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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Hunter Biden's daughter Naomi takes the stand

Hunter Biden's daughter Naomi took the stand as the defense's third witness.


Gun store employee pressed on how ID was recorded on form

Jason Turner, an employee at the gun shop that sold Hunter Biden the Colt revolver at the center of the case, corroborated on the stand clerk Gordon Cleveland's earlier testimony of the sequence of events that occurred in the store when Hunter Biden filled out the ATF form and purchased the gun.

Turner, who appeared defensive and confrontational during some of his testimony, testified that he never spoke to Hunter Biden.

When shown the ATF Form 4473 that Hunter Biden filled out, Turner said Hunter Biden provided his car registration as an alternate form of ID because the passport he provided did not have an address.

The defense said in court papers filed earlier that confusion over how Hunter Biden's form of ID was recorded on the ATF form raised questions about "who wrote what on the form, and when."

When defense attorney Abbe Lowell, questioning Turner, highlighted the box on the form that asks for the type of alternate ID, it was blank.

"When I wrote that out, I wrote 'car registration,'" Turner said. "It's not there," he testified.

Lowell also pressed Turner on what he was doing after Hunter Biden's background check came back until the firearm was purchased.

"I would have put on my ritual tone and sat in a marble room," Turner said sarcastically.

Ron Palmieri, the owner of the gun store, then took the stand.


Hunter Biden's daughter, uncle are in court

As Hunter Biden's defense case gets underway, two more members of the Biden family have entered the courthouse: Naomi Biden and James Biden.

Naomi Biden is the daughter of Hunter Biden and granddaughter of President Joe Biden.

James Biden is Hunter Biden's uncle and President Biden's brother, who Hunter's attorney told the jury during opening statements paid for some of Hunter Biden's rehab and lived with him briefly afterward.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell previously suggested both James Biden and and Naomi Biden could take the stand for the defense.


Defense makes longshot motion for acquittal

After jurors left the courtroom for a break, defense attorney Abbe Lowell moved for an acquittal for by orally submitting a Rule 29 motion, citing constitutional challenges and an insufficiency of evidence.

Judge Maryellen Noreika indicated her skepticism at the longshot bid with a chortle as Lowell described the legal underpinnings of his motion.

"You're laughing," Lowell said, before joking that her "smile" suggested she was "likely skeptical."

Both Lowell and the judge agreed that one of his claims in particular was an "interesting concept."

Lowell then told the court that the first two witnesses he plans to call for the defense are Ronald Palimere, the owner of the gun shop where Hunter Biden purchased the Colt revolver at the center of the case, and Jason Turner, an employee of the store.


Defense shows only 2 October texts referenced drugs

Hunter Biden's attorney, Abbe Lowell, questioned FBI Special Agent Erika Jensen about Hunter Biden's infamous laptop, which prosecutors entered into evidence yesterday, asking her on cross-examination if she had done an "analysis" of whether "data" or "content" of the laptop was "tampered with, added to, or subtracted" during the months that passed between when Hunter Biden dropped off the device for service in April of 2019 and when the FBI obtained it in December 2019.

Jensen said she had not.

Lowell also took aim at the numerous text messages prosecutors have presented as evidence of Hunter Biden's drug addiction in 2018 and 2019.

Lowell showed that only two messages among the several alluding to drug use, drug paraphernalia, and drug purchases occurred during October of 2018 -- the period during which Hunter Bidden procured the firearm. The rest were either other months before the incident or months afterward, Lowell showed.

"You don't see any references … to baby powder?" Lowell asked Jensen, before ticking through other drug terms that appeared in the messages earlier in 2018 or later in 2019, including "chore boy" and "party favors."

Each time, Jensen replied "No."

Lowell also questioned Jensen about two messages Hunter Biden sent around the time of his gun purchase that did allude to drug use, one of them referring to an alleged drug dealer named "Mookie" and other referencing "smoking crack on a car" in Wilmington. Lowell sought to establish that Jensen had no firsthand knowledge about the contents of the messages.

"Do you know if there is a person named Mookie?" Lowell asked.

"No," Jensen replied.

"Do you know if he was on a car smoking crack?" Lowell asked later, referring to Hunter Biden.

"No," Jensen said.

Lowell subsequently ended his cross-examination of Jensen, and prosecutors undertook their redirect examination.