Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter Biden’s brother Beau Biden, was tested Thursday at Hunter Biden federal gun trial that she was “panicking” when she found and then threw away the gun at the center of the case, and she said it was thanks to Hunter Biden that she also came to use crack.
Hallie Biden is considered the prosecution’s star witness, and her appearance on the stand followed Gordon Cleveland, who tested on Wednesday that he sold the gun to Hunter Biden. Prosecutors granted him immunity for his testimony.
Hallie Biden told the court she found the gun while emptying her car, which she often looked for drugs and alcohol in. Prosecutors presented parking lot surveillance footage that showed her walking into a grocery store parking lot and throwing the gun in a dumpster, followed by video of her in the parking lot that showed her returning to the grocery store to look for the weapon.
“I freaked out,” Hallie Biden said. “I wanted to get rid of it,” she said, referring to the gun and bullets.
“I didn’t want him to get hurt or the kids to find him and get hurt,” she said, adding that she considered hiding the gun but was “afraid one of my children find it.
Matt Rourke/AP
After throwing the gun away, she said she didn’t tell him anything and was going to “pretend” it wasn’t her. But Hallie said Hunter then texted her when he noticed the gun was missing.
Prosecutors also reviewed texts from the next day, in which Hunter Biden told her he was “buying” drugs, and one from the next day, when he sent a message that he was “sleeping on a car smoking crack.” . The messages appear to contradict the defense team’s claims that Hunter Biden was not using drugs in October 2018, when the firearm was purchased.
Biden Hunter was charged with three felonies stemming from his alleged purchase of a revolver in October 2018. Two of the charges relate to accusations that he made false statements on a federal firearms form about his drug use, certifying that he was not a drug user. or addicted to a controlled substance during a time prosecutors allege he was addicted to crack cocaine. The other charge relates to alleged possession of the firearm. He was allegedly in possession of the gun for 11 days before Hallie Biden threw it away.
Biden Hunter has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
William J. Hennessy Jr.
Hallie Biden’s testimony
On the stand, Hallie Biden identified Hunter Biden as her brother-in-law and testified that they began a gradual relationship after the death of her husband, Beau Biden. She said she confronted him about his drug use after discovering crack cocaine in his Wilmington home, and that she enjoyed using crack herself after being introduced to the drug by Hunter Biden.
“It was a terrible experience that I had, I was embarrassed and ashamed, and I regret that period of my life,” she said.
Unlike previous witnesses who said Hunter Biden did not show a change in demeanor while on drugs, she described him as “agitated” and “very strong,” but she also suggested that he could still sometimes function while on drugs.
During Lowell’s cross-examination, Hallie Biden said she stopped using drugs in August 2018, and she acknowledged that she and Hunter Biden had an “intense” and “complicated” relationship from time to time . She said she found it hard to believe him, particularly when he told her where he was, and when she was again shown the text in which he said he was smoking crack or at dealers on the date he bought the gun, she admitted she couldn’t believe him. to be sure he was really where he said he was.
Hallie Biden struggled to remember the sequence of events that occurred in October. October 6, when Hunter Biden had returned from Los Angeles, until October. The 23rd, the day she allegedly threw the weapon away. She said she remembered seeing him sometime around October. 22 or 23, describing him as “exhausted,” but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly when that was, in relation to when she threw the weapon. The defense attempted to show that Hunter Biden could have stayed at a hotel that night, rather than at her home, where his truck was parked.
Hallie Biden claimed she did not see him using drugs during this time.
Previous testimony and statements in the case
Cleveland, the man who sold Hunter Biden the gun, verified Wednesday that Hunter Biden didn’t seem fazed by the shape. Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, pressed Cleveland on the status of the form at the center of the case and the rules required for any changes made after submission.
Lowell said in opening statements Tuesday that many addicts “deny” their drug use, indicating his client did not intend to lie on the form. Prosecutor Derek Hines, meanwhile, noted in his opening statement that “addiction may not be a choice, but lying and buying a gun is a choice.”
Lowell sought earlier Wednesday to cast doubt on the authenticity of personal text messages allegedly taken from Hunter Biden’s personal devices. Under questioning by Lowell, FBI Special Agent Erika Jensen said she could not verify the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop, admitted as evidence that it had not been tampered with before the forces of the order collect it from a repair shop.
On Wednesday, Hunter Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle and his former girlfriend Zoe Kestan testified about his drug use. Buhle testified that while they were still married, she confronted Hunter Biden after finding a “crack pipe” and said that while she never saw him use drugs, he confirmed to her his drug use.
Other accusations against Hunter Biden
Separately, Hunter Biden faces nine federal tax charges in the Middle District of California in a second indictment filed by Weiss’ office, in which federal prosecutors allege that Hunter Biden engaged in a “four-year scheme” to avoid paying at least $1.4 in federal taxes. References to tax charges are not admissible in his Delaware gun trial. He has pleaded not guilty to these charges.
Reaction from the Biden family
President Biden did not attend his son’s trial, but he was in Wilmington over the weekend with family, including Hunter. In France for events Commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Landing invasion, President Biden told ABC News’ David Muir “yes” that he would accept the outcome of the trial. Asked if that meant he would rule out a pardon, Mr. Biden again said “yes.”
President Biden’s sister, Valerie Biden, was present in the courtroom Thursday, while the president’s daughter and Hunter Biden’s sister, Ashley Biden, was present earlier in the week. First lady Jill Biden was also in attendance earlier in the week, but later traveled to France to attend D-Day commemoration events.