Twelve jurors and four alternate jurors have been selected for the first of two federal criminal trials involving President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, according to the Associated Press.
The jury, made up of Delaware residents, was selected in just one day, with potential jurors asked about their views on gun rights, political prosecutions and whether the defendant’s father could affect a juror’s ability to make a fair and impartial decision.
Hunter Biden is on trial on federal firearms charges related to his 2018 gun purchase. Federal prosecutors allege the president’s son lied about using illegal drugs when he acquired the weapon, then illegally possessed it for 11 days.
He has pleaded not guilty, and the first criminal trial of the son of a sitting U.S. president began on Monday.
What to expect as Hunter Biden’s trial begins.
Opening statements are scheduled for Tuesday.
Lawyers for Hunter Biden and the Justice Department could make opening statements as early as Tuesday, when both sides will present their theories of the case to jurors.
Prosecutors are expected to argue that Hunter Biden lied when he checked “no” on a federal firearms purchase form that asked whether he was “an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana, sedatives, stimulants, narcotics, or other controlled substances.”
But Hunter Biden’s lawyers argue that the president’s son did not consider himself a drug addict when filling out the paperwork, suggesting he may have thought he was telling the truth.
“The issue here is how Biden understands the ‘are you a user or addict’ question in the present tense,” Biden lawyer Abe Lowell said. Written in court documents“The terms ‘user’ and ‘addict’ were not defined on the form and were not explained to him.
“Someone like Biden who has completed an 11-day rehabilitation program and lived with sober peers thereafter can be confident that he is not a current drug user or addict,” he continued.
The trial is expected to last about two weeks.
Who can testify?
The prosecution’s witness list includes three women who were romantically involved with Hunter Biden and are expected to testify about his drug use. They were not named in court documents but their identities were partially revealed in the description.
The first woman is Kathleen Buehl, Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, with whom he has three children.
Also on the list is Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter’s brother Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer. Hallie, who had a romantic relationship with Hunter after Beau’s death, threw the revolver at the center of the case in a trash can at a Wilmington supermarket while Hunter Biden was staying at her home.
The identity of the other woman remains unknown.
Prosecutors said in court documents that they intend to subpoena the three women, as well as employees of the gun shop that sold the revolver and watched Hunter Biden fill out a background check.
The list also includes a former Delaware State Police officer who recovered a firearm and a brown leather pouch from the trash.
Prosecutors have indicated they plan to call two experts: a chemist who will opine that a powdered substance reportedly found on the pouch was cocaine, and a narcotics enforcement agent who will opine on “coded messages” sent by Hunter Biden.
Prosecutors also plan to rely on Hunter Biden’s text messages, bank records and excerpts from his memoirs and audiobooks, according to court documents.
How much is it
The president’s son faces three felony charges in the case.
Hunter Biden faces two charges of making false statements on a federal background check when he purchased a Colt Cobra .38 Special revolver from StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply, a gun store in Wilmington, Delaware, on October 12, 2018.
Defendant checked the boxes indicating he was neither an unlawful user nor an addict of controlled substances, and the government argues that defendant was both at the time because of his use of crack cocaine.
The third and final charge is that Hunter Biden illegally possessed a firearm, which he possessed for 11 days before throwing it in a supermarket trash can.
If convicted on all charges, he faces up to 25 years in prison and a $750,000 fine.
Special Counsel David Weiss’s prosecution is separate from a separate case in California in which Hunter Biden faces nine charges for failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes and filing false tax returns.
The president has not been accused of wrongdoing in either case.
Biden family expresses support
Several members of the Biden family were in attendance at the Delaware courthouse where the first day of Hunter Biden’s trial was being held.
First lady Jill Biden arrived Monday morning, and Hunter Biden’s sister, Ashley Biden, was also there.
President Biden did not appear in Delaware court and said he would not comment on the federal trial, but issued an unusual statement of support.
“I’m president, but I’m also a father,” the president said in a statement. “Jill and I love our son and are so proud of the man he’s become.”
The president is due to embark on a European tour this week to mark the anniversary of the Normandy landings in France, and is likely to miss much of his son’s U.S. trial next week when he travels to Italy for the Group of Seven summit.
The Associated Press contributed.
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