Jacksonville: First lady Jill Biden has arrived at the court for son Hunter Biden’s national weapons test. She left France on Thursday night to join president Joe Biden for D-Day celebrations. She’ll returning to France for a state breakfast.
Hunter Biden’s trial is wrapping up, with two additional witnesses set to testify on Friday in an effort to show that the government’s son lied on a mandated gun order form when he claimed he was n’t” an unconstitutional users of, or addicted to” medicines.
Prosecutors were still anticipating calling a medicine expert and an FBI scientist, capping a week that had mostly been spent highlighting his drug problem through very specific and occasionally lurid testimony.
His ex-wife and ex-girlfriend testified to the jury about his habitual break use and how they tried unsuccessfully to help him get clear. They watched videos of the government’s boy holding crack pipes while half-naked and bare-chested in a filthy room, and watching his crack cocaine weigh on a level.
The prosecution contends that the information must show Hunter, 54, was addicted when he purchased the cannon and lied when he entered “no” on the form. His lawyer, Abbe Lowell, has argued Hunter did not think of himself as an “addict” when he bought the cannon and did not intend to deceive anyone.
President Joe Biden also walked the line between being president and a parents, telling ABC he would take the jury’s verdict and rule out granting his son a pardon. Earlier this year he issued a statement saying:” I am the President, but I am also a Dad. We are but proud of our brother, who we love so much.
Biden is in France this week to celebrate the anniversary of D-Day. First lady Jill Biden, who spent most of the week in court, flew from France on Thursday to attend the test once more on Friday before making her way back to France for a state meal.
Hunter Biden has been accused of three offenses, including lying to a weapon dealer who is a federally licensed trader, fabricating a bogus claim on the program by saying he had never used drugs, and having the firearm without permission for 11 days.
He has pleaded not guilty. He had hoped to solve the firearm case and another income case in California by entering a plea deal last season, the outcome of a year-long investigation into his business dealings. Due to the agreement, he pleaded guilty to lower-level costs, which would have ended both cases and prevented him from witnessing a demo so close to the 2024 election. After Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned uncommon elements of the proposed contract and the attorneys may n’t solve them, the contract broke down.
Hunter Biden claimed he was charged because the Justice Department succumbed to Republican force, who argued the son of the Democratic president was receiving specific treatment, and who have raised their threats to the criminal justice system since Donald Trump was just found guilty in a quiet money case in New York City.
Lowell said he would visit the mayor’s brother James as a witness, but it’s unclear but whether Hunter Biden may speak.
However, his message has already been audible by judges. In his 2021 narrative” Beautiful Things,” in which he describes his lifelong obsession struggles and downward spiraling heritage following the death of his brother Beau in 2015, lawyers have played lengthy audio snippets from his long audiotape in court. The book, written after he got sober, covers the period he had the gun but does n’t mention it specifically.
According to Lowell, Hunter Biden’s state of mind was different when he wrote the book than when he bought the gun because he did n’t think he had an addiction. He explained to jurors that some of the issues on the weapon purchase history, such as “are you an unconstitutional person of or addicted to” medicines, are in the present tense.
And he posits that Hunter Biden might have had a drinking problem at the time rather than a medication issue. Alcohol abuse does n’t preclude a gun purchase.
The reason legislation enforcement raised any concerns about the pistol is because Hallie Biden, Beau’s lady, found it unloaded in Hunter’s vehicle on Oct. 23, 2018, panicked and tossed it into a garbage is at a local market. She testified about the event Thursday.
She told jurors that she had thought about hiding the cannon but worried that her children may discover it.
” I realize it was a terrible idea today, but I was panicking”, she said. ” I did n’t want him to hurt himself, and I did n’t want my kids to find it and hurt themselves”.
After Beau passed away, Hallie Biden, who had a simple romantic relationship with him after his death, testified that she had not seen him use medicines from the time he returned to Delaware from a 2018 trip to California until she threw his gun aside. He also purchased the weapons that morning.
But much of her evidence focused on Oct. 23, 2018- 11 weeks after he bought it. Hunter was staying with her and seemed exhausted. When the prosecutor inquired as to whether it appeared Hunter was using medications at the time, she responded,” He could have been.”
Hallie Biden went over to examine Hunter’s car as he slept in her house. She claimed she was hoping to assist him in getting or staying calm, completely of both cocaine and alcohol. She claimed to have discovered the relics of crack cocaine and other drug equipment. She discovered the cannon Hunter had purchased in a package that had a cracked lock that prevented it from completely closing. There was also weapons.
She placed a leather pouch in a case in the Janssen’s Market garbage can and placed the pack there. He noticed it was missing and inquired whether she had taken it.
” Are you stupid”? he texted. He instructed her to return to the marketplace to find it.
Surveillance footage that was screened for jurors showed her digging in the trash can for the gun, but it was n’t there. She inquired if someone had removed the debris from the business. According to Hunter, she told her to record it because the weapon had been registered in his brand. She called the police while she was inside the business.
The gentleman was unintentionally taken from the debris and other recyclables, but the officers discovered him and recovered it. Due to Hunter Biden’s lack of cooperation, which was later accepted as the target, the situation was ultimately closed.
The case’s officers, the man who found the weapon, and the shop assistant who sold Hunter the revolver were also heard by the judges.
If convicted, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, though primary- time criminals do not get somewhere near the utmost, and it’s unclear whether the judge may give him time behind bars.
He also faces a separate trial in September on charges of omitting$ 1.4 million in taxes.
