother and younger sister died in a car crash when he was 2 years old.

Hunter Biden is also the president’s son, a distinction that was impossible to ignore as, time and again, jurors name-dropped members of the Biden family during jury selection or coyly conceded that, yes, they had once donated to a political campaign — and yes — it had been to the “Bidens.”

Peering over peach-colored eyeglasses, Hunter Biden sat upright as dozens of potential jurors filed through U.S District Judge Maryellen Noreika’s court during an at times grueling selection process. Noon had passed when Hunter’s lead attorney, Abbe Lowell, gently asked, “For the schedule, are we thinking, I forget if there was supposed to be a lunch break today or not?”

Seated behind him were not only the attorneys, reporters and sketch artists who typically fill the courtroom in high-profile cases, but also first lady Jill Biden, who embraced her son, his half-sister and even his son-in-law.

Read the full story here.

Prosecutor Derek Hines serves as senior assistant special counsel in Weiss’ office. Before joining the special counsel’s team, Hines was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where he also served in the narcotics and organized crime unit.

Hines also previously served under then-U.S. Attorney Robert Hur in Maryland — who would later conduct an investigation into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents — and worked at the law firm Pepper Hamilton LLP.

Prosecutors from special counsel David Weiss‘s office are expected to lay out their case against President Joe Biden’s son in federal court in Wilmington, the largest city in the family’s home state of Delaware.

Prosecutors said their first witness will be FBI special agent Erika Jensen. According to a government court filing in the case, Jensen will introduce some of the prosecutors’ evidence, including text messages they say show Hunter Biden was using crack in the months before and after the gun purchase.

Hunter Biden faces three counts tied to possession of a gun while using narcotics. 

Two of the counts accuse him of having completed a form indicating he was not using illegal drugs when he bought a Colt Cobra revolver in October of 2018. The third count alleges he possessed a firearm while using a narcotic.

The indictment said Biden certified on a federally mandated form “that he was not an unlawful user of, and addicted to, any stimulant, narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance, when in fact, as he knew, that statement was false and fictitious.”

He’s pleaded not guilty.

A jury of 12 people and four alternate jurors were selected in the federal gun case against Hunter Biden in Delaware, paving the way for opening statements to begin this morning.

The panel was selected more quickly than expected, after just one day of jury selection Monday. The jurors were sworn in at 4:20 p.m. ET. The jury is made up six men and six women, and all of the alternates are women.

Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, faces three counts tied to possession of a gun while using narcotics. He pleaded not guilty.

He was joined in court by first lady Jill Biden, who turned 73 on Monday. It was unclear whether any of the potential jurors noticed her where she was sitting in the audience next to Hunter Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen. It is the first time the child of a sitting president has faced a criminal trial.

Read the full story here.