Hunter Biden trial reside: Opening statements start in gun case

Hunter Biden bought a revolver and ‘full metal jacket’ bullets while addicted to crack cocaine and living a life of ‘non-stop debauchery,’ a court heard.

At the opening of his trial on gun and drug charges in Wilmington, Delaware prosecutors said Biden was ‘smoking crack every 15 minutes’ when he purchased the gun on October 12, 2018.

Jill Biden sat in the front row of the public benches with Hunter’s half-sister Ashley Biden and his wife Melissa Cohen.

Biden has pled not guilty to two charges related to lying on his federal gun purchase form by saying he was not an addict, and one charge of possessing a firearm while addicted to narcotics.

Joe Biden left his son Hunter a voicemail urging him to ‘get some help’, three days after the president’s son lied about his drug addiction on a federal form to buy a gun – the offense at the center of his Delaware criminal trial.

The audio clip of the voice message, obtained by DailyMail.com from Hunter‘s abandoned laptop, suggests that even the president knew his son was an addict in October 2018.

Jury selection began Monday for the trial, in which Hunter is charged with lying about his sobriety on a Firearms Transaction Record in order to purchase a handgun – a federal offense.

Prosecutors will argue that the First son committed three felonies by falsely stating on a form that he was not an drug addict in order to buy a Colt Cobra .38 handgun on October 12, 2018.

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The courtroom hallway at Hunter Biden‘s federal gun trial erupted in chaos on Tuesday when his wife Melissa Cohen flew into a rage at a former Donald Trump White House aide.

Cohen approached Garrett Ziegler and called him a ‘Nazi piece of s***’ who had no right watching the case.

Ziegler did not respond to Cohen, as she carried on walking into the courtroom to take her seat next to First Lady Jill Biden.

The prosecution gave the full list of witnesses it will call:

• Hallie Biden
• Hunter’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle
• Gordon Cleveland, the gun store employee who was there when Hunter is alleged to have lied on a purchase form
• Forensic chemist Dr. Jason Brewer
• Zoe Kestan, who says she was romantically involved with Hunter. The jury heard she will testify about Hunter’s use of crack

Hallie Biden will testify about her own use of crack and it will be ‘embarrassing,’ the jury heard.

Hines said: ‘Hallie will testify about her own crack use.’

She will do so under an immunity agreement, jurors were told.

They have already heard that Hallie was introduced to crack by Hunter and that they had a romantic relationship.

Hallie was clean by the time Hunter purchased the gun and is clean today, the court heard.

James Biden is a witness for the defense. He is close with Hunter and is expected to be a character witness for the First Son.

Hines told the jury: ‘No one is above the law.

‘That law makes no distinction beteeen Hunter Biden and anybody else.

‘The defense lied when he claimed on that form he was not a drug user or a drug addict.

‘No one is allowed to lie on a federal form like that. Not even Hunter Biden.’

Hines said Hunter was ‘addicted to crack before, during and after his purchase of the gun.’

The prosecutor told jurors Hunter had described obtaining crack as his ‘superpower’ and had been ‘smoking every 15 minutes, seven days a week.’

He said a woman he was in a romantic relationship with – a different woman to Hallie Biden – would testify that he was using crack ‘except when he slept.’

Hines went on to quote to the jury passages from Hunter’s memoir ‘Beautiful Things’ in which he detailed his drug use.

President Joe Biden, 81, says he wishes he took earlier action to reverse Donald Trump‘s border policies.

In a defensive and, at times, combative interview with Time Magazine, the president insisted his age is not a problem going into the 2024 election even though he would be 86 at the end of a second term.

While Biden is expected to issue an executive order this week to shut down the border once crossings reach 4,000 per day, he still claims his previous actions on illegal immigration have not exacerbated the ongoing crisis.

Besides inflation and the economy, immigration often tops the list of biggests issues for Americans ahead of November’s presidential election. But Biden faces another uphill battle – his age.

Polls in recent months continue to portray that voters think the current president is too old or mentally and physically unfit for another four years in office. If elected for a second term, Biden would beat his own record set three-and-a-half-years ago by being the oldest president ever elected to office.

From DailyMail.com’s Nick Allen in Delaware court:

Hallie Biden threw Hunter’s gun in a trash can at Janssen’s Market in Wilmington, the jury was told.

Hines said: ‘The defendant was angry and told her to go back to get it but by a stroke of good fortune it was gone.’

It had been picked out of the trash by a man collecting recyclables.

The jury was told they would hear from the man who found the gun as a witness later in the trial.

From DailyMail.com’s Nick Allen in Delaware court:

Prosecutor Hines showed the jury messages sent by Hunter.

One said: ‘I was sleeping on a car smoking crack on 4th St and Rodney.’

In another he said he was ‘waiting for a dealer.’

Hines said: ‘The defendant introduced Hallie to crack and she became a user too.’

He said Hallie was clean by the time of the gun incident and ‘remains clean today.’

Hines said: ‘Hallie found the gun and his drug paraphernalia stored in his truck.

‘Concerned about the gun she decided to get rid of it. She put the gun, speed loader and ammunition in a gift bag.’

She then ‘panicked’ and ‘threw all those items in a trash can,’ the prosecutor said.

The messages Hines showed the jury also included one to a dealer which said: ‘Can you get baby powder? The really soft stuff.’

Hines told the jury the defendant had filled out a federal gun purchase form watched by a gun store employee.

They were shown the form and where he put an ‘X’ in response to a question to show that he was not a drug user.

Hunter was in possession of the gun for 11 days, the jury was told.

During that time someone close to him became concerned.

Hines said: ‘That person is Hallie Biden, his brother’s widow, who he was in a romantic relationship with.’

Prosecutor Derek Hines told the jury Biden went into StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply and ‘surveyed its large inventory’ before selecting a .38-caliber Colt Cobra revolver.

He also bought a ‘speed loader’ allowing the five rounds to be loaded quickly.

Mr Hines said he purchased a type of ‘lethal ammunition’ known as ‘full metal jacket’ which was better at ‘ripping to shreds what it comes into contact with’

Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland is clapping back at Republicans who held him in contempt of Congress during opening remarks.

Garland opened by saying he ‘will not be intimidated’ despite the contempt push, and insisted he will ‘not back down.’

He also says claims that DOJ is in ‘cahoots’ with Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who secured a Trump conviction, are a ‘conspiracy theory.’

He adds that it comes ‘at a time when we are seeing heinous threats’ to DOJ career officials and he views the ‘attacks’ as a very serious matter.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., fired back at Garland, saying his ‘conspiracy theory’ remarks are out of line.

He brought up AG Garland’s former aide Matthew Colangelo – who left DOJ for the Manhattan’s DA office to prosecute Trump.

‘I did not dispatch Mr. Colangelo anywhere,’ Garland fired back.

Meanwhile on Capitol Hill…Attorney General Merrick Garland will take the hot seat during a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

He’s expected to face a grilling over the Trump conviction and refusing to release audio from President Biden’s special counsel interview.

It’s the top Justice Department official’s first time facing lawmakers since a jury found Donald Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records over hush money payments to Stormy Daniels on Thursday.

And it comes just as Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan proposed ‘defunding’ all of the prosecutions against Donald Trump in what would be an unprecedented move.

A juror has dropped out of the Hunter Biden trial because she lives an hour away.

Juror 16, selected in seat three, also told the court she’s unemployed and can’t afford to make the daily trip.

‘We lost a juror,’ said Judge Maryellen Noreika upon entering the courtroom Tuesday.

She explained that the juror lived in Milford, Delaware, about an hour away from court.

Attorney General Merrick Garland will take the hot seat during a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday where he’s expected to face a grilling over the Trump conviction and refusing to release audio from President Biden’s special counsel interview.

It’s the top Justice Department official’s first time facing lawmakers since a jury found Donald Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records over hush money payments to Stormy Daniels on Thursday.

And it comes just as Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan proposed ‘defunding’ all of the prosecutions against Donald Trump in what would be an unprecedented move.

Jordan submitted a legislative proposal to the Appropriations Committee that would ban any funds from being used to prosecute a former or current vice president or president.

Connections to the Biden family and experience with drug addiction were common themes among prospective jurors in the Hunter Biden trial.

A panel of seven men and five women was picked on Monday night and sworn in.

Most admitted they knew the Biden and family; one said Jill Biden was an ‘acquaintance’.

A former Secret Service employee ended up on the jury that will hear opening statements on Tuesday.

Hunter Biden has arrived at the Delaware court for opening statements in his federal gun trial.

He walked into the building hand-in-hand with his wife Melissa Cohen and was followed by stepmother Jill and half-sister Ashley.

President Joe Biden says he wishes he ended Donald Trump’s border policies even sooner – despite implementing much of his reversals on Day One.

Speaking with Time Magazine, Biden insisted that implementing humanitarian policies for illegal immigrants did not exacerbate the migrant crisis at the southern border.

He stood by his decision to reverse Trump’s restrictive border policies and says he only wishes he did it sooner – even as the president prepares to issue an executive order this week to shut down the border once it reaches 4,000 crossing per day.

“If I was wrong, it’s because I took too long,” the president told Time.

Since taking office in January 2021, nearly 8 million illegal immigrants crossed the southern border and recent estimates put the number of undocumented migrants living in the U.S. above 20 million.

Biden says he is not examining reinstating Trump’s so-called Remain in Mexico program.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Tuesday the Palestinian militant group frowns upon Washington and the West’s calls for it to accept President Joe Biden’s proposal on Gaza ‘as if it is Hamas who is hampering the deal.’

In comments reported by Hamas media, Abu Zuhri said Israel is not serious about reaching a deal in Gaza and is still maneuvering under the U.S.’ cover.

Reporting from Reuters

Joe Biden slapped back at concerns he won’t be an effective president when he is 85.

In a wide-ranging interview with TIME Magazine, the 81-year-old Biden was asked about many Americans who already think he is too old.

‘I can do it better than anybody you know.  You’re looking at me, I can take you too, he told the reporter.

When asked if he didn’t consider running because of his age, he flatly said: ‘No’.

DailyMail.com breaks down all the evidence federal prosecutors will use against the president’s son as opening statements begin.

Hunter is also facing federal tax charges in Los Angeles and is set for trial in that case in September – just weeks before the presidential election.

As Hunter Biden‘s historic gun case kicked off in Wilmington, Delaware Monday, all eyes will be on the Trump-appointed judge handling the case: Judge Maryellen Noreika.

Politico reported Sunday that just last month, Noreika doubled the recommended sentence of a defendant who pleaded guilty to a similar gun crime.

On May 2, Noreika found that defendant Zhi Dong should go to prison for a year – not the six months suggested by prosecutors.

Dong was accused of lying on government forms about his address when he bought guns in Delaware.

He purchased 19 pistols and 10 lower receivers in Delaware using a Newark, Delaware address and a Delaware driver’s license at several federal firearms licensees in the state.

After nearly eight million apprehensions at the southern border since taking office, President Joe Biden is finally prepared to execute an executive action this week that would address illegal immigration.

But with just five months until the 2024 presidential election, House Speaker Mike Johnson says it’s ‘too little, too late’ and Republicans have called the move an election ‘stunt’.

He also claims that despite plans for just one executive order hat could shut down the border, Biden and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have already enacted 64 other actions since January 2021 ‘to open the border.’

llegal immigration and the crisis at the southern border remains a top issue for voters going into November – and Biden is looking to finally act after years of pressure to enact a crackdown.

Some estimates put the number of illegal immigrants living in the United States at more than 20 million. And the number of gotaways continue to elude even top immigration officials.

President Joe Biden broke cover after the first day of son Hunter Biden‘s gun trial to raise money for his reelection bid at a glitzy Greenwich, Connecticut home.

After spending the day in Wilmington, Delaware with nothing on his schedule, the president addressed high-dollar donors Monday night at the home of former HBO boss Richard Plepler.

He warned of the ‘uncharted territory’ the campaign entered into after former President Donald Trump became a felon – and raised a jaw-dropping $141 million in May.

‘This guy does not deserve to be president whether or not I’m running,’ the 81-year-old presumptive Democratic nominee said.

Biden noted that ‘for the first time in American history a former president that is a convicted felon is now seeking the office of the presidency.’

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Hunter Biden will return to federal court in Delaware this morning for opening statements in his gun trial.

Attorney General Merrick Garland will appear in Congress to defend his handling of the Special Counsel report into Biden’s handling of classified documents.

The president will also sign an executive action on the border later on Tuesday to crack down on migrant crossings in a move branded an election ‘stunt’ by his critics.