Judge Maryellen Noreika has so far quizzed more than 50 Delaware residents about their fitness to serve as jurors in the first trial of a sitting president's son. And being Delaware -- a small state that Joe Biden represented in the Senate for more than three decades -- nearly all of them had some level of familiarity with Hunter Biden's legal travails.

"I live in Delaware," one prospective juror said. "You can't swing a cat without hearing something."

"Delaware is a small place," another said. "So you hear stuff."

Several jurors said they had heard or read about this trial specifically. Most had only a cursory understanding of the case, but others expressed a detailed accounting of the charges. A few jurors mentioned the ill-fated plea deal that Hunter Biden initially struck with prosecutors last summer.

"At one time there was a deal, and then there wasn't," one man said.

One woman had even read Hunter Biden's memoir, "Beautiful Things," which prosecutors plan to use to help prove their case. She was excused by the judge.

President Joe Biden has emerged repeatedly in questioning, with prospective jurors expressing both positive and negative feelings on his presidency. One woman said she believed that Hunter Biden was facing charges largely because his father is the president.

"I think it was a very strong factor," she said.

Several others have been dismissed for harboring negative views toward the Bidens. Asked for his opinion about the president, one man said, "Not a good one." Another man said, "Negative toward the defendant." Both were excused.

The jury questionnaire also includes several questions about drug and alcohol addiction -- an affliction that many prospective jurors said has personally affected them.

One woman held back tears as she described how her best friend had died of a heroine overdose. Another man said his daughter is a recovering addict.

"Everybody needs a second chance," he said.

Judge Noreika has been pressing ahead, intent on getting a jury seated as soon as possible -- perhaps even by the end of the day.

In addition first lady Jill Biden and Hunter Biden's wife Melissa, his half-sister Ashley Biden attended court during the morning session, and his confidant and financier Kevin Morris is also in attendance.

President Joe Biden said in a statement issued this morning that he has "boundless love" for his son.

"I am the President, but I am also a Dad. Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today. Hunter's resilience in the face of adversity and the strength he has brought to his recovery are inspiring to us," Biden said in the statement as jury selection got underway.

"A lot of families have loved ones who have overcome addiction and know what we mean," the president said.

"As the President, I don't and won't comment on pending federal cases, but as a Dad, I have boundless love for my son, confidence in him, and respect for his strength," he said. "Our family has been through a lot together, and Jill and I are going to continue to be there for Hunter and our family with our love and support."

After filling out the jury questionnaire, the first panel of prospective jurors are being brought into the court room one-by-one to face individual questioning from the judge and both parties. As of about 9:45 a.m. ET, the court had made it through the questioning of just six jurors.

The prospective jurors so far have include a woman who worked with the Secret Service for over two decades and whose husband was a uniformed officer in Washington, D.C., at locations including the White House.

One prospective juror who volunteered for Hilary Clinton's 2008 campaign prompted the first mention of President Joe Biden -- though not by name.

Judge Norieka asked that prospective juror if her work volunteering and donating to Democratic campaigns would prevent her from being fair in a case that involved "the son of the Democratic president of the United States."

She said it would not.

The exchange occurred as first lady Jill Biden sat in the front row of the gallery, watching intently as each juror answered their questions. The first lady is sitting next to Hunter Biden's wife, Melissa.

Earlier, a prospective juror was struck for cause because of his firm views on guns, after he told the judge he thought gun ownership was a "God-given right." He said he would not be able to be impartial in a case where someone was prevented from buying a gun due to federal law.

Hunter Biden's arrival through the front entrance of the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building this morning means he would have passed an enormous portrait of his father, which hangs in every federal courthouse in the country.

The first batch of 50 jurors were sworn in by Judge Noreika, who instructed them not to discuss the case with anyone, including family, or to conduct any research on the case or to read any news about it.

Reporters monitoring the proceedings from the overflow room could not hear most of Noreika's statement due to technical difficulties. As technicians tried to fix the issue, they turned on a TV that happened to be playing an attack ad against Joe Biden.

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.