Federal gun case against Hunter Biden begins, prosecutors say ‘no one is above the law’
Prosecutors laid out their case Tuesday in the landmark criminal trial against Hunter Biden on gun-related charges, telling jurors that President Joe Biden’s son was a drug addict who lied on paperwork to obtain a revolver and that “no one is above the law.”
The jury in federal court in Delaware heard opening statements from prosecutors and defense attorneys before the first witness, an FBI agent, was called. Defense attorney Abbe Lowell told the jury that the evidence presented at trial would show that Hunter Biden, 54, did not knowingly violate the law.
This is the first trial of a child of a sitting US president, presided over by US District Judge Maryellen Noreika. Last week, Donald Trump became the first former US president to be convicted of a crime.
US Justice Department attorney Derek Hines told jurors about events in October 2018, when prosecutors said Hunter Biden lied to a background check about his drug use when buying a gun.
“It was illegal because he was a crack user and a drug addict,” Hines told the jury. “Nobody is above the law.”
Trump is the Republican candidate challenging Democrat Joe Biden in the US election on November 5. Neither the prosecution nor the defence raised the issue directly.
Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to three felony charges accusing him of failing to disclose his use of illegal drugs when he purchased a Colt Cobra .38-caliber revolver and illegally possessing the weapon for 11 days in October 2018.
Lowell urged jurors to listen carefully to the evidence that was presented. Lowell said the gun purchase form only asked Hunter Biden if he was currently addicted to drugs, not whether he had used in the past, adding that his client “had no intent to deceive.”
The trial, in federal court in Biden’s hometown of Wilmington, comes at a time when Trump and his congressional allies are accusing the Justice Department of a political prosecution of the former president.
David Weiss, the Trump-appointed US special counsel who filed the case against Hunter Biden, was in court on Tuesday. Weiss has separately filed federal tax charges against Hunter Biden in California.
The trial is expected to reveal the story of Hunter Biden’s years-long struggle with drug and alcohol addiction.
Hines said one text message jurors will see shows Hunter Biden writing that he is “waiting for a dealer named Mookie” behind a minor league baseball stadium in Wilmington. Hines told jurors they will also see photos and bank records that show Hunter Biden was
He knew he was a drug addict when he bought the gun, which prosecutors would have to prove to secure a conviction. Hunter Biden told Noreca at a hearing last year that he had been sober since mid-2019.
‘Finding a crack at any time’
FBI agent Erica Jensen was called on Tuesday as the first prosecution witness to testify about Hunter Biden’s messages and writings about his drug use.
Hynes asked him about Hunter Biden’s 2021 autobiography, “Beautiful Things,” which details his addiction. Hynes narrated the audiobook version for about 30 minutes in Biden’s monotone voice, including several unnerving passages about his constant search for drugs and what he called his “superpower — finding crack anytime, anywhere.”
Hynes said prosecutors will call as a witness Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, who accused him of wasting money on drugs, alcohol and prostitutes during their 2017 divorce proceedings. Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter’s brother Beau Biden, who died of cancer in 2015, is also expected to testify.
If Hunter Biden is convicted of all charges in the Delaware case, he could face up to 25 years in prison, according to the U.S. Justice Department, though defendants typically receive lesser sentences.
Hunter Biden is not required to testify and it is unclear whether he will testify. Donald Trump did not testify at his criminal trial. Testifying is risky for criminal defendants because it exposes them to cross-examination from prosecutors.
Trump will be sentenced on July 11 after a jury in a New York state court last Thursday convicted him of 34 felony counts of falsifying documents to conceal money he paid a porn star to escape a sex scandal just before the 2016 US election.
He has pleaded not guilty to three other pending criminal cases, including two related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden and one accusing him of illegally possessing classified national security documents after leaving office in 2021.