Judging by opening statements in Hunter Biden’s federal firearms case, it appears Ashley Biden’s troubling diary may no longer be the heaviest family burden President Joe Biden will have to carry into the November election.
Democratic president and gun control advocate son face
Three Counts On suspicion of illegal possession of a handgun: lying to a federally licensed firearms dealer, filing a false claim on a federal firearms application and possessing an illegally obtained firearm.
If convicted on all three charges, Biden could face up to 25 years in prison and a fine of up to $750,000. It would also be a major black mark on the White House, which made a big profit in recent days from the conviction of former President Donald Trump.
Before hearing opening statements from the prosecution and defense, Judge Maryellen Noreika of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, a Trump appointee, indicated she would allow the jury of four Black men, three Black women, two white men and three white women to view images of the president’s son undressed and wearing illegal drug paraphernalia.
report The New York Times.
After latecomers were seated, the prosecution and defense gave their opening statements in a packed courtroom as it became clear that incriminating images from the laptop, long downplayed by the liberal media and intelligence agencies, would come back to haunt the Biden family.
Once the two charges were finalized, prosecutors called disembodied witnesses with authoritative insight into Hunter Biden’s poor choices and corrupt lifestyle, severely weakening his defense.
The Prosecutor’s Trap
Senior Assistant Special Counsel Derek Hines quoted comments repeated by Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland and other Democrats when they spoke about former President Donald Trump’s case. Hines said in this case, too, “No one is above the law. It doesn’t matter who you are, it doesn’t matter what your name is.”
“No one is allowed to lie, not even Hunter Biden.”
While Hunter Biden avoided the legal consequences that ordinary Americans face over his illegal drug use, Hines made it clear he cannot escape them for lying on his federal firearms application.
“No one can lie, not even Hunter Biden,” Hines said.
During jury selection, some jurors identified themselves as having addicts in their lives, but prosecutors made it clear that the president’s son was not in the courtroom simply because he was a junkie.
“Addiction may not be a choice, but lying to buy a gun is a choice,” Hines said.
NBC News
I got it. How much emphasis did Hines place on this theme?
Hunter Biden “chose to illegally possess firearms” and “chose to lie,” prosecutors said. Hines later added that Hunter Biden did not give up his guns of his own volition: They were taken from him by his former girlfriend, Hallie Biden, his brother’s widow, and thrown in a trash can outside a supermarket.
Hines gave jurors and the public a preview of what to expect.
Gordon Cleveland, who sold Biden’s guns at StarQuest Shooters, is expected to testify about Biden’s deception. Hallie Biden, who has been granted immunity, is scheduled to testify “about her crack use” and possibly about the disposal of Hunter Biden’s guns. Zoe Kestan, one of Biden’s sexual partners who has been granted immunity, is also scheduled to detail her observations of Biden’s constant crack use.
Jurors will also hear testimony from Biden’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhl, FBI agent Erica Jensen, Delaware State Police Officer Joshua Murray, Delaware State Police Lt. Millard Greer, forensic chemist Dr. Jason Brewer and possibly a special agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
In addition to these witnesses, prosecutors will likely submit text messages and drug residue to prove Hunter Biden lied, according to The New York Times.
Defender Framing
Biden’s lawyer, Abe Lowell, has downplayed the severity of Biden’s alleged crimes, shifted the blame onto Buhl and Cleveland, suggested Biden’s drug use was inconsistent, at least not enough to infer drug use at the time of the gun purchase, and implied Biden’s intent to be drugged at the time of the purchase was unclear.
“Hunter purchased a small handgun,” Lowell said. “It was not loaded.”
Lowell emphasized that Biden has never used a Colt Cobra .38 Special revolver.
Lowell suggested that it would be up to prosecutors to prove Biden “knowingly broke the law.” To do that, she suggested, they would have to prove that the president’s son went into a gun store with the intent to buy a weapon and knew he was an addict. The prosecution has witnesses who say they saw Hunter Biden smoking crack every 15 to 20 minutes, stopping only to sleep, but Lowell suggested that intent would be impossible to prove.
NBC News reported that the defense may also try to refute some of the prosecution’s claims about Hunter Biden’s drug and alcohol use around the time he bought the guns by suggesting that he routinely deceived Hallie Biden.
Finally, Lowell suggested the defense was trying to shift the blame onto Cleveland, the gun dealer, and imply that he circumvented the regulations in making his sales.
First move
After a short break, during which Biden’s current wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, went into hysterical rage and called Trump’s former White House aide “Nazi scum,” the trial resumed with Erica Jensen taking the stand.
Prosecutors played footage of Hunter Biden reading from his autobiography, “Beautiful Things,” in which he acknowledges that he was addicted to crack cocaine for four years before his 2019 trip to California.
Hunter Biden purchased the gun in October 2018. His defense argues that Biden did not know he was an addict when he went into the gun store, in contrast to the four-year crack drug habit he described in his autobiography.
In one passage heard in court, Hunter Biden refers to his “super power” – the ability to find crack. Wherever he goes.
Jensen, an FBI agent for nearly two decades who was assigned to the Hunter Biden case last year, authenticated the ATM receipts, providing further context to Hunter Biden’s potentially incriminating literary confessions. report CNN.
Before the court broke for lunch, Hunter Biden did much of the prosecution’s legwork via audio recordings, which were played to an audience that included First Lady Jill Biden and Cohen Biden.
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