WILMINGTON, Del. — Details of Hunter Biden’s relationship with a 24-year-old stripper, his need for crack cocaine every 20 minutes and how his worsening addiction destroyed his first marriage were on full display before a jury deliberating the eldest son’s three felony charges connected to the 2018 purchase of a revolver.
“The minute he woke up he would want to smoke,” Biden’s former girlfriend, Zoe Kestan, testified Wednesday. She met Biden when she was 24 and he was 48 and she was working at a gentlemen’s club in New York City.
The court continued to hear testimony Wednesday from FBI Special Agent Erica Jensen, Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, Kestan and gun store employee Gordon Cleveland as prosecutors tried to prove to jurors that Biden lied about his drug addiction when he filled out a federal application in 2018 to buy a Colt revolver.
Biden is charged with making a false statement in connection with a firearm purchase, making a false statement regarding information required to be kept by federally licensed gun dealers, and possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
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Hunter Biden arrives with his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, at the federal courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Biden He pleaded not guilty In that case.
The three charges carry a combined maximum prison sentence of 25 years. Each charge carries a maximum fine of $250,000 and three years probation.
In her testimony, Kestan detailed that she met Biden in December 2017 after he booked a private room for 30 minutes at the strip club where she worked, eventually sparking a relationship with the man she described as “charming and charismatic.”
Testifying under immunity, Kestan described Biden’s frequent drug abuse throughout their relationship, including snorting cocaine in hotel rooms, sneaking into public restrooms to snort it and even helping him get drugs. Kestan said Biden frequently bought cocaine the size of a “ping pong ball,” which he crushed and lit in a glass pipe.
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Ms Kestan told the court she found Mr Biden “very attractive” when she first met him but was “puzzled” how he was able to appear rational and conscious after smoking hard drugs.
“I didn’t realise it and sometimes I think it was because I was doing him a favour,” she told the court.
Kestan said Biden’s tempestuous relationship with her was a “distraction” for him, and he reportedly smoked fewer cigarettes with her while they hid away, sometimes for days, in luxury hotel rooms including the Four Seasons in New York City and a bungalow at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles.
Wearing a colorful scarf, Kestan detailed in court the ups and downs of their relationship, including asking her to clean up a hotel room littered with crack residue, pipes, snacks and alcohol, and to retrieve his car after it was towed in Los Angeles in 2018.
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A courtroom sketch depicts the trial of Hunter Biden in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (William J. Hennessy Jr.)
Kestin’s testimony was accompanied by photos of a crack pipe next to bottles of liquor and beer in a hotel room, a shirtless Biden in a bubble bath with Kestin, and screenshots of a FaceTime video showing a tattoo on Biden’s back that resembles a claw mark. Jurors were told during Kestin’s testimony that Biden learned how to make crack cocaine and were shown photos of baking soda used to turn cocaine into crack in the hotel room.
Kestan said Biden often spoke about being a drug addict and wanting to get off, including trying to use frog venom called “kambo” to flush the drugs from his body.
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Kestan knew Biden both before and after he bought the Colt revolver in October 2018, but the two did not speak during that month and the relationship rekindled in November 2018 before officially ending.
A courtroom sketch depicts the trial of Hunter Biden in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (William J. Hennessy Jr.)
Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, Katherine Buehl, who he was married to for more than 20 years and has three daughters with, also took the stand Wednesday. Buehl said in court that Hunter and Biden divorced in 2017 after a crack pipe was found on the porch of their Washington, D.C., home in 2015.
Buhle was soft-spoken and appeared emotional during her testimony, as she detailed her allegations that her husband had been using drugs heavily after he was discharged from the Navy Reserves after testing positive for cocaine, and the subsequent breakdown in their marriage.
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“I was really worried and scared,” she said, describing how she thoroughly searched her husband’s car for drugs and drug paraphernalia to ensure her daughters would not drive away with drugs in the car.
Buhle said he sought marital counseling before his marriage ended after crack pipes were discovered in his home in 2015. Buhle said he couldn’t remember the date they officially ended their marriage, only that it was Good Friday in 2017.
Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhl, leaves the federal courthouse after taking the stand at the firearms crimes trial of President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, on June 5, 2024, in Wilmington, Delaware. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
Buhle spent the shortest time on the stand among the witnesses, and took a deep breath as he hurriedly left the courtroom Wednesday morning.
Jensen gave a relatively matter-of-fact testimony about the Wells Fargo bank records early Wednesday morning, and jurors seemed fascinated by Buehl’s presence in the courtroom afterward. Nearly every juror was taking notes, or at least had a notepad and pen in hand, when Buehl first took the stand.
Following testimony from Hunter’s ex-wife and ex-girlfriend, prosecutors next called Gordon T. Cleveland, the gun store employee who sold Biden the revolver in October 2018.
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Cleveland, who formerly worked as a salesman at StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply in Wilmington, detailed the circumstances of the purchase on Oct. 12, 2018, in court, including that Biden was driving a black Cadillac on the day of the purchase.
“I like guns and I like cars,” Cleveland said in court when asked how he remembered the car Biden was driving, a comment that drew laughter from jurors, reporters and others in the courtroom.
Gordon Cleveland leaves a federal courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Cleveland said Biden went into the store with the intent of purchasing a gun late in the afternoon of 2018. Biden purchased a Cobra Colt .38, a box of ammunition, a speed loader – a device that loads ammunition more quickly – and a BB gun.
Cleveland said he gave Biden a federal firearms form and instructed him to take his time and fill it out “honestly.” Cleveland stood about two feet away from Biden as he filled out the form, including question 11E, which asks if he is an illegal drug user or addict. Biden checked the box saying he is not a drug addict.
A courtroom sketch depicts the trial of Hunter Biden in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (William J. Hennessy Jr.)
Cleveland laughed when his lawyer, Abe Lowell, asked him, “Do you know the word ‘whaler’?”
“Yes,” he replied with a laugh, before claiming that while he “doesn’t upsell,” he was able to sell expensive guns to customers in a single day, including two Desert Eagles.
When asked if Cleveland frequently sold ammunition along with his gun sales, the courtroom again erupted in laughter at the former salesman’s response.
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“What are you going to do? Throw it. [a gun] “Are you going to shoot at somebody?” he asked jokingly, noting that ammunition is often sold along with the gun.
In opening statements Tuesday, the defense argued that Biden’s gun purchase was rushed by a gun store employee trying to make a sale. But Cleveland, in his response to Lowell on Wednesday, remained confident that Biden was the one who ultimately chose the Colt revolver, ammunition and speedloader. He said Biden made the decision to purchase the BB gun himself. The BB gun looks like an actual handgun and doesn’t have the traditional orange tip found on most other BB guns.
In court Wednesday, jurors were shown the gun, a box of ammunition and a speed loader.
Biden was joined on Day 3 by his stepmother, Jill Biden. She again took a front-row seat behind her eldest son. She wore a bright pink suit and matching high heels, and, after engaging in light-hearted conversation with family and peers throughout the day, sat quietly with her legs crossed and her hands folded in her lap. She again sat next to Biden’s second wife, Melissa Cohen Biden.
Hunter Biden, left, leaves the federal courthouse with his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, Wednesday, June 5, 2024, in Wilmington, Delaware. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
The trial resumes at 9 a.m. Thursday with further cross-examination of Cleveland. Prosecutors announced late Wednesday that six more witnesses are scheduled to take the stand and could finish testimony as early as Thursday afternoon.
Hallie Biden, the widow of Biden’s former lover and sister-in-law, Beau Biden, is also a potential witness who will take the stand on Thursday.
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After the prosecution presents its case, the defense’s witnesses are scheduled to take the stand.
