FBI agent continues testifying about Hunter Biden’s drug use in gun trial

Hunter Biden’s lawyers on Wednesday will continue their cross-examination of an FBI agent who detailed the president’s son’s alleged drug use through his own text messages, memories and bank records during the first day of testimony in his trial. federal government on weapons.

Members of the Biden family, including first lady Jill Biden, were emotional during the first day of testimony on Tuesday as excerpts from Hunter Biden’s memoir, “Beautiful Things,” were played to jurors.

In opening statements, prosecutors revealed personal details about Hunter Biden’s addiction and the Biden family, including that he introduced his brother’s widow Hallie Bidenwith whom he became romantically involved, to crack cocaine.

Hunter Biden was charged with three felonies stemming from the purchase of a handgun in October 2018. He is accused of making false statements on a federal gun form about his drug use, certifying that he was not a user of or addicted to any controlled substance during a period in which prosecutors allege he was addicted to crack.

The gun was with him for 11 days before being discarded in a trash can outside a supermarket by Hallie Biden.

“On October 12, 2018, when the defendant filled out that form, he knew he was addicted to drugs,” prosecutor Derek Hines said during opening statements. “The law does not require us to prove that he used drugs that same day, only that he knew he was a drug user or addict.”

Hunter Biden’s lawyers argued that prosecutors must prove he was using drugs the day he bought the gun. The form uses the word “are,” Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell said in opening statements.

“It doesn’t say if you’ve ever used it, it doesn’t say if you’ve ever used it,” Lowell said.

FBI Special Agent Erika Jensen was the government’s first witness, testifying about the authenticity of a laptop that Hunter Biden left behind in a Delaware repair shop and never recovered. She said the laptop contained “evidence of addiction.”

She read aloud text messages from Hunter Biden that used coded language such as “baby powder” and “chore boy” to hide his crack use while he appeared to be planning to buy drugs in the months leading up to the gun purchase.

The day after purchasing the gun, she testified, Hunter Biden sent a message to Hallie Biden about “waiting for a drug dealer named Mookie.” The next day, he sent her another one that said, “I was sleeping in a car smoking crack on 4th Street and Rodney.”

Jensen also testified that bank statements showed Hunter Biden withdrawing more than $151,000 in cash between September 2018 and November 2018. He made cash withdrawals on all but four days in October, the month he purchased the gun. He withdrew $5,000 on October 12, 2018, the day he purchased the gun.

Lowell argued that Hunter Biden’s activities when he possessed the gun were inconsistent with crack cocaine use. Hunter Biden was also struggling with alcohol addiction, Lowell said, noting that federal forms do not ask about alcohol use.

“There may be high-functioning alcoholics, but there is no such thing as a high-functioning crack addict,” Lowell said.