WILMINGTON, Delaware — Prosecutors in the historic criminal trial of President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden told jurors on Tuesday that overwhelming evidence shows that the younger Biden lied to hide his drug addiction so he could illegally buy a gun, while the defense said he had no intent to deceive.
Jurors in federal court in Delaware heard opening statements by prosecution and defense lawyers in the first trial of a child of a sitting U.S. president before witness testimony began.
The prosecution showed jurors text messages in which Hunter Biden arranged drug deals and discussed smoking crack cocaine, including within days of his October 2018 purchase of a Colt Cobra revolver. They also played excerpts from the audiobook version of his autobiography in which he described his “bloodhound” instinct for finding crack around the time of his gun purchase.
Prosecutor Derek Hines said during his opening statement that “the evidence is overwhelming” and written in the defendant’s own words.
“Addiction is not a crime. Lying is,” Hines said.
Hunter Biden, 54, has pleaded not guilty to three felony charges accusing him of failing to disclose his use of illegal drugs when he bought the gun and of illegally possessing the weapon for 11 days.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell told jurors in his opening statement that no one disputes that Hunter Biden was a drug addict before and after the gun purchase. But Lowell told jurors that the gun purchase form asked Hunter Biden only if he was currently an addict, not whether he had used in the past, adding that his client had no “intent to deceive.”
FBI agent Erika Jensen was called as the first prosecution witness to testify about Hunter Biden’s texts, bank records and writings about his drug use.
That included a text the day after Hunter Biden bought the gun in which he said he was “waiting for a dealer named Mookie” and another the next day in which he said he had been sleeping on top of a car and smoking crack.
Hines asked Jensen about Hunter Biden’s 2021 autobiography, “Beautiful Things,” in which he documented his addiction. Hines played about 30 minutes of Biden’s monotone voice narrating the audiobook, including passages in which he detailed his constant hunt for drugs and what he called his “superpower – finding crack anytime, anywhere.”
Jensen also described Hunter Biden’s bank records that showed that he made almost daily cash withdrawals, totaling $151,000, from September to November 2018, covering the period of the gun purchase.
Lowell said Hunter Biden did not have a credit card at the time and was spending thousands of dollars on drug recovery.
Tuesday’s proceedings ended soon after Lowell began the cross examination of Jensen, which is set to continue today.