Opening statements in the United States v. Hunter Biden lawsuit are expected to begin Tuesday morning.
The eldest son’s trial began Monday in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware.
Jury selection lasted several hours, with the final jury of 12 jurors and four alternate jurors selected Monday afternoon.
Hunter Biden’s federal gun crime trial begins with jury selection
Judge Maryellen Noreika, who presided over the case, instructed the jurors not to talk about the case during their term and to remain open-minded.
Hunter Biden arrives at the federal courthouse on the first day of his firearms-related criminal trial in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 3, 2024. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
During Monday’s selection process, nearly every potential juror said they know someone who has experienced or is currently experiencing substance abuse or addiction.
Nearly all of the potential jurors said they had heard about the Hunter Biden case in the news.
Judge bars prosecutors from using salacious evidence in Hunter Biden gun trial
Opening statements will be made by government prosecutors from the office of Special Counsel David Weiss. Hunter Biden’s attorney is Abe Lowell.
The eldest son’s trial stemmed from a years-long investigation by special prosecutor David Weiss.
Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to federal firearms charges in Delaware after Weiss charged him with making false statements regarding the purchase of a firearm, making false statements regarding the license requirements of a firearms dealer and one count of possession of a firearm by an unlawful user or addict of a controlled substance.
Combined, the charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 25 years. Each charge carries a maximum fine of $250,000 and three years probation.
Hunter Biden was joined on the first day of the trial by his stepmother, Jill Biden, who would have celebrated her 73rd birthday on Monday.
Also attending Monday’s trial were his sister, Ashley Biden, and his wife, Melissa Cohen.
First Lady Jill Biden arrives ahead of Hunter Biden’s trial at federal court in Wilmington, Delaware on June 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
At the start of the hearing, Hunter greeted his mother with a joke, according to The Washington Post.
“Happy birthday,” he reportedly said. “I’ve got a special event planned for you.”
The two reportedly laughed afterwards.
President Biden did not attend his son’s trial but issued a statement.
Hunter Biden pleads not guilty to federal firearms charges in special counsel David Weiss’ investigation
“I’m a president, but I’m also a father,” Biden said in a statement Monday. “Jill and I love our son and are proud of the man he has become. Hunter’s resilience in the face of adversity and the strength he has brought to his recovery are inspiring to us all.”
“Many families have loved ones who have overcome addiction and know exactly what we’re talking about. As President, I do not and will not comment on pending federal litigation, but as a father, I have endless love and faith for my son and respect for his strength. Our family has been through a lot together, and Jill and I will continue to offer our love and support to Hunter and his family.”
“My son has done nothing wrong. I trust him. I have confidence in him, and that impacts my presidency by making me proud of him,” Biden said in an extraordinary interview in May 2023, before his son was indicted last year.
Meanwhile, the trial began nearly a year after Noreika questioned the plea deal between prosecutors and Hunter Biden, which then fell apart.
President Biden’s daughter, Ashley Biden, hugs a police officer as she leaves the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building during her brother’s trial on June 3, 2024, in Wilmington, Delaware. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
This agreement: “Sweeheart” deal The bill, introduced by Republican lawmakers, would give the president’s son broad immunity from a host of potential criminal prosecutions.
According to the indictment, Hunter Biden purchased a Colt Cobra revolver on Oct. 12, 2018, and “knowingly made false written statements with the intent and likelihood to deceive dealers regarding facts material to the lawfulness of the sale of firearms…He certified that he was not an unlawful user of, or addicted to, any stimulants, narcotics or other controlled substances, when in fact he knew the statements were false and fictitious.”
The indictment also alleges that Hunter Biden possessed the gun “shipped and transported in interstate commerce” for nearly a week despite being addicted to drugs.
Fox News first reported in 2021 that police responded to a 2018 incident in which a gun belonging to Hunter was tossed in a trash can outside a market in Delaware.
Hunter Biden arrives with his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, at the federal courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Luke)
A source familiar with the Oct. 23, 2018 police report told Fox News that it suggests Hallie Biden, the widow of President Biden’s late son Beau and who was in a relationship with Hunter at the time, threw out Hunter’s gun in a trash can behind a market near the school.
Hallie Biden may be called to testify during Hunter Biden’s trial.
Firearms trade According to the report, reviewed by Fox News, Hunter had purchased the gun earlier that month.
In the firearms trafficking report, Hunter responded in the negative when asked if he was “an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana, sedatives, stimulants, narcotics or other controlled substances.”
Hunter was discharged from the Navy in 2014 after testing positive for cocaine.
Prior to the trial, Judge Noreika ruled that Weiss’s team could not use salacious evidence in Hunter’s criminal trial, including from his Navy discharge and a child support case for his unmarried daughter who lives in Arkansas.
Hunter Biden tax trial postponed to September
Noreika also said Weiss must prove that Hunter Biden was addicted to drugs but wasn’t necessarily using drugs on the day he bought the gun.
Noreika said the government could use portions of Hunter Biden’s book in which he discusses drug addiction.
President Biden and his son Hunter disembark from Air Force One at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, New York on February 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Prosecutors don’t plan to release the entire infamous laptop that details Hunter Biden’s life, but they will release parts of it. Judge Noreika ruled that Hunter Biden’s team will be allowed to question parts of the laptop in front of the jury. The laptop, which was leaked just before the 2020 presidential election, has been denounced by 51 former intelligence officials as Russian disinformation.
Judge Noreika also ruled that the special counsel cannot mention during the Delaware trial Hunter Biden’s pending federal tax trial in California, which is also part of Judge Weiss’ investigation and is scheduled to go to trial in September.
Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to three felony and six misdemeanor charges relating to $1.4 million in back taxes that have already been paid. Weiss alleged a “four-year scheme” in which the president’s son did not pay federal income taxes between January 2017 and October 2020 and also filed false tax returns.
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Judge Mark Scarce heard arguments at a pretrial hearing in California last month. That criminal trial had been scheduled for June 20, but Hunter Biden’s lawyers have asked for the trial to be postponed.
Scarce sided with Hunter Biden’s lawyers to postpone the tax trial until Sept. 5, when jury selection is due to begin.
