WILMINGTON, Delaware – Prosecutors at Hunter BidenDuring the trial on weapons-related charges Tuesday, jurors were urged not to show sympathy or favoritism for him because he happens to be the president’s son. Joe Bidenwhile the defense suggested the case had been overstated and overstated.
“No one is above the law,” prosecutor Derek Hines said at the start of his opening statement. “It doesn’t matter who you are or what your name is, because in this country the law applies to everyone equally. … That law makes no distinction between Hunter Biden and anyone else.”
Hines, who is part of the team working under special counsel David Weiss, said prosecutors would present “overwhelming evidence” that Hunter Biden was addicted to drugs when he bought a gun at a gun shop in Delaware in October 2018 and therefore lied on a form when he checked a box denying that he was a drug user or addict. And the prosecutor quickly gave jurors some of the strongest evidence against the president’s son: his own description of the depth of his drug addiction — not just in his own words, but in his own voice.
As Biden sat calmly next to his lawyers at the defense table, his voice sounded from courtroom speakers as the prosecutor played audio in which he recounted passages from his memoir describing how he struggled with an intense crack cocaine addiction that often led to him smoking crack as often as every 15 minutes.
“Addiction may not be a choice, but lying and buying a gun is a choice,” Hines told the jury of six men and six women.
Biden’s lead attorney, Abbe Lowell, denied that his client lied on the federal background check. He noted that the form does not include a detailed definition of who should be considered a drug user or addict. The way these terms are used in everyday language may not correspond to what is meant on the form, he suggested; otherwise anyone with an addiction, even if they’ve been sober for years, wouldn’t be able to buy a gun.
“As you know, someone who recovers from alcohol or drug abuse always considers themselves an addict,” Lowell told the jury. “At an AA meeting I am Abbe Lowell and I am hooked.”
At times, Lowell repeated a famous semantic argument from another of the high-profile attorney’s clients: former President Bill Clinton. In the run-up to Clinton’s impeachment – in which Lowell represented him – Clinton wondered “what the definition of the word ‘is’ is.”
On Tuesday, Lowell said of the gun purchase form at the heart of Biden’s case: “It uses the word ‘its’ very clearly. … It doesn’t say, ‘Have you ever been there?’ It doesn’t say, “Have you ever used it?”
Lowell has argued in court filings that Weiss — a U.S. attorney appointed by Donald Trump — filed the gun charges against Biden because of political pressure from Republicans. Prosecutors rarely bring the three crimes at issue as standalone charges.
However, Judge Maryellen Noreika barred the defense from making such arguments before the jury. So Lowell went that way: He suggested the charges were too serious, and he repeatedly noted that there was little evidence that prosecutors were interested in the case from the moment the gun was purchased and thrown into a grocery store trash bin. thrown away in 2018. until last year.
“Prior to these events, prosecutors have filed three misdemeanor charges,” Lowell said, somewhat skeptically.
Lowell also gave the jury a taste of other arguments, including that the gun was an impulse purchase while Biden was buying a new cell phone nearby, that’s why he might not have paid much attention to the form and that the store’s employees rushed him . The lawyer also said Biden was not using drugs when he bought the gun and kept it for 11 days before his brother’s ex-wife, Hallie Biden, with whom Hunter was dating at the time, found and threw it away.
“Giving up drugs wasn’t easy. Giving up alcohol was even harder,” Lowell said, noting that the federal forms do not ask about alcohol use.
Lowell noted Biden’s stays with various family members and business activities during the brief period in which he was accused of possessing the gun. These activities, Lowell said, conflicted with the use of crack cocaine by a man who said his addiction was so powerful that he smoked every 15 or 20 minutes.
“There may be high-functioning alcoholics, but there is no such thing as a high-functioning crack addict,” Lowell said.
Several members of the Biden family were in the courtroom to offer support as the trial began, including First Lady Jill Biden, Hunter Biden’s wife Melissa Biden and Hunter Biden’s half-sister Ashley Biden.
Hunter Biden gave Lowell a mini hug as he prepared to deliver his opening statement, flashing a wide grin at his attorney, briefly grabbing the back of the attorney’s neck and later shaking his hand. The president’s son appeared to try to make eye contact with jurors as Lowell worked through his 50-minute statement, occasionally tapping or hitting the lectern for emphasis.
The second day of the trial started with a small problem. Shortly before the scheduled start at 9 a.m., Noreika took a seat on the bench and informed the parties that one of the judges selected on Monday had dropped out due to transportation problems. Four other jurors arrived late, she said.
The juror who withdrew was replaced by one of four alternates who were also chosen Monday.
As the sides waited for late jurors, Noreika ruled on a series of defense objections to evidence prosecutors wanted to use at trial, including photos of Biden during a time when prosecutors say he regularly used drugs.
The judge, a Trump appointee, sided with the plaintiffs on almost all disputed issues. Among the exhibits she gave the green light to show to the jury are shirtless photos of Hunter Biden and a text message he sent after Hallie Biden ditched the gun. In that text, Hunter Biden allegedly suggested that she could have endangered others by throwing the gun in the trash.
Noreika also largely rejected Lowell’s attempt to introduce additional passages from Biden’s book beyond those prosecutors said they planned to show the jury. She said if he wants to give the jury more information to support his case, he is free to testify but will be subject to cross-examination.
