WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The Latest on Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial (all times local):
Testifying in Hunter Biden’s trial, gun story employee Jason Turner said the instructions for both the buyer and the seller are clearly spelled out on the form.
Turner said that before he ran the background check, another employee, Gordon Cleveland, showed him the form and a copy of Hunter Biden’s passport.
“It was missing information,” Turner said, explaining that the form was missing Hunter Biden’s signature and a supplementary form of identification showing Hunter’s address, which was not on the passport.
Currently:
— Prosecution rests its case in Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial
— What’s the firearms form at the center of Hunter Biden’s gun trial? AP Explains
Here’s the latest:
COURT RESUMES WITH DEFENSE CALLING ITS FIRST WITNESS
Court has resumed in Hunter Biden’s federal trial with the defense calling its first witness, gun store employee Jason Turner.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell questioned Turner, a former employee at the Delaware gun store where Hunter bought a handgun in October 2018. Turner was the store employee who ran the required federal background check after Hunter Biden filled out paperwork for buying the .38 caliber Colt revolver.
Prosecutors say Hunter Biden lied about being a drug user and addicted to crack cocaine when he filled out the federal firearms purchase form.
JAMES BIDEN, THE PRESIDENT’S BROTHER, HAS ENTERED THE COURTHOUSE
President Joe Biden’s brother, James Biden, has arrived at the courthouse where Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial is taking place.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell has said he would call James Biden as a witness.
Hunter Biden been charged with three felonies: 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.
HUNTER BIDEN’S DEFENSE ATTORNEY SAYS HE’S MAKING A MOTION FOR ACQUITTAL
After prosecutors rested their case in Hunter Biden’s gun trial and the jurors were dismissed for a morning break, defense attorney Abbe Lowell told the judge he was making an oral motion for acquittal.
Lowell said he will lay out the grounds for his motion in a written submission expected to be file later in the day.
“I appreciate you letting me know what’s coming,” the judge said.
While the judge was questioning Lowell about his motion, Hunter Biden’s wife, Melissa, shook her head and appeared to be irritated.
PROSECUTORS REST THEIR CASE AGAINST HUNTER BIDEN IN HIS FEDERAL GUN TRIAL
Prosecutors have rested their case in Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial.
It came after DEA special agent Joshua Romig concluded his testimony.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Abbe Lowell noted there were no coded references to drugs in the texts Romig was shown during the time period from August 2018 to November 2018.
In October 2018, however, Hunter Biden had sent two text messages to Hallie Biden saying he was waiting for a dealer and smoking crack. The first message was sent the day after he bought the gun. The second was sent the following day.
DEA AGENT SAID HE DIDN’T INVESTIGATE ALLEGED DRUG DEALERS TEXTING WITH HUNTER BIDEN
On cross-examination, defense attorney Abbe Lowell asked DEA special agent Joshua Romig whether he investigated any of the alleged drug dealers who were texting with Hunter Biden.
Romig said he didn’t investigate anyone because he wasn’t involved in the Hunter Biden case.
“This is not my investigation,” he said.
DEA AGENT SAYS LANGUAGE IN TEXTS IS INDICATIVE OF DRUG DEALS
Prosecutor Derek Hines led DEA special agent Joshua Romig through a series of text messages prosecutors say were exchanged between Hunter Biden and three different drug dealers in the spring and summer of 2018.
Romig said the language in the text exchanges was indicative of drug deals.
Similar text messages were exchanged in November 2018, the month after Hunter Biden bought the gun.
Romig also said a photo of Hunter Biden taken in December 2018 shows him holding what appears to be a crack pipe.
Hines also played a video taken on Hunter Biden’s phone in December 2018 of chunks of a white substance on a digital scale. Romig said the video appears to show about 2 grams of crack cocaine.
DEA SPECIAL AGENT JOSHUA ROMIG IS TESTIFYING IN HUNTER BIDEN’S TRIAL
DEA special agent Joshua Romig is the next prosecution witness to testify in Hunter Biden’s gun trial.
Prosecutor Derek Hines asked Romig about how cocaine flows into the United States from countries such as Colombia and Peru.
Romig also explained that crack cocaine is a more powerful form of the drug derived from powder cocaine. Hunter Biden is accused of lying about being addicted to crack cocaine when he bought a gun in October 2018.
FBI CHEMIST TESTIFIES THAT COCAINE IDENTIFED IN POWDER ON POUCH THAT HELD GUN
Prosecutor Leo Wise handed FBI chemist Jason Brewer a leather pouch in which Hunter Biden’s sister-in-law and former lover Hallie Biden put the gun before tossing it in a trash can outside an upscale grocery store near her home 11 days after he bought it.
Brewer said he tested the pouch to determine whether there was any trace of drugs or drug residue.
“I found a minimal amount of white powder, or off-white powder,” Brewer said. The powder was found on the interior flap and in the bottom of the pouch.
Brewer said he tested the powder with a chemical solution and gas chromatography.
“Did you reach a conclusion about the substance you tested?” Wise asked.
“Cocaine was identified within the residual white powder that I sampled,” Brewer said.
On cross-examination, defense attorney David Kolansky noted the amount of residue Brewer tested was “minimal.” He also noted that Brewer tested the pouch in October 2023, five years after the pouch was recovered by police who were called after Hallie Biden threw it in the trash can.
Kolasnky also noted that the tests Brewer did don’t indicate when the drug residue got on the pouch or how it got there.
COURT RESUMES WITH FBI CHEMIST ON WITNESS STAND
The fifth day of Hunter Biden’s gun trial in Delaware began Friday with prosecutors calling an FBI forensic chemist examiner to the witness stand.
Prosecutor Leo Wise is questioning Jason Brewer, who is an expert in analyzing controlled substances.
Hunter Biden is charged with falsely denying he was a drug user or addict when he bought a gun at a Wilmington gun store in October 2018.
FIRST LADY JILL BIDEN ARRIVES AT THE COURTHOUSE FOR SON’S TRIAL
First lady Jill Biden has arrived at the courthouse for son Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial.
She left France on Thursday evening where she was attending D-Day events with President Joe Biden. She’ll return to France for a state dinner.
2 MORE PROSECUTION WITNESSES EXPECTED IN HUNTER BIDEN’S TRIAL
Federal prosecutors are wrapping up their gun case in Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial with two more witnesses expected Friday in their effort to prove to jurors the president’s son lied on a mandatory gun purchase form when he said he wasn’t “an unlawful user of, or addicted to” drugs.
Prosecutors are still planning to call a drug expert and an FBI chemist, capping a week that has been largely dedicated to highlighting the seriousness of his drug problem through highly personal and sometimes salacious testimony.
Hunter Biden been charged with three felonies: 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.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM DAY 3 OF TESTIMONY: BEAU BIDEN’S WIDOW SAID SHE THREW GUN INTO TRASH CAN
The widow of Hunter Biden’s brother told jurors in his federal gun trial Thursday about the moment she found the revolver in his truck, describing how she put it into a leather pouch, stuffed it into a shopping bag and tossed it in a trash can outside a market near her home.
“I panicked, and I wanted to get rid of them,” she testified about finding the gun and ammunition in the vehicle’s console in October 2018. “I didn’t want him to hurt himself, and I didn’t want my kids to find it and hurt themselves.”
The purchase of the Colt revolver by Hunter Biden — and Hallie Biden’s frenzied disposal of it — are the fulcrum of the case against him.
HUNTER BIDEN’S OTHER TRIAL
Hunter Biden was supposed to have avoided prosecution in the gun case altogether, but a deal with prosecutors fell apart last year.
He was subsequently indicted on three felony gun charges. He also faces a trial scheduled for September on felony charges alleging he failed to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over four years.
