The ex-wife of President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, is expected to testify this Wednesday (5) about her former partner’s drug use. Prosecutors say he lied about his addiction to illegally buy a gun.
Prosecutors told jurors that the evidence will show that Hunter Biden knowingly lied about his drug use on his screening record when he purchased a handgun in October 2018, while his defense attorney responded that Hunter Biden was not using drugs at the time and did not intended to circumvent the rules for purchasing weapons in the USA.
Jurors were shown text messages, bank records and clips from the audiobook version of Hunter Biden’s memoir, which prosecutors say proves he routinely used crack cocaine around the time he bought the gun, including the day after the purchase.
“Addiction is not a crime. Lying is,” said prosecutor Derek Hines.
Hunter Biden, 54, pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of failing to disclose illegal drug use when he purchased the gun and illegally possessing it for 11 days.
The trial comes in the wake of another unprecedented moment in American courts – last week’s criminal conviction of Donald Trump, the first US president to be found guilty of a crime. Trump will be Joe Biden’s Republican opponent in the November 5 elections.
Nothing said at the Hunter Biden trial directly addressed this issue, even though the prosecution said “no one is above the law.”
Hines told jurors they would next hear from Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, as well as his ex-girlfriend Zoe Kestan, and Hallie Biden, the widow of his late brother Beau Biden. All three can talk about Hunter Biden’s years-long struggle with drugs and alcohol, Hines said.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said the president’s son is open about his struggle with addiction, which he documented in his 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things.” He told jurors that the evidence will show that Hunter Biden was sober when he purchased the gun and did not consider himself a drug user at the time.
Source: CNN Brasil

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