Prosecutors presented several explicit excerpts from Hunter Biden’s audiobook during his gun trial to provide evidence of his drug addiction at the time he purchased a firearm.
The excerpts included his self-proclaimed “superpower” of being able to purchase crack in any town. Biden also discussed how “walking into a high crime neighborhood and buying crack was like playing Russian roulette,” sometimes with five bullets in the chamber.
First lady Jill Biden and Hunter’s wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, had to listen to the records. The two women “sat stoically” during the session, according to CNN. Dr. Jill Biden focused on the exhibit display screen during the recording, occasionally shifting her eyes to Hunter and then over to the jury box.
After the trial recessed for lunch, Jill Biden left the courthouse. This marked the second day she attended her stepson’s trial.
First lady Jill Biden arrives ahead of Hunter Biden’s trial at federal court on June 3, 2024, in Wilmington, Delaware. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Meanwhile, Hunter flipped through pages in a binder while numerous jurors took notes, according to court reporters.
Jensen will likely be used to validate digital evidence in this case, including “embarrassing and intensely personal messages and images from Hunter Biden’s laptop,” CNN reported. Jensen authenticated bank statements from Hunter’s Wells Fargo account, which reportedly indicated ATM withdrawals in April 2019, showing Hunter was in both Washington, DC, and California.
Hunter Biden faces charges of one count of false statement in the purchase of a firearm, one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance, and one count of false statement related to information required to be kept by a federal firearms licensed dealer.
Hunter allegedly used crack when he bought the firearm, as evidenced by a variety of photos from that period on his abandoned laptop, and the gun was discovered discarded in a public trash can near a school. The Secret Service reportedly intervened in the investigation of that incident.
The case is United States v. Hunter Biden, No. 24-1703 in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
