Hunter Biden was seen as “family” by a drug dealer, according to WhatsApp messages shown at his criminal trial.
Mr Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, faces up to 25 years if found guilty of lying about his crack cocaine addiction when he filled in paperwork to buy a gun in Oct 2018. He has also been charged with possessing a firearm while using illegal drugs.
Prosecutors showed the jury a series of messages exchanged by the businessmen with people they characterised as drug dealers, one of whom was known as “Killa Cam”, between April and July 2018.
In a conversation with a “Clifford O’Brien”, Mr Biden sent a picture of white powder on a scale and complained that he was being overcharged.
His alleged dealer defended himself and said he saw Mr Biden as family.
The court was also shown bank statements from accounts associated with Mr Biden, which showed he was removing $50,000 in cash per month when he bought the Colta Cobra .38 handgun.
Long excerpts from an audiobook of Mr Biden’s memoir, “Beautiful Things”, were played out to the court on Tuesday. In one passage, the US President’s son claimed he had a “superpower of finding crack”, while in another he described smoking the drug every 15 minutes.
When the court broke for lunch, Melissa Cohen Biden, Mr Biden’s current wife, called a former aide to Donald Trump a “Nazi piece of s---”.
The businessman is suing Mr Ziegler for his alleged role in publishing emails and photos from his laptop.
Kathleen Buhle, who was married to Hunter Biden for 24 years and has three daughters with him, had been expected to appear in the witness box on Tuesday afternoon, but proceedings finished before she could give evidence.
Prosecutors have said she repeatedly searched his car in 2018 - the year after they divorced - because “she did not want their children in a vehicle with drugs.”
She is said to have found drugs or drug paraphernalia roughly a dozen times.
Mr Biden’s criminal trial is expected to run for around eight days. He is being represented by the veteran political trial attorney Abbe Lowell.
The prosecution has been brought by David Weiss, a special counsel appointed by the federal Department of Justice.
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‘You’re being unhinged’
Derek Hines has read out an exchange between Hunter Biden and Hallie Biden, when she removed his gun and threw it into a bin.
“Did you take that from me…are you insane?” Mr Biden asked. “This is no game. And you’re being totally irresponsible and unhinged.”
He said, in a later message: “This is very very serious.”
$50,000 cash taken out from Biden accounts per month
Prosecutors showed the court bank statements revealing $151,640.45 had been withdrawn in cash from accounts associated with Hunter Biden between September and November 2018.
“That was almost $50,000 a month in cash withdrawals?” Derek Hines, prosecuting, asked Erika Jensen. She confirmed this.
Jury shown Biden conversations with alleged drug dealers
The jury has been shown WhatsApp messages that were exchanged between Hunter Biden and people the prosecution identified as drug dealers, between April and July 2018.
In one conversation, Mr Biden appears to arrange to meet up with an individual known as “Killa Cam”.
In an exchange with “Clifford O’Brien”, Mr Biden sends a photo of white powder on a scale and complained he was being overcharged. The drug dealer defended himself and called the businessman “family”.
The final conversation showed Mr Biden arranging an apparent deal with an individual called Michael of 10 grams of a product for $600.
FBI: Dozens of pages of evidence against Biden
Erika Jensen has read out emails, extracted from Hunter Biden’s laptop, from the days leading up to Hunter Biden’s purchase of a Colt Cobra .38 handgun in Oct 2018.
This includes an invoice from a rehabilitation centre he visited on Oct 21.
In total, Ms Jensen said, there are 75 pages of evidence showing Mr Biden’s drug addiction and possession of a gun from his laptop and iCloud data.
Prosecutors show receipt from laptop repair shop
Prosecutors have introduced another piece of evidence: an invoice for $85 that Hunter Biden received from The Mac Shop, where he left his laptop.
US media reports that Melissa Cohen-Biden, Mr Biden’s wife, shook her head as Erika Jensen explained what information had been extracted from the device.
Biden’s laptop introduced as evidence
Prosecutors are showing the jury a laptop that Hunter Biden left in a computer repair shop in 2019, which surfaced a few weeks before the 2020 presidential election.
Erika Jensen, an FBI agent, said authorities had used its serial number to verify that the laptop belonged to Mr Biden.
Former intelligence officials had previously suggested that the laptop - which reportedly contained images of the businessman using drugs, and others in which he posed with a gun - bore “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation”.
Hunter Biden’s ex-wife to give evidence
Kathleen Buhle, who was married to Hunter Biden for 24 years and has three daughters with him, is expected to appear in the witness box this afternoon.
Prosecutors have said she repeatedly searched his car in 2018 - the year after they divorced - because “she did not want their children in a vehicle with drugs.”
She is said to have found drugs or drug paraphernalia roughly a dozen times.
Melissa Cohen Biden calls former Trump aide ‘a Nazi piece of s---’ during trial break
Hunter Biden’s wife reportedly called Garrett Ziegler, a former Trump aide, a ‘Nazi piece of s---’ during a trial break.
The president’s son is currently suing Mr Ziegler for his alleged role in publishing emails and photos from his laptop.
Melissa Cohen Biden confronted the former White House aide and pointed her finger in his face, according to NBC News.
She then allegedly said: “You have no right to be here, you Nazi piece of s---”.
Mr Ziegler worked in the White House under Trump-adviser Peter Navarro and gained notoriety for his outspoken criticism of Joe Biden.
He apparently did not respond to Mrs Biden before she walked away, but later told NBC News: “For the record, I’m not a Nazi, I’m a believer in the U.S. Constitution. I haven’t said one thing to them”.
Hunter Biden’s ‘superpower of finding crack’ claim played to jury
Mr Biden Jr’s own words were used against him when the prosecution played audio of the president’s son discussing his ‘superpower of finding crack’.
The jury listened to excerpts of Hunter Biden narrating his memoir, Beautiful Things, in which he also describes smoking crack every 15 minutes.
President’s brother to be called as witness
Hunter Biden’s attorney says he is planning to call James Biden, the US president’s brother, as a witness in the trial.
James Biden is reportedly close with his nephew and helped him through rehab stints in the past.
Meanwhile, one of the key witnesses against Hunter Biden is expected to be Hallie Biden, his brother Beau’s widow, whom he became romantically involved with after his brother’s death.
Hunter Biden’s ‘state of mind’ should be considered
Hunter Biden’s ‘state of mind’ should be considered at the time of the gun purchase, his defence team said during opening statements.
Abbe Lowell, Mr Biden Jr’s lawyer, argued the form asks whether you “are” a drug user, saying: “It does not say ‘have you ever been’.”
He suggested the president’s son did not think of himself as someone with a drug problem when he purchased the gun.
The lawyer added that Mr Biden Jr’s state of mind at the time of the purchase should be considered, not “what he wrote in a book in 2021.″
Joe Biden heard in 2018 voicemail telling son ‘to get some help’
Joe Biden left his son Hunter a voicemail urging him to ‘get some help’, three days after the president’s son allegedly lied about his drug addiction on a federal form to buy a gun.
The audio clip of the voice message, obtained by The Daily Mail from Mr Biden Jr’s abandoned laptop, suggests the US president knew his son was an addict in October 2018.
Mr Biden is heard saying in the clip: “It’s Dad. I’m calling to tell you I love you. I love you more than the whole world, pal. You’ve gotta get some help.
“I don’t know what to do, I know you don’t either. I’m here, no matter what you need. No matter what you need, I love you.”
However, it is possible the president was referencing alcohol abuse, rather than drug addiction, as Mr Biden Jr’s defence do not deny he was an alcoholic at the time.
The evidence linking crack cocaine to a handgun in the bin
When Hunter Biden bought a revolver from a Delaware gun shop in October 2018, he could scarcely have imagined the six-year legal battle and political storm it would create.
This week, the US president’s son, 54, will finally face trial over charges that he lied about being addicted to illegal drugs when buying a gun, in a case that has rattled its way to the top of the US government.
The prosecution case, led by David Weiss, the department of justice’s special prosecutor, will make use of some florid evidence collected from Mr Biden’s phone and extracts from his bombshell 2021 book.
You can read the full report here.
The form at the centre of the trial
A form released by prosecutors shows that Hunter Biden did indeed tick “no” to a question asking whether he was an “unlawful user” or “addicted to” illegal drugs.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer used to work for Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner
Defending the child of a sitting president would be a daunting task for any lawyer.
But for Abbe Lowell, the man entrusted with the defence of Hunter Biden, this week’s case will not be his first time.
Back in 2017, the Democrat-aligned superstar trial lawyer was taken on by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the daughter and son-in-law of Donald Trump, as allegations mounted over the Trump family’s links to Russia.
You can read the full report here.
Joe Biden declares ‘boundless love’ for son Hunter on first day of gun trial
Joe Biden has declared his “love and support” for his son Hunter on the first day of his trial for illegal possession of a firearm, as Jill Biden attended the court to watch jury selection.
Hunter Biden, 54, is facing federal charges after allegedly lying about his use of illegal drugs at the time he bought a revolver from a Delaware gun store in October 2018.
Mrs Biden appeared at the federal district court in Wilmington, Delaware, to witness the beginning of the trial, which took place on her birthday. She is Hunter Biden’s stepmother.
You can read the full report here.
- Hunter Biden's 'crack superpower' back to haunt him at trial
- Hunter Biden's lawyer used to work for Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner
Related Topics
- Hunter Biden,
- Joe Biden,
- US Election,
- Donald Trump
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