Judge Maryellen Noreika, who is presiding over Hunter Biden’s trial in Delaware, hasn’t wasted any time as the prosecution jumped right into presenting its case on Tuesday. Jury selection was completed within a day, and on the second day of the trial, the prosecution was already focusing on the darkest chapters of Hunter Biden’s memoir and steadily unpacking the contents of his infamous laptop.
Hunter Biden, the first child of a sitting U.S. president to go on trial, has experienced many hardships. He is a former drug addict who, as a young child, survived a car crash that killed his biological mother and sister.
In 2015, his older brother Beau Biden died after battling brain cancer. Many of the more vulnerable moments experienced by the Biden family are already well-publicized, including Hunter Biden’s addiction. But the increased scrutiny before a jury comes at a time when President Joe Biden is in the middle of a reelection campaign.
On Monday’s opening day, President Biden showcased his love, support and pride for his son in a statement. The same day, during a press briefing aboard Air Force One, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked whether this trial would affect the president’s ability to do his job.
“Absolutely not,” Jean-Pierre said. “He always puts the American people first and is capable of doing his job.” President Biden was en route to France Tuesday evening and is expected to be gone for the rest of the week.
First lady Jill Biden arrived at the courthouse Tuesday shortly after Hunter Biden entered the building. She sat with Hunter Biden’s wife Melissa Cohen Biden and his sister Ashley Biden. The first lady was in court on Monday as well.
Hunter Biden is being charged with three felony counts. The first two are related to him lying on an application for a firearm about his drug use. The third count is for possessing a revolver for 11 days while using illicit drugs. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison and up to $750,000 in fines.
Nearly all the jury members had heard about the case, as per ABC News. Many have family members facing drug addiction. Several from the selected panel own guns or have a family member who does. The jury also includes a woman who is a retired Secret Service agent of over two decades, and her husband, too, is a uniformed officer posted in Washington, D.C.
The prosecutor’s witness list includes three of Hunter Biden’s former love interests: his ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, his late brother’s ex-wife, Hallie Biden, who threw out the Colt Cobra .38 handgun at the center of the case and also became addicted to crack while with Hunter Biden, the prosecution alleges. Politico reported the third woman is Zoe Kestan, who will also testify about Hunter Biden’s frequent drug use. They will also call an employee from Starquest Shooters gun store, and police officials involved in the initial investigation into Hunter Biden.
During Tuesday’s proceedings, the prosecutors made many references to Hunter Biden’s memoir, “Beautiful Things,” and played many audio excerpts from it that referenced his drug abuse and stints in rehab. According to several reports, Ashley Biden, his sister, was seen dabbing away her tears with a tissue before leaving the courtroom. Meanwhile, Melissa Biden had a heated exchange with Garrett Ziegler, who has published much of the contents of Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop.
The prosecution said they will use the testimonies to show the jury that Hunter Biden smoked crack a few times an hour around the time of the gun purchase and that he knowingly lied on the application form by not disclosing that he was a drug user.
Biden’s laptop has been introduced as evidence. The prosecutors made the case that the laptop provides evidence of Hunter Biden’s drug use at the time of the gun purchase. The device also contains a trove of Hunter Biden’s messages, emails and photos. The jury was shown an exchange between Hallie Biden and Hunter Biden. “I called you 500 times in past 24 hours,” she said, to which Hunter Biden replied he was sleeping on a car and using drugs, adding, “There’s my truth.”
According to Fox News, the defense will argue Hunter Biden wasn’t abusing drugs but alcohol, and that he wasn’t looking to buy a gun but was pressured by a salesman. The defense plans to put Hunter Biden and James Biden, his uncle and President Biden’s brother, on the stand.
Hunter Biden faces another trial in California over an alleged failure to pay $1.4 million in taxes. These cases and the ongoing gun-related trial were almost resolved last summer when Hunter Biden reached a plea deal with prosecutors, before that fell apart under scrutiny.