Hunter Biden’s federal weapons trial resumed Thursday in Wilmington, Del., where Hallie Biden, the widow of his late brother Beau, testified for the prosecution about finding and disposing of the firearm at the center of the felony case.
President Biden’s 54-year-old son faces three charges over whether he lied about his crack addiction when he applied to buy the firearm six years ago. He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors allege that Biden falsely claimed in the filing that he was not a drug user and had the gun illegally in his possession for 11 days. He faces up to 25 years in prison and a $750,000 fine if found guilty of all three charges.
This is what happened in court on Thursday.
Beau Biden‘s widow takes the stand
Hallie Biden was called to the witness stand by the prosecutor on Thursday, a day after Hunter Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle and ex-girlfriend Zoe Kestan testified against him.
Under direct examination, Hallie Biden, who had a romantic relationship with Hunter Biden after Beau died in 2015, testified that their romance was “gradual.”
Hallie Biden told the court that Hunter Biden first introduced her to crack in 2018 and that she too abused the drug. “It was a horrible experience that I went through,” she said. “I’m ashamed, I’m ashamed and I regret that period in my life.”
Hallie Biden says she found the gun – and threw it away
She testified that on October 23, 2018, she went to clean out Hunter Biden’s truck while he was sleeping and discovered a gun and drug paraphernalia.
“I panicked,” Hallie Biden said. “I took it to a grocery store down the street and threw it away…in a trash can.”
The jury was shown surveillance footage of Hallie Biden in the parking lot of the Jansen’s supermarket in Wilmington, Del., throwing the gun into a dumpster.
“I was so nervous,” she said, adding, “I realize now it was a stupid idea.”
Hallie Biden testified that Hunter Biden was angry with her for throwing away the gun, and made her go back to the grocery store to look for it.
The jury was then shown security footage of Hallie Biden looking through trash cans outside. Hallie Biden said she went inside to ask employees if the trash had been taken out and later filed a police report.
Under cross-examination by attorney Abbe Lowell, Hallie Biden admitted that she did not witness him using drugs between October 6 and 22, 2018, while he was in Delaware.
The defense has argued that to prove their case, the prosecution must show that Hunter Biden was using drugs around the time he filled out the federal firearms application and said this was not the case.
First lady Jill Biden was not in court today
First lady Jill Biden, who attended the first three days of Hunter Biden’s trial, was not in the courtroom Thursday.
The first lady traveled overnight to Paris to attend D-Day ceremonies with President Biden.
The president does not plan to attend the trial, but did release a rare statement on the case on Monday.
“I’m the president, but I’m also a father,” Biden said. “Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today.”
Hunter Biden’s trial comes just days after former President Donald Trump was found guilty on 34 charges of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star whose alleged affair with him threatened to torpedo his 2016 election campaign.
