Hunter Biden gun trial: 'Politics never came into play,' juror says after guilty verdict
The president's son was convicted of unlawfully purchasing a firearm.
President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden has been found guilty on three felony counts related to his purchase of a firearm in 2018 while allegedly addicted to drugs.
The younger Biden, who pleaded not guilty last October after being indicted by special counsel David Weiss, denied the charges. The son of a sitting president had never before faced a criminal trial.
The trial came on the heels of former President Donald Trump's conviction on felony charges related to a hush money payment made to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
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FBI agent returns to stand for cross-examination
FBI Special Agent Erika Jensen, the trial's first witness, resumed her testimony after proceedings got underway this morning.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell resumed his cross-examination.
Hallie Biden, Hunter Biden's one-time romantic partner, could take the stand after Jensen.
Prosecutors also said they also intend to call Hunter Biden's ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, as well as Zoe Kestan, another woman with whom Hunter Biden had a romantic relationship.
Hunter Biden arrives at courthouse
Hunter Biden has arrived at the Wilmington courthouse for Day 3 of his federal gun trial.
As on previous days, he was accompanied by his wife Melissa Cohen Biden.
1st Biden family member could take the stand today
The first member of the Biden family to testify at the trial could take the stand today, as prosecutors are expected to call Hallie Biden as their next witness.
Hallie Biden, who was married to Hunter Biden's brother Beau Biden until his death from cancer in 2015, was Hunter Biden's romantic partner at the time he purchased the firearm at the center of the case in 2018.
Prosecutors suggested yesterday that she could take the stand after FBI Special Agent Erika Jensen, the trial's first witness, completes her testimony.
Jensen will be back on the stand this morning to continue her cross-examination by Hunter Biden's attorneys.
Defense attorney says Hunter Biden's daughter could testify
According to a transcript of Tuesday's proceedings released hours after court concluded, at attorney for Hunter Biden told the judge during a sidebar conversation that he might decide to call Hunter Biden's oldest daughter, Naomi Biden, to testify at trial "if need be."
Attorney Abbe Lowell made the statement during what appeared to be a tense exchange between him, Judge Maryellen Noreika and two government prosecutors, in which Lowell divulged his expectations for witnesses.
When prosecutors suggested Lowell was hiding the ball on how he planned to present certain evidence, Lowell first introduced the idea of calling one of Hunter Biden's daughters as a witness:
MR. HINES: Exactly, we have asked Mr. Lowell and he won't tell us.
MR. LOWELL: That's not what I said.
MR. HINES: He couldn't tell us which witness.
MR. LOWELL: I said I'm making a proffer and the court -- I understand the rules, each one of these will be submitted with a witness, I don't have to tell them in advance which witness it is, but I am making a statement to the Court, there is three or four witnesses, including his uncle and his daughter, if need be.
Lowell later clarified that Naomi Biden, Hunter Biden's daughter with ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, and the president's eldest granddaughter, was on his witness list.
Lowell also left the door open for Hunter Biden to testify "if it gets to that," a gamble that would put his client in the position of facing live cross-examination from federal prosecutors. It came during a discussion about how Lowell planned to demonstrate that Hunter Biden read the ATF Form 4473 "carefully."
THE COURT: Wait. Just so I'm clear, are you going to suggest that he did in fact read these things or just that if he had chosen to and didn't tell them.
MR. LOWELL: Both.
THE COURT: What is your evidence going to be that he did in fact read all of these things carefully?
MR. LOWELL: If it gets to that judge, then it will be Mr. Biden's job to say that.
During a debate at the same bench conference about an argument Lowell intended to make in his opening statement, Judge Maryellen Noreika called the defense attorney for interrupting her.
MR. LOWELL: That's not the argument judge.
THE COURT: That is what it sounds like you're telling me, you're saying he doesn't know what it was.
MR. LOWELL: No.
THE COURT: You keep cutting me off, and you want to make your argument, and I know you want to make your argument, but you need to understand it, so you need to understand where I am.
The judge later told Lowell, "Don't put words in my mouth."
"I know you're just trying to zealously represent your client," she said, "but don't assume my ruling before you give me a chance to make it."
Defense calls government's case 'conjecture and suspicion'
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell, in his closing argument, urged jurors to dispense with the government's "conjecture and suspicion" and find his client not guilty on all three counts.
"We have had Hunter's life in our hands" until now, Lowell said, referring to his legal team. "And now we have to give it to you."
Lowell repeatedly referred to prosecutors' case as a "magicians' trick" -- to "watch this hand and pay no attention to that one," as he said -- arguing that prosecutors failed to "fill in the gaps" about Hunter Biden's drug use around the time of his firearm purchase "because they don't have the proof."
Lowell also referred to prosecutors' strategy of showing Hunter Biden's pattern of drug use as an "accordion," meant to "compress" the timeline and make it seem to jurors that he was actively using drugs in October 2018, when he said on a government form that he was not addicted to drugs in order to purchase a Colt handgun.
The defense attorney also attacked some of the tactics prosecutors used, calling their treatment of Hunter Biden's daughter Naomi Biden "extraordinarily cruel" and saying that many of their questions and evidence were introduced with the intention of "embarrassing Hunter."
He also asked jurors to recall gaps in the recollections of Hunter Biden's then-girlfriend Hallie Biden, and suggested they should remember the immunity agreement she struck with prosecutors for her testimony.
"These are serious charges that will change Hunter's life," he said of the three felony charges the president's son faces, adding that "it's time to end this case."
Following Lowell's closing, the government was scheduled to have a short rebuttal, at which point the judge was to finish her jury instructions before the jury gets the case.