Hunter Biden trial live updates: Jury seated for opening statements tomorrow

Following his indictment, Biden filed a number of motions to dismiss the charges, including arguing that the prosecution was selective and vindictive as well as the gun law that he’s alleged to have violated goes against the Second Amendment.

Noreika rejected those motions and appeals court judges agreed, adding that Biden could appeal again after the end of the trial.

The defense has since filed motions regarding what evidence can be included at trial. During the final hearing before the trial, Lowell indicated that the defense may question if Biden filled out the form to buy the firearm himself where he’s alleged to have lied about being a drug user.

There are two versions of the form – the shop owner emailed one to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms after the purchase and one was obtained from the shop a number of years after the sale. The form was updated by an individual at the shop to add information regarding Biden’s Delaware vehicle registration.

Lowell suggested this shows that the process was not conducted as expected and that it’s possible that it wasn’t Biden who checked the box to say he was not a drug user at the time. The defense may also argue that Biden was in denial regarding his drug use when he purchased the firearm.

The prosecution has said they may call as many as a dozen witnesses, according to The Washington Post.

They have indicated that they may call three of Biden’s former partners – Kathleen Buhle, whom he married in 1993 and divorced in 2017, Hallie Biden, the widow of his brother Beau Biden, and a woman named as Zoe Kasten, according to Politico.

In the book, Biden referred to his relationship with his brother’s widow as “an affair built on need, hope, frailty, and doom.”

The three former partners are all expected to say in testimony that Biden was using crack cocaine around the time that he purchased the gun.

Hallie Biden may also speak about the actual gun, she allegedly found it and threw it away behind a grocery store amid concerns that Hunter Biden may turn it upon himself.

Other possible witnesses include the shop owner who sold Biden the firearm in 2018 and several experts. Biden’s defense attorney Abbel Lowell didn’t rule out Biden himself appearing on the stand but it’s not customary for defendants to testify at their own trials.

A federal gun case against President Joe Biden’s son Hunter opened Monday with jury selection, following the collapse of a plea deal that would have avoided the spectacle of a trial so close the 2024 election. First lady Jill Biden was seated in the front row of the courtroom, in a show of support for her son.

In a statement, the president said he has “boundless love for my son, confidence in him, and respect for his strength.”

“I am the President, but I am also a Dad,” he said, adding that would have no further comment on the case. “Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today.”

Hunter Biden was surrounded by family in the courtroom on Monday.

First Lady Jill Biden attended the proceedings for the first few hours, he walked with his wife Melissa Cohen.

His uncle, Jack Owens, was also seen in the courtroom, according to The Washington Post. Also seen was son-in-law Peter Neal, former Joe Biden aide Fran Person, and friend Kevin Morris, a lawyer who has paid some of his legal fees.

Hunter Biden was also spotted hugging family friend Ricky Smith.

Thirty-four jurors have qualified for the jury pool, CNN noted. Another two are needed to move on to the next phase, during which the prosecution is allowed to strike a number of jurors without having to give a reason.

The process ends when there’s a jury of 12 as well as four alternates. The judge has indicated that opening statements will begin on Tuesday.

The prosecutors will be relying on Biden’s memoir to make the case that he was a drug user when he bought a handgun at StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply in Wilmington on 12 October 2018.

While Biden didn’t mention buying a firearm in his memoir, Beautiful Things, he did outline his drug use. Prosecutors have called the book “incriminating.”

The prosecution has noted that they possibly plan on attempting to prove that Biden used illegal drugs by pointing to texts he sent at the time.

A number of those text messages came from an iCloud account they got access to via a subpoena and others were sourced from a laptop that Biden is reported to have left at a repair shop and never returned to collect.

Biden and some in his orbit have stated for years that material from the laptop cannot be presumed to be authentic. Operatives backing former president Donald Trump have publicized material from the laptop as part of their attacks on Joe Biden.

Allies of Hunter Biden have said that some of the material shared from the laptop has been altered or distorted and they have also never confirmed that Hunter Biden ever dropped anything off at a repair shop.

But prosecutors have said that they have confirmed the authenticity of large parts of the laptop’s content by checking texts and emails with the people Hunter Biden sent them to.

On 22 May, a filing by the prosecution stated that Hunter Biden “has not provided any evidence or information that shows that his laptop contains false information, and the government’s evidence shows the opposite – the defendant’s laptop is real (it will be introduced as a trial exhibit), and it contains significant evidence of the defendant’s guilt.”