WILMINGTON, Del. — Federal prosecutors on Tuesday painted President Joe Biden’s son Hunter as deceptive and driven by addiction, a man whose dark habits ensnared loved ones and who knew what he was doing when he lied on federal forms to purchase a gun in 2018.
Jurors also got their first look at the document at the center of the case, and Hunter Biden’s attorney argued that his client did not believe he was in the throes of addiction when he stated in the paperwork that he did not have a drug problem. In the short time that he had the gun, he did nothing with it, and the weapon was never even loaded, attorney Abbe Lowell said in opening statements.
“You will see that he is not guilty,” Lowell said.
Hunter Biden has been charged with three felonies stemming from the purchase of the Colt revolver when he was, according to his memoir, addicted to crack. He has been accused of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
The first day of testimony in the case dredged up painful memories for the president and his family, and revealed new and highly personal details about some of their struggles with addiction as the 2024 election looms. For part of the day, the first lady watched from the front row of the courtroom.
Attorneys said jurors would hear testimony from the president’s brother James Biden, who is close with Hunter and helped his nephew through rehab stints in the past. They will also hear how Hallie Biden, the widow of the president’s late son, also became addicted to crack during a brief relationship with Hunter.
Hallie took the gun from Hunter and tossed it into the garbage at a nearby market, afraid of what he might do with it. The weapon was later found by someone collecting cans and eventually turned over to police.
The president was in Washington on Tuesday, announcing an immigration order and hosting a picnic for congressional leaders before a scheduled departure for France later in the day. He will be gone the rest of the week. Jill Biden planned to meet him in Europe.
The president’s allies are worried about the toll the trial may take on the elder Biden, who’s long been protective and deeply concerned about his only living son and his sobriety and who must now watch as those past mistakes are publicly scrutinized.
Prosecutors on Tuesday spent hours on Hunter Biden’s drug problem, using his own words and missives to show the depth of the addiction and to suggest it was still ongoing when he bought the gun. They showed jurors his old laptop computer, the same one he left at a Delaware repair shop and never retrieved. In 2020, the contents made their way to Republicans and were publicly leaked, revealing highly personal messages about his work and his life. He has since sued over the data breach.
An FBI agent read aloud messages from the laptop’s data to the jury that chronicled a desperate effort to buy drugs. The data also included email receipts for a detox facility he attended before relapsing and showed that he withdrew large sums of cash.
In one exchange with Hallie, she wrote: “I called you 500 times in past 24 hours.” Hunter replied less than a minute later, informing her that he was “sleeping on a car smoking crack on 4th street and Rodney.”
“There’s my truth,” he added in a follow-up text.
But during cross examination, the FBI agent testified that the messages — plentiful when he was actively using — slowed during October, around the time when he purchased the gun. Lowell also called into question the receipts for the rehab facility. Since law enforcement does not have his medical records, they cannot tell whether he was detoxing from drugs or alcohol. It’s not illegal to purchase a gun if the buyer is drinking.
The jury also heard lengthy audio excerpts of his memoir, “Beautiful Things,” in which he narrates his return to Delaware around the time of the gun purchase and his descent into drugs following the death of his brother, Beau, in 2015 from cancer.
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