Hunter Biden, in court today, affirmed his decision not to testify in his own defense, telling the judge "I do" when she asked him if he understood it was his own decision to make, according to the transcript of the proceedings released after court was dismissed for the day.

"Did you make a decision not to testify voluntarily?" Judge Maryellen Noreika asked him, according to the transcript.

"I did," he said.

The questioning from Noreika occurred during a sidebar with Hunter Biden, his attorneys, and prosecutors that was conducted out of earshot of reporters but released as part of the transcript.

"You understand you have the right to testify in your own defense?" the judge asked Hunter Biden, per the transcript.

"I do," he said.

"If you don't testify, you understand your decision not to testify cannot be held against you and I will instruct the jury to that effect?" she asked.

"Agreed," he responded.

"It's your decision and yours alone to make, do you understand that?" the judge asked.

"I do," he responded.

"It's not your attorney's decision, it's not the government's decision, it's not my decision, you understand all that?" she asked.

"I do," he said.

The jurors in Hunter Biden's federal gun trial have been dismissed for the day, after deliberating for one hour with no verdict.

Hunter Biden left the courthouse after the jury was dismissed.

The jurors will be back tomorrow at 9 a.m. ET to resume their deliberations.

The jury has begun deliberations on the three felony counts Hunter Biden faces in his federal gun case.

Prior to the jury getting the case, the government rebutted defense attorney Abbe Lowell's closing argument by asserting again that Hunter Biden was a drug addict when he bought the gun at the center of the case and that he knew it -- beyond a reasonable doubt.

There are "seven ways to Sunday" to show Hunter Biden was an addict and it was "preposterous" that he -- a "Yale-educated lawyer" -- didn't know he was buying a gun while knowingly addicted, prosecutor Derek Hines argued.

Hines rebutted Lowell's characterization of the government's treatment of Hunter Biden's daughter Naomi Biden as "cruel."

Naomi Biden was "completely uncomfortable" because "she couldn't vouch for the defendant's sobriety," Hines argued.

Hines closed by saying that if the jury doesn't determine Hunter Biden is a crack addict based on the evidence in the case, "then no one is a crack addict of unlawful use."

Judge Maryellen Noreika then delivered the final portion of her instructions and sent jurors to begin their deliberations.

The judge indicated that she would not keep jurors past 4:30 or 4:45 p.m. ET today.

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.

Attorneys for Hunter Biden, in their cross-examination of FBI Special Agent Erika Jensen, attempted to push back on prosecutors' contention that Hunter Biden was abusing drugs at the time he said on a gun-purchase form that he was drug-free.

A key piece of evidence comes from Hunter Biden's 2021 memoir, in which he described his "relapse" just weeks after leaving rehab in August -- just six weeks before purchasing the firearm.

"I stayed clean for two weeks then relapsed," Hunter Biden wrote in his book.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell, on cross-examination, questioned the assumption that Hunter Biden's relapse implied that he was referring to his drug use -- suggesting instead that he was referring to his alcohol addiction.

"When he was referring to that in his book, was he talking about relapsing to drugs and alcohol, or do you know what he meant?" Lowell asked.

"I can only state what was stated," Jensen said.

"Which is, 'Then I relapsed?'" Lowell asked.

"Just what it says, 'I relapsed,'" Jensen replied.

Jensen also acknowledged that she could not verify that Hunter Biden was continuously using drugs from 2015 to 2019, saying, "My recollection is that there are excerpts where he was principally occupied with smoking crack cocaine. I didn't get the sense that it was the entire history."

"Meaning that there were periods of time that he was not?" Lowell asked.

"I think there -- including the period in August where we have some invoices for rehab, that there were periods where there was not," Jensen said.

It was an important moment for the defense, as Lowell managed to establish that Hunter Biden's use of drugs was not consistent -- cuing up his argument that the president's son was not on drugs at the time of his firearm purchase.

Prosecutors also entered into evidence records related to enormous cash withdrawals Hunter Biden made -- more than $150,000 from September through November of 2018, including a $5,000 withdrawal on the day he purchased the gun. Prosecutors suggested this cash was used to procure drugs; Lowell, on cross-examination, established that Hunter Biden paid $900 in cash for the weapon and accessories.

Court was subsequently recessed for the day, with Lowell's cross-examination of Jensen scheduled to resume Wednesday morning.

Prosecutors suggested that Hallie Biden would be the next witness after Jensen, making it likely that the first Biden family member to testify will take the stand at some point tomorrow.