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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Chemist testifies about substance on gun's pouch

Chemist Jason Brewer, testifying as an expert witness for the prosecution, told the jury that a brown leather pouch that contained Hunter Biden's gun at the time the weapon was retrieved by authorities tested positive for cocaine.

Brewer said there were "minimal amounts of white powder" on two locations on the pouch, which he combined and tested.

On cross-examination, Hunter Biden's attorney sought to raise doubts about how that white powder got there and who put it there -- emphasizing it could have been old, dating back to before Hunter Biden purchased the gun.

"You can't date when it got there?" defense attorney David Kolansky asked.

"I cannot," Brewer said.

Kolansky also emphasized that five years went by from the time the pouch was collected in October 2018 to when it was tested in October 2023 -- after the indictment in this case was already filed.

He emphasized the importance of the "chain of command," which Brewer conceded was "very important."

Earlier, Hunter Biden's former girlfriend Hallie Biden testified that she put the gun in the pouch, which she found in Hunter Biden's vehicle, after she discovered the weapon in the vehicle and before she disposed of it in a trash container.


Government calls FBI chemist to the stand

Proceedings resumed this morning with the government calling FBI chemist Dr. Jason Brewer to the stand.

Brewer is testifying as an expert witness.

Prosecutors said they would then call a DEA officer as their final witness.


First lady returns to trial

First lady Jill Biden, Hunter Biden's stepmother, is in attendance at the trial this morning.

She returned from France, where she was accompanying President Joe Biden on a trip to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

She had attended the trial each day until making the trip to France.


Hunter Biden arrives at courthouse

Hunter Biden has arrived at the courthouse for Day 5 of the trial.

He was accompanied as usual by his wife Melissa Cohen Biden.


Hallie Biden describes finding then discarding gun

In dramatic testimony, Hunter Biden's former romantic partner Hallie Biden described how, on the morning of Oct. 23, 2018, she went to go "clean out" Hunter Biden's car and found a gun.

"What did you find, in addition to trash and clothes?" prosecutor Leo Wise asked her.

"Remnants of crack cocaine and some paraphernalia," Hallie recounted. "Oh and the gun, obviously."

Hallie Biden said she found the firearm in "the arm console" of the car, which she said was not locked because "the lock had been broken." She said it was the first time she had ever seen a gun. She also found ammunition.

"I panicked, I wanted to get rid of them," she told the jury.

Asked why she panicked, Hallie Biden said she "didn't want him to hurt himself." She said she also worried about her kids finding the gun, saying she considered "hiding" it somewhere but was worried they would find it.

She said those frantic moments led to her throwing the gun in the trash. She told the jury she found a pouch to put it in -- which authorities say later tested positive for having cocaine on it -- and put the gun inside. The jurors were then shown the brown pouch she used.

"I was afraid to kind of touch it, I didn't know if it was loaded," Hallie Biden said, telling jurors she then put the pouch into another bag.

"I took it to the grocery store up the road and I threw it away," she testified.

At this point, jurors were shown surveillance video from the grocery store showing Hallie Biden throwing the gun into the trash.

In the video, her car is seen pulling into the parking lot; she then gets out of the driver's seated, opens the back door to get out the gun, then walks over to the store and places the bag in a garbage receptacle.

"Is that you Mrs. Biden?" prosecutor Leo Wise asked about her image on the video. "Yes," she replied.

Hunter Biden, sitting at the defense table, appeared to be locked on Hallie Biden the entire time, his head resting in his hand. He periodically covered his mouth.