Prosecutors concluded their case against Hunter Biden in Delaware on Friday morning, setting the stage for the first son to begin delivering his defense in a trial concerning felony gun charges.
The government’s case, led by special counsel David Weiss, involved questioning 10 witnesses over four days and presenting numerous text messages, emails, and receipts. It also included Biden’s own voice narrating excerpts from his memoir about overcoming drug addiction.
Biden faces charges of lying on a federal form about his drug use to purchase a revolver in October 2018 and unlawfully possessing the gun for 11 days.
The form inquired “are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to,” controlled substances, and Judge Maryellen Noreika ruled that this language meant prosecutors did not need to prove Biden was using drugs precisely on the day he filled out the form.
Prosecutors presented substantial evidence of Biden’s drug use around the time of the purchase, including testimonies from two ex-girlfriends who observed him using crack cocaine repeatedly in 2018, particularly in September 2018.
They also submitted text messages between Biden and one of them, Hallie Biden, the widow of his late brother, in which he mentioned “waiting for a dealer named Mookie” and “sleeping on a car smoking crack” within two days of buying the gun.
She further testified that upon discovering the gun in his truck, she found residues of crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia along with it.
Hunter Biden’s defense team aimed to portray Hallie Biden’s memory as unreliable, highlighting certain details about times and sequences of events that she could not recall.
His attorney Abbe Lowell clarified that the couple’s relationship was intense and complicated. During cross-examination, she admitted that he sometimes lied to her, casting doubt on the reliability of his communications with her.
Lowell also frequently stressed throughout the week that the form was written in the present tense and that addicts can be in a state of denial, indicating Hunter Biden believed he answered the gun form truthfully.
The trial will now move on to the defense phase, with Lowell previously stating he would call only a few witnesses and could conclude the defense’s case by the end of the day on Monday.
