Day 4 of Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial | CNN Politics (2024)

Hunter Biden arrives to the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on June 6, in Wilmington, Delaware.

The spotlight in court Thursday was on Hallie Biden — the widow of Hunter Biden’s late brother, Beau — who testified about her romantic relationship with Hunter, the pair’s drug use, and the concern for her brother-in-law’s safety that led her to throw away the gun at the center of the case.

Once Hallie Biden left the stand, a trio of witnesses testified about the series of events that led police to recovering the ditched weapon. They included:

Meanwhile, outside of court this afternoon: President Joe Biden told interviewerDavid Muir of ABC that he would not pardon his son if convicted in the case.

Biden also criticized Donald Trump for questioning the verdict of his own criminal trial, saying he was trying to subvert the rule of law.

No cameras are allowed inside the Delaware courtroom where Hunter Biden’s trial is underway, but sketch artist Bill Hennessy is capturing the scenes.

Hallie Biden testifies about finding Hunter Biden's gun on Thursday, June 6, in Wilmington, Delaware, in this court sketch.

Hallie Biden in court on Thursday.

This court sketch shows a moment of video of Hallie Biden outside a supermarket, where she said she threw away the gun she found in Hunter Biden's car and then returned to find it.

Hallie Biden continues to testify as Judge Maryellen Noreikalistens.

Hunter Biden in court on Thursday.

A former state trooper Millard Greer.

Court is done for the day in the Hunter Biden trial in Wilmington, Delaware, and will resume Friday at 9 a.m. ET.

Prosecutors have two more witnesses – an FBI chemist and a drug expert from the DEA. They expect to rest their case after that.

Edward Banner, an 80-year-old man who worked for General Motors for over 30 years, testified Thursday that he found a firearm in a trash can in 2018 outside a Delaware grocery store.

Prosecutor Derek Hines stood right next toBanner as he questioned the Navy veteran, who is hard of hearing.

Banner said he had a hobby of collecting recyclables since before he retired. “I got a nick a piece for them,” Banner said, adding that now he would only get as much at 75 cents a pound.

While Hines spoke to Banner in a loud slow tone, the prosecutor continued to nod along with the witness.

Banner said he found a gun in a trash bin and put it in his General Motors lunch box.

The retiree also identified a brown pouch he found with the gun.

Prosecutors say FBI investigators found a white powder that tested positive for cocaine on the pouch years after it was found.

Hines asked the 80-year-old if anyone in his house used cocaine.

“No,” Banner said.

Delaware State Police Lt. Greer described the series of events that led to the recovery of Hunter Biden’s gun. Investigators learned that an elderly man, Edward Banner, who liked to rummage around trash bins for recyclables may have taken the gun out of the trash can that Hallie Biden dropped it in.

Greer surveilled the man before eventually approaching him. The man acknowledged that he found something very important in the trash.

They went back to his home to retrieve the gun, but the man was locked out of his house and started “panicking,” Greer said.

They eventually got inside, and the man led Greer to the gun, in a sock, in his dresser.

President Joe Biden reaches out to touch a US soldier's tombstone as he and first lady Jill Biden tour the Normandy American Cemetery on the 80th anniversary of D-Day on June 6, 2024 in Colleville-sur-Mer, France.

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First lady Jill Biden is returning to Wilmington, Delaware, today after attending D-Day commemorative ceremonies in Normandy, France, her office tells CNN.

She is then set to return to France this weekend with the official state visit slated to take place on Saturday.

“The First Lady has no events in France tomorrow and she is returning to Wilmington,” said Elizabeth Alexander, communications director for the first lady. “She is expected to rejoin the President for the state visit this weekend.”

Dr. Biden and President Biden traveled together from Normandy to Paris-Orly Airport after today’s D-Day events. She was then seen boarding a separate plane, according to the print pooler traveling with the president.

The first lady was on hand for the proceedings for three days earlier this week.

The former state trooper who investigated Hunter Biden’s missing firearm told the jury he eventually found the gun from an old man who took it from the grocery store trash can.

Millard Greer, after “multiple days of surveillance” located the man who others had said collected recyclables at the store, he testified.

When Greer approached the man and said someone threw away something they shouldn’t have, the old man replied, “yes, they did,” according to Greer.

The man gave Greer the firearm which he took out from a sock along with a pouch that contained a speed loader and bullets, Greer said.

The jury is back and former Delaware state police officer Millard Greer is testifying.

Prosecutors say he will testify about recovering Hunter Biden’s firearm.

Delaware State Police Senior Corporal Joshua Marley, who responded to the report from Hallie Biden on throwing out the gun, is the next prosecution witness.

Marley testified that he reviewed footage from the grocery store and searched trash cans and interviewed Hunter Biden that day.

“We couldn’t find the gun,” Marley said.

The trial is in a brief break.

Defense Attorney Abbe Lowell is having Hallie Biden go through a detailed recounting of the day she says she found Hunter Biden’s gun and threw it away.

According to Hallie Biden and call records, Hunter Biden texted her nearly half an hour after she threw out the gun asking if she had taken the revolver.

“Tell me now Hallie,” he texted.

The pair then had a phone call where Hallie Biden told him what she had done, and Hunter Biden told her to report it to police.

Hallie Biden has had trouble recalling many of the details from that day nearly six years ago.

“I don’t recall,” Hallie Biden said repeatedly in response to questions from Lowell.

Lowell showed phone logs indicating that Hallie Biden and Hunter Biden had a flurry of calls that day. Hallie could not recall details of many of the calls.

On cross-examination, Hallie Biden said she saw a “dusting” of drugs in Hunter Biden’s truck when she found the gun in October 2018.

Hallie Biden added that she didn’t recall where she saw the remnants of drugs or paraphernalia.

“I don’t recall exactly what it was,” she said.

Hallie agreed with defense attorney Abbe Lowell when asked if she was “not certain” when she went to his truck or saw him that day.

Before lunch, Hallie Biden was pressed by Lowell on her memory of the morning she says she found Hunter Biden’s gun in his truck.

President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden leave St. Edmond Catholic Church in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on June 1.

President Joe Biden said in an interview Thursday he would not pardon his son Hunter if he’s found guilty of criminal gun charges.

“Yes,” Biden told interviewer David Muir of ABC when asked if he would rule out a pardon.

The president also affirmed he would accept the outcome of the trial, currently in its fourth day in Wilmington.

Biden also accused his predecessor Donald Trump of attempting to subvert the rule of law by questioning the verdict in his own criminal trial.

“He’s trying to undermine it,” Biden told Muir. “He got a fair trial. The jury spoke.”

Read more on President Joe Biden’s comments.

Thursday has featured testimony from Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter’s late brother, Beau.

Hallie Biden — who was dating Hunter at the time he purchased the firearm at the center of this case — testified about getting rid of the weapon and her own drug use with her brother-in-law.

Here are some of the key takeaways from her testimony so far:

Also today: Earlier Thursday, the man who sold Hunter Biden the gun in 2018 returned to the stand for cross-examination by the defense.

Biden attorney Abbe Lowell focused his questions for the former gun shop employee, Gordon Cleveland, on a federal form Hunter filled out to purchase the weapon.

Cleveland almost discussed the fact that store employees later altered the form, which the defense has tried to use to undermine the credibility of the workers and show they were politically “biased.” The judge has previously blocked the submission of that altered form as evidence, saying it is “irrelevant” and runs the risk of confusing or misleading the jury.

Prosecutors objected several times when the altered form came up again Thursday, and the judge sustained their objections, cutting off Cleveland.

The court is in a lunch break.

Cross-examination of Hallie Biden will resume when the court is back in session.

Just before Hallie Biden took the stand earlier today, Valerie Biden, Hunter Biden’s aunt, entered, took her glasses off and went to the front row and gave Melissa Cohen-Biden, Hunter’s wife a hug.

A number of people from a Wilmington AME Church that have known the Biden family for decades are also in the courtroom.

Prosecutors have raised several complaints that defense attorney Abbe Lowell is leading the witness, Hallie Biden, as she testifies about Hunter Biden’s whereabouts one day before she threw out his gun.

Hallie Biden is struggling to remember what happened on October 22, 2018. Lowell has her texts from that day and is trying to use them to refresh her memory. But prosecutors have raised several objections.

The judge has, on a few instances, instructed Hallie Biden to testify about her actual memories, and not simply recite what her texts say.

One of the messages from Hallie Biden to Hunter Biden said, “are you in NY with Zoe?” in reference to Hunter Biden’s former girlfriend Zoe Kestan.

During cross-examination, Hallie Biden testified that she did not witness Hunter Biden doing drugs between October 6 and October 22, 2018, while he was in Delaware.

This could be helpful for Hunter Biden’s defense, because that window covers when he bought and possessed the gun. However, earlier, when Hallie was questioned by prosecutors, she said she believed that he appeared to be high when she saw him that month.

Hallie Biden also testified that Hunter Biden, during their complicated on-again-off-again, complicated relationship that he wouldn’t tell her the truth at times and would lie about where he was.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell has argued that in the days after Hunter Biden bought the gun he was trying to hide from Hallie Biden when he texted her about smoking crack, which, Lowell said, wasn’t true.

During cross-examination by Abbe Lowell, Hallie Biden confirmed that it was difficult to recall, blow by blow, the events of October 2018.

“Yes, it’s difficult,” Hallie said when asked.

She also said testifying about the time period in her life was hard and confirmed that prosecutors granted her immunity in testifying.

Hallie Biden said she went to rehab in Pennsylvania in early October 2018.

Hunter attended some “counseling” with her as part of the treatment, she said. Lowell suggested this was the reason why Hunter Biden returned to Delaware from Los Angeles.

Hallie Biden arrives at federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, on Thursday.

Hallie Biden described the immediate fallout after Hunter Biden realized that she threw out his gun.

“He was angry with me,” she testified.

Their frantic texts from that day – which are being shown to the jury – show a scramble to deal with the matter.

“The f*cking FBI, Hallie, its hard to believe anyone is that stupid,” Hunter Biden texted.

“I’m sorry, I just want you safe. That was not safe,” she replied in the text.

All of these text messages from the day Hallie Biden trashed the gun were found by investigators on Hunter Biden’s laptop, they say.

The prosecution has finished questioning Hallie Biden and Hunter Biden’s defense team has begun their cross-examination after the court took a short break.

Prosecutors showed the jury some very personal messages from the critical period when Hunter Biden owned the gun.

“I’m afraid you are going to die,” the text said, from Hallie Biden to Hunter Biden on October 4, 2018.

Prosecutor Leo Wise asked if she was afraid of him dying from an “overdose.”

“Maybe. Suicide. I didn’t know,” she said, haltingly.

Hallie Biden said that she decided to get rid of the gun and found a gift shopping bag but realized that the gun was too visible and started looking for something to use in Hunter Biden’s case.

In his truck, Hallie Biden said she found a pouch to put it in and said Hunter Biden would use the pouches for different items, including drugs.

Prosecutors say that a white powder was analyzed in 2023 from the pouch and tested positive for cocaine. Defense attorney Abbe Lowell suggested in opening statements that the pouch was Hallie Biden’s.

Hallie described throwing out the gun.

Prosecutors played surveillance footage of her in the supermarket parking lot throwing out the gun.

“I was so flustered,” she said. “I realize it was a stupid idea now.”

They also showed footage of her inside the store, called Jansen’s.

Hallie Biden said she later went back to the grocery store to look for the gun she thew out.

The jury was shown security footage of Hallie Biden hurriedly looking through trash bins outside, going back and forth between different bins five times.

Hallie Biden said she went inside to ask employees if the trash had been taken out and later filed a police report.

On October 23, 2018, Hallie Biden says she went to clean out Hunter Biden’s truck while he was asleep and found drugs and a gun.

“I did find some remnants of crack cocaine” and drug paraphernalia, she said.

“Oh, and the gun, obviously,” Hallie Biden said, chuckling.

Hallie Biden said this was the first time she ever saw a gun up close.

Presented the gun by prosecutors and asked if it was the one she found, Hallie Biden said she “can’t know, but that looks like it.”

“I was afraid to kinda touch it. I didn’t know if it was loaded,” she said.

The defense argues the gun was never loaded at any point in time.

Hallie Biden testified that Hunter Biden introduced her to crack in 2018, and she abused the drug.

She said she quit in August 2018.

This admission came moments after Hallie Biden described visiting Hunter Biden in Los Angeles in June 2018 at the Roosevelt Hotel. She saw him using crack there on a “frequent” basis.

Hallie Biden arrives to federal court on Thursday in Wilmington, Delaware.

Hallie Biden also testified that she had conversations with Hunter Biden between 2017 and 2018 about his drug use, telling him “this can’t go on, we can’t do this.”

Hunter Biden’s responses would vary, sometimes saying, “leave me alone, I’m fine” and other times saying he was an addict and that I’ll figure it out my way,” she testifies.

In court, Hunter Biden has been watching Hallie Biden diligently as she testifies.

Asked to describe Hunter Biden, Hallie Biden said “he’s my brother-in-law.”

Regarding their romantic relationship, which began after Beau Biden died in 2015, Hallie Biden said “it was gradual.”

Hallie Biden said she “occasionally” saw Hunter Biden with very large crack rocks that were the size of a ping-pong ball.

Hallie Biden said she found Hunter Biden’’s drugs when they were dating sometime in 2015-2016 after Beau Biden died.

“I found it, and I googled it,” she testified, because she didn’t know what it was. She said it was the first time she saw crack cocaine.

Hunter Biden admitted to her that it was crack.

Asked to describe Hunter Biden, Hallie Biden said “he’s my brother-in-law.”

Regarding their romantic relationship, which began after Beau Biden died in 2015, she said, “it was gradual.”

Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter Biden’s late brother, Beau, has been called to testify by prosecutors.

Prosecutors have said Hallie Biden — who dated Hunter during the time he purchased the firearm – will testify about when he owned the firearm and how she took it from his car and tossed it in a dumpster outside of a grocery store in Wilmington, Delaware.

Gordon Cleveland departs from federal court on Wednesday, June 5, in Wilmington, Delaware.

Gordon Cleveland was about to say something on the stand about potential problems with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) paperwork, which could’ve opened the door for the defense to bring up the fact that the gun employees later altered the form.

Prosecutors objected several times, and the judge sustained their objections, cutting off Cleveland from answering Abbe Lowell’s questions.

More context: The store’s tampering with the form – in 2021, years after the sale – is important to the defense. But the judge has previously limited their ability to delve into the issue in front of the jury.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell is again drawing the distinction between the use of “have” and “are” on the federal form Hunter Biden allegedly filled out when buying a gun.

In questioning the former gun shop employee who says he sold the gun, Lowell is noting that the form asks, “are you an unlawful user” or addiction to “illegal drugs.”

Lowell has suggested prosecutors have not proved Hunter Biden was using drugs when he bought the revolver or didn’t see himself as being “addicted to” drugs at that moment.

The messages that the defense wants to introduce – which prosecutors are objecting to – would be used to undermine Hallie Biden’s testimony. She is a key witness for prosecutors because she threw out the gun and was around Hunter Biden, and texted with him, at the time when the key events in this case occurred.

She could fill in key gaps in the timeline from October 2018.

Lowell said he wants to use these new materials to point out potential inconsistencies in Hallie’s story.

The judge said she might let the defense use a small subset of the material depending on Hallie Biden’s testimony. But she largely sided with prosecutors’ effort to block most of the new messages.

Hallie Biden, the widow of Beau Biden who was once in a relationship with Hunter Biden, will be the second witness today.

Judge Maryellen Noreika on Monday, June 3, in Wilmington, Delaware.

The jury hasn’t been brought in yet because of a disagreement over the laptop between prosecutors and the defense.

Judge Maryellen Noreika grilled the defense about why they’re trying to use some evidence later today that they may not have fully shared and disclosed ahead of time with the prosecutors.

She said she was “confused” by their apparently belated disclosures.

“Why are you doing that today?” she asked.

Prosecutors want the judge to block the defense from using this new evidence, which are some files that they said they got separately from the laptop.

“It’s late … and it’s full of hearsay,” prosecutor Leo Wise said.

Exhausted by the dispute, Noreika joked, “you’ve got hard drives, laptops … iClouds, oh my!”

The fourth day of trial in the Hunter Biden case is underway in Delaware.

The gun shop employee who testified about selling the gun at the center of the case to Hunter Biden is set to continue his testimony. Prosecutors have said they expect to conclude their case today.

Les Wire, one of the prosecutors, said Hallie Biden, who was married to Beau Biden and was once in a relationship with Hunter Biden, will be the second witness today.

Hunter Biden and his wife Melissa Cohen Biden arrive to the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on June 6, in Wilmington, Delaware.

Hunter Biden arrived for the fourth day of his trial on federal gun charges in Wilmington, Delaware.

He arrived alongside his wife Melissa Cohen Biden.Hunter put his hand on her left shoulder and she wrapped her arm around his waist as they walked in together.

First lady Jill Biden will not attend court today, as she did Monday through Wednesday, because she is in France for the commemoration of D-Day with President Joe Biden.

Abbe Lowell, attorney for Hunter Biden, arrives at federal court in Wilmington, Delaware on June 5.

Hunter Biden’s lawyers are trying to use a “remarkably clever and remarkably careful” defense in the trial on federal gun charges against him, one criminal defense attorney said on CNN.

The indictment stemsfrom a 2018 gun purchase. While buying the revolver in Delaware, Biden lied on a federal form, swearing that he was not using, and was not addicted to, any illegal drugs — even though he was struggling with crack cocaine addiction at the time of the purchase.

Ron Kuby, a defense lawyer, said the defense is trying to convey two arguments to the jury:

On the other side, the prosecution is trying to portray Biden as a “drug-addled wreck of a human being” during the general time period when the gun purchase was made, Kuby said.

Kuby said to combat that, Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell is trying to give the jury a variety of reasons to disregard certain unsavory depictions.

“Once the jury has decided to hunt for reasonable doubt, they’ll usually find it,” he added.

Hunter Biden and his his wife Melissa Cohen Biden depart from the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on June 4, in Wilmington, Delaware.

Hunter Biden faces three charges, including making false statements on a federal firearms form and possession of a firearm as a prohibited person.

The indictment stems from a 2018 gun purchase. While buying the revolver in Delaware, Biden lied on a federal form, swearing that he was not using, and was not addicted to, any illegal drugs – even though he was struggling with crack cocaine addiction at the time of the purchase.

It’s a federal crime to lie on the ATF form or to possess a firearm as a drug user. He possessed the gun for 11 days in 2018.

If convicted on all counts, Biden could theoretically face as much as 25 years in prison and fines of up to $750,000, according to court filings.

However, defendants very rarely get the maximum penalty, especially in cases like these, involving non-violent crimes and an alleged first-time offender.

The charges followed a botched agreement:Last June, Weiss announced a two-pronged agreement where Biden would plead guilty to two federal tax misdemeanors and enter a “diversion agreement” where the gun charge would be dropped in two years if he passed regular drug tests and stayed out of legal trouble.

However, at a July 2023 hearing, theagreement collapsedafter a judge saidshe had “concerns” about the parties seemingly linking the tax plea agreement to resolving a felony gun charge. Attorney General Merrick Garlandnamed Weiss as special counselthe month after.

CNN’sMarshall Cohen,Kara Scannell, Hannah Rabinowitz and Holmes Lybrand contributed to this post.

Judge Maryellen Noreika, right, speaks with lawyers involved with Hunter Biden's trial on Tuesday, June 4, in Wilmington, Delaware.

Federal district Judge Maryellen Noreika is overseeing Hunter Biden’s gun case in Delaware.

Noreika, a Donald Trump appointee, was confirmed by the US Senate in August 2018 by voice vote. She had the support of both Democratic senators from Delaware. Under the Senate’sblue slip tradition, nominees for district court seats require the support of home state senators to move forward.

Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat, praised Noreikain a statementafter her nomination was announced. He described her and another appointee as “seasoned attorneys,” with “impressive trial skills, deep experience in federal practice, and profound respect for the law.”

Before becoming a federal judge, Noreika was a former patent lawyer in Wilmington, Delaware. Shegrew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvaniaand graduated from University of Pittsburgh School of Lawin 1993.

Noreika’s political spendinghas gone to both parties. On the presidential level, federal records indicate that she gave $1,000 to then-New York Sen. Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign for the Democratic nomination. She later donated $2,300 to the eventual 2008 Republican nominee, then-Arizona Sen. John McCain. She donated to the subsequent GOP nominee as well, giving $2,500 to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012.

Noreika also financially supported Sen. Tom Cotton, a conservative Republican from Arkansas, during his 2014 senate race. She also donated $1,000 in 2009 to the DSCC, the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm.

CNN’s Tierney Sneed, Marshall Cohen and Jack Forrest contributed to this report.

This sketch from court shows the scene during Hunter Biden's trial on Wednesday.

The third day of the Hunter Biden trial saw his ex-wife and an ex-girlfriend testify as prosecutors continued to demonstrate his drug addiction to the jury.

The gun Biden bought in October 2018 that’s at the center of the charges against him was introduced in court. The salesman testified that he saw Biden fill out the federal form on which the president’s son is accused of lying.

Here’s a recap of the key takeaways:

Whatever one thinks of theHunter Biden criminal case, the start of the federal gun trial involving the president’s son this week in Delaware laid bare a sobering aspect of American life that transcends partisan politics: a nation struggling with addiction.

The trial comes as federal, state and local officials havebeen battlingan epidemic of drug overdoses across the country in both red and blue states, including those involving fentanyl, the highly potent opioid.

Biden has pleadednot guiltyto charges of illegally purchasing and possessing a gun while abusing or being addicted to drugs, a violation of federal law.

After prospective jurors were sworn in Monday inside Wilmington’s J. Caleb Boggs federal building, the judge read aloud a list of questions that would be used in winnowing down the group of residents who would rule on the case.

Another question probed whether potential jurors or their close associates had ever sought treatment for drug use. During their, at times, emotional answers, prospective juror after juror described how drug use had afflicted people they knew.

Read more about how drug addiction is affecting Americans, and howthat might play out in this casehere.